Goods Express Train Derailed At Belfast

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29228, 11 June 1960, Page 15

Goods Express Train Derailed At Belfast

xt. s wa £gons which ran away from the Belfast railway yards during shunting opJations the line to within 400; yanfe srf Haneys comer, where they were struck "by the Christchurch • to Picton goods train about 930 pm vesteJdav No-one was injured. r J i -

The scene ot the accident was cne of chaos. Sleepers on the line were reduced to splinters, and the ground vzas covered with burst sacks of grain. A guard's van, the side completely ripped out. lay on one side of the line Overturned goods waggons lay on the line and on the embankment, while the engine of the express lay on its side with a carriage, its lights still burning, lying half on top of it. Residents in the area seized blankets and rushed to the scene when they heard the crash, which woke children two miles away. In a farmhouse near the railway, a woman was looking out the window when the accident happened. “I saw sparks, sheets of flame, and carriages telescoping.” she said. "There was a terrific crash. My husband had just gone outside, but he rushed back. We immediately ran to get blankets and hot drinks.”

The woman took some of the passengers from the express into

ner . nouse and gave tSem tea. “They were very sbakin,” she said. T The engine toakthe brunt of me crash, said one of 'the drivers. The engine - reared up and the drivers thought it was going to fall. ‘This is it, I thquriit,” said one. "The next thhigl knew I was lying on the roof of the engine. If it had rolled right over the cab would have ■ been completely crushed in.” I Cranes began to clear the wreckage off the line about 1 a.m._ today.