Waggon On Fire After Derailment

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31597, 7 February 1968, Page 24

Waggon On Fire After Derailment

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, February 6. Freight in an enclosed goods waggon was badly damaged by fire after a three-waggon derailment north of Plimmerton about 2.30 a.m. today.

The derailed waggons were dragged almost six miles over the Pukerua Bay Hill before the accident was discovered. Expresses on the main trunk were delayed more than an hour and suburban services were disrupted this morning. Points at Plimmerton and Pukerua Bay were extensively damaged. Railway workmen began clearing the line shortly after Plimmerton volunteer firemen put out the blaze. One line was open by 6.20 a.m. The second line was open and services were back to normal by midday. Waggon Ablaze

A railwayman living in the Plimmerton area saw the blazing waggon pass a minute or two before the final col-

lapse of a bogey brought the train to a halt about 100 yards north Of the Plimmerton station.

Earlier, the heavy shocks of the wheels hitting the sleepers had broken the suspension of the waggon’s rear bogey and caused the waggon floor to rub on a wheel. Friction ripped a role through the wood and metal floor and set the freight on fire. A large quantity of packaged shirts, corrugated cardboard, and plants were badly damaged. The other two derailed waggons, carrying wool, were not badly damaged.

The derailment has delayed the sailing of the Cape Egmont until tomorrow as it was waiting to load 10 trucks of meat which were held up by the accident.