Truck And Car Hit By Railway Engines

Press, Volume C, Issue 29702, 21 December 1961, Page 14

Truck And Car Hit By Railway Engines

(New Zealand Pres, Association)

TAUMARUNUI, Dec. 20. The occupants escaped death when a truck and a car were struck by trains in different accidents yesterday. In one accident, near Taumarunui the driver was injured, and in the other, at Palmerston North, the driver and -a passenger were injured. A bushman, William Robert Macdonald, aged 23, single, of Kakahi, 11 miles south of Taumarunui, had a miraculous escape this afternoon when the truck he was driving was struck by a northbound railway engine at a crossing a mile south of Kakahi. The truck was thrown clear of the line, and after rolling over finished upright on its wheels. Mr Macdonald was able to crawl out of the badly damaged vehicle and was taken to Taumarunui Hospital by ambulance. The full extent of his injuries was not available, but his condition is reported to be satisfactory. A small car was struck by a goods train on the Ruahine street level crossing in Palmerston North tonight. A passenger in the car was injured and taken to hospital in an ambulance. The driver of the car was later taken to the hospital by the police. They were the only occupants of the car. The driver was Robert Arthur Gullery, aged 21. and the passenger Mr Colin Patchett aged 19. Both are of Palmerston North. Mr Patchett was treated at the hospital and discharged. Mr Gullery’s condition was reported to be satisfactory. The accident occurred about 7.1 p.m., when a south-

bound goods train hit the car as it was travelling at slow speed over the crossing. A witness, Mr A. G. Todd, said the car was travelling at far less than 10 miles an hour and the train was doing about 15 miles an hour. The car was struck towards the rear, spun completely round, and finished astride the second set of tracks about 15ft from where it crossed the first set of lines. The damage was not as great as might have been expected. The left-hand side was dented, the rear lefthand wheel buckled, and the glass on the left-hand side broken. Mr Todd said a man was thrown out of the car when it spun round. The door was probably released by the crash. According to witnesses the warning lights were operating, but the bright setting sun was shining on the lights.