TRAM COLLISION IN WELLINGTON

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 194, 14 May 1936, Page 5

TRAM COLLISION IN WELLINGTON

Service Disorganised CAR LEAPS POINTS IN WILLIS STREET At the rush hour last night, when cinema audiences were coming out, tramway traffic was disorganised in the middle of Wellington for approximately 45 minutes, when a Newtown tram turning out of Willis Street into Manners Street jumped the points and collided' with a tram bound in the opposite direction, to Lambton Station. Although both cars received a good deal of superficial damage, and the street corner was littered wiMi splinters of wood and broken glass, both motormen and passengers escaped injury. , , , , It was a few minutes after 10 ocmck when the Newtown tram left the rai’s and struck the oncoming vehicle amidships, with a loud crash. The end windows and step of the. one and the side panelling and hand-rails of the other were damaged, and the asphalt surface of t'he street ploughed up by the heavy wheels. A crowd at once collected, and in a few minutes, as many as 20 trams were held up. The Lambton tram, however, was able to proceed almost at once, and this cleared the rails for hortdi-bound traffic. Unfortunately, however, an effort to back the Newtown car on to the nub only succeeded in shifting it so as to block the other line. Trains were therefore diverted along the Hunter Street line, while those runninc on t InBrooklyn and Aro Street routes bad to Tun back bo their termini • - pot until 10 minutes to 11 that tinwas replaced on the rails, and normal „ running was resumed. To do this a breakdown gang had to be summoned, the offending vehicle jacked up, while iron skids were placed under th/" wheels and the bogies straightened with screw-jacks. Finally, however, in tow of a second car, it was manoeuvred backward into the line, when the wheels took the rails with a series of sharp clicks.