TRAMS COLLIDE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 69, 14 December 1939, Page 13

TRAMS COLLIDE

Brakes Fail On Remuera Hill MOTORMAN SEVERELY INJURED By Telegraph,—Press Association. AUCKLAND, December 13. A motorman was severely injured and passengers, two of whom were slightly hurt, had a remarkable escape when a stationary tramcar was struck by another tram which became out of control when descending a hill on Remuera Road this evening. With its brakes useless, the descending car gained momentum rapidly and both vehicles were extensively damaged in the violent collision which followed.

When the motorman, Mr. Frauklyn Thrussel, aged 30, Ouebuuga, was removed from the totally wrecked cab of the descending tram he had a fracture of both bones of the right leg and an injury to the other. A passenger alighting from the stationary tram, Mr. M. S. Allan, w-as cut on the face, and an elderly woman passenger in the moving car suffered from shock. Both trams were travelling from the city. Efforts by Mr. Thrussell to apply the brakes were of no avail, and as the car rapidly gathered speed he sounded the bell almost continuously to warn the tram ahead. Several passengers considered that the motorman’s action in ringing the alarm till the moment of the crash might have saved several from injury. With the platforms of both trams telescoped by the force of the collision, cabs and their equipment were reduced to fragmentary wreckage. The control boxes and other electrical plant were not only broken and twisted beyond recognition but also forced through into the compartments of the cars. When the trams were prised apart splintered roofs and heavy chassis were practically all that remained of the platforms. Mr. Thrussell was taken to Auckland Hospital in an ambulance, and his condition tonight was stated to be not serious. The accident caused considerable delay to traffic till the damaged trams were removed to the depot.