Hefty locomotive thrown on side

Press, 4 March 1987, Page 2

Hefty locomotive thrown on side

PA Wellington An engine driver, Rex Woods, saw the railway lines snaking towards him just before his 80-tonne locomotive toppled in the Edgecumbe railway yards on Monday afternoon. Mr Woods’ attempts to alert trains in the area to

the dangerous shakes rolling across eastern Bay of Plenty came to a crashing end when his big DC diesel-electric locomotive was thrown like a toy off the tracks when the big earthquake hit. Mr Woods was shaken but unhurt.

, The Edgecumbe stationmaster, Mr Brian Simmons, said the locomotive, now lying on its side out-

side his badly damaged office, was not the only railway casualty in the earthquake. Several kilometres of line in the EdgecumbeKawerau area had been wrecked and it would probably be some days before trains would again be running.

Though most roads in the area were being made passable yesterday, the task to repair the railway lines would be more difficult, he said. Mr Simmons and a fellow staff member, Mr Stu Wilson, were yesterday trying to start the clean-

up at the station. Righting the locomotive would be a “low priority,” he said.