Rail sabotage discovered
PA Auckland Sabotage on the main trunk line near Huntly could easily have derailed the Silver Fern on Saturday. A heavy jolt felt by a southbound freight train crew as they passed over a deliberately jammed “S” junction switch point probably prevented disaster — barely 90 minutes before the Auckland-bound passenger train was due to pull out of Huntly. A steel plate 2cm thick and measuring 20cm by 12cm, and a steel bar 3cm thick had been wedged between the rail joints 3km north of the town.
The Huntly police said last evening it took a great deal of effort to lever the metal pieces free of the track. The southbound track had been closed for some time 'for sleeper and ballast repair work between Huntly and Te Kauwhata. All trains coming through Huntly were being switched to the “up” track, said a Railways spokesman. It was fortunate that a southbound train struck the sabotaged switch first, he said. A train coming fast in the other direction would almost certainly have been derailed.
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Press, 1 October 1979, Page 6
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175Rail sabotage discovered Press, 1 October 1979, Page 6
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