RATANA TRAIN DISASTER

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22429, 16 June 1938, Page 12

RATANA TRAIN DISASTER

SPEED AT TIME OF DERAILMENT MORE EVIDENCE BY PASSENGERS WOMAN’S CONVERSATION WITH FIREMAN (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, June 15. Further evidence on the speed of the Wellington-New Plymouth excursion train which was derailed in a cutting near Ratana on March 2fß, was given in Wellington to-day before the board of inquiry set up to investigate the cause of the disaster. Seven passenger witnesses were heard, and opinions varied. Some stated that the train was travelling too fast and others said the speed was normal. A woman passenger described a conversation she had with the fireman after the accident. The fireman, she said, asked if he were wearing civilian clothes, and seemed very concerned about this point. Witness said he was badly injured; but was dressed in dungarees, Cross-examined, she said the fireman did not impress her as being delirious, nor did she think that his mind was wandering because of his injuries. The remainder of this week will be devoted to hearing the evidence of further passengers. The inquiry will be resumed at 10.30 a.m. to-morrow. The witnesses were closely questioned as to the speed the train was travelling. Patrick Gleeson, of Island Bay, gave it as 25 to 30 miles an hour, and Robert Gadd as 40, which might have reached 45. Talked to Fireman Jean Ivy Sinclair, a tailor css, of .Wellington, said that she found the fireman lying on the bank badly injured. After receiving a stimulant he revived. She placed her suitcase under his head and put a borrowed overcoat over him. Another girl was with her. A passenger drew her aside and told her the fireman was not supposed to be on the engine, as* he was on holiday, and was afraid he would get into trouble. Something was said about this fireman taking another man’s place. The fireman asked her if he was in “civvies,” and were the suitcase and overcoat his. To ease his mind, as she thought he would not live long, shetold him yes, though he was in dungarees, and the suitcase and overcoat were not his. He asked was he travelling. Sha thought he meant was he going fast, and she told him there was a stone on the line, as he was not in a condition to be told about the accident. To repeated questioning by members of the board and counsel as to whether he was not wandering in his mind or a little delirious, witness replied definitely in the negative. "Speed was Normal” There was nothing exceptional about the running of the train from Turakina to the point of derailment, said Harry William Bish, a leading fitter for the i Railways Department on the Wellington section, who boarded the excursion train at Marton. He said the speed along the Ratana flat was normal. There was a slight application of tfie brakes as though the driver was easing up. He did not consider this application was because of the snapping of the Westinghouse brake hose. To Mr G. G. Watson, witness said that within reason he knew every curve and every hill on that section of the line, and he knew when the train was a few chains from the curve near Ratana. To him the speed appeared normal. Mr Watson: If the train had been rushing at an excessive speed toward this curve you would have noticed it? Witness; Undoubtedly.

And the application of the brakes was consistent with a normal approach to the curve? —Yes.

Harry Arthur Jones, a casual platelayer for the New Zealand Railways, Taihape, who also joined the train at Marton, said he was a passenger in the first car, and considered the speed nothing out of the ordinary. When passing the Ratana station the train was easing down. Two or three seconds before the accident the brakes were applied. Cross-examined by Mr Watson, witness said he was born in the district, and knew every inch of the line. In his opinion the train was travelling at 25 miles an hour when approaching the curve.