Waggons Derailed; Track Torn Up

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30417, 16 April 1964, Page 14

Waggons Derailed; Track Torn Up

(New Zealand. Pr DANNEVIRKE, April 14. Thirteen' waggons of a goods train bound from Napier to Palmerston North were derailed, within yards of a main highway level crossing near Dannevirke at 5J5 this afternoon. No-one was injured. - An estimated 200 yards of ttack. were torn up when the waggons smashed in a mangled heap in the Tahoraiti siding. The guard’s van stopped only a few feet clear of the busy Napier-Wellington main highway, three miles south of Dannevirke. • Road traffic was not held up but the railway line was blocked. Railway men were still working late tonight to clear the track. Only one train was immediately affected. Thirty-five cows were unharmed in the crash although the three- waggons in which they were bound for the freez-

■ss Association)

ing works were all toppled from the rails. ' One of the waggons was overturned. One of five . cool, waggons in the middle of the pile up was torn apart and boxes. of pears ■ and apples were scattered along the line. Fruit was squashed into a soggy mess by hundreds .of sight-seers. . Onfe waggon smashed against a telegraph pole, bringing down lines. Several toll circuits were disrupted..