BIG RAILWAY SMASH

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 48, 20 November 1930, Page 12

BIG RAILWAY SMASH

Three Goods Trains SIX-HOUR HOLD-UP Line Strewn with Wreckage SOME NARROW ESCAPES Dominion Special Service. Auckland, November 19. Three goods trains were involved in a smash at Te Kauwhata railway station shortly before daybreak to-day. For more than six hours ■ the mam line was blocked by the wreckage of trucks and a guard’s van. Four wagons and the van were piled up across three lines of tracks between an engine near the station platform and the goods shed on the opposite side. An engine-driver, J.. Hannan, and fireman, J. Robertson, jumped from their engine on the main line and made a dash for safety when they saw a crash coming. Under the glare of the electric lights on the platform and in the station yard they saw the roof of the guard’s van thrown skywards. ' In the Nick of Time. “We were just in the nick of time,” said Mr. Hannan. “We had only a few seconds to get clear, and it was impossible to attempt to get my engine away.” Mr. Hannan explained that his train had been waiting on the main line at the station for about 26 minutes until the line was clear ahead. When he reached Te Kauwhata from Auckland a goods train from Frankton, was on the station loop alongside, and was shunting. About 3.25 another goods train from Frankton turned on to the loop. As it steamed along at 15 miles an hour he saw that it would crash in a few seconds into the rear of the guard’s van of the stationary goods train on the loop. The van collapsed with a loud crash when the engine hit it, and the broken framework was driven into the wagons just in front, loaded with butter and cheese. Splintered wagons were piled up in a confused mass of bogey wheels and twisted iron frames. In the midst of this wreckage were boxes of butter and crates of cheese, crushed and broken. Cattle and Sheep Uninjured. By far the worst effects of the collision were felt by the train that was standing on the loop. Broken buffers showed how. the shock had been transmitted through the long line of trucks, many of them loaded with cattle and sheep. All the wrecked wagons were thrown together in the length of an engine’s boiler, and several wagons and a van on a siding near the goods shed were battered in and tipped against the landing. Twenty minutes before the crash, Jim Ness, a guard, left his van to assist in shunting operations. When he saw the wreckage he said he considered himself a lucky man. The roof of the van came to rest on top of the funnel and dome of one of,- the engines and the floor was dragged out from under a wrecked truck. One wall was thrown in a shattered condition against the big engine wheels and the other side and the ends were splintered to pieces. One of the wrecked trucks, built of iron, was recovered in a useless condition and showed the effect of such a collision on a wagon of the strongest type. Heavy pieces of Australian hardwood that were used in building other wagons were torn apart or broken with jagged ends. Kauri had collapsed with the violence and was pierced in. many places by pieces of iron and steel. Those who heard the collision say the sound of the impact did not suggest such extensive damage. Evidently the empty guard’s van took the brunt of the shock and its immediate collapse helped to save the sheep and cattle. None of these was injured. A thoroughbred mare and foal escaped without a bruise. Partly derailed next to the wreckage was «n empty petrol wagon. Mr. C. A. Linehan, stationmaster at Te Kauwhata, said he heard the collision from his house nearby. Gangs were quickly called and the work of clearing away the wreckage was aided by one of the engines. Expresses Delayed. The first express for Auckland, which had been held up at Frankton and Ohinewai, arrived at Te Kauwhata at 7.30, and passengers, luggage and mails were transferred to a train from Auckland. This train reached the city at 9.40, three hours late. ■ i The quick transhipment of luggage and mails and transfer of passengers was a credit to Mr. Linehan and the crew of the .express. It was completed in 35 minutes. The Limited express was delayed at Frankton and passed through Te Kauwhata at 9.52 when the line was declared clear. It reached Auckland at 11.59, two hours and a quarter behind its usual time. • , Both Auckland-bound goods trains followed the express and arrived at their destination later,