CASE AGAINST ENGINEDRIVER

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 304, 18 September 1943, Page 6

CASE AGAINST ENGINEDRIVER

Hyde Railway Smash EVIDENCE OF TRAIN’S SPEED (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, September 17. The Magistrates’ Court hearing of the charge of manslaughter against Patrick Alphonsus Corcoran, aged 5.1, driver of the train which was derailed near Hyde on June 4 with the loss of 21 lives, was continued today. George Stuart James Read, assistant locomotive engineer at Dunedin, said that examination of the. locomotive and tender after lhe accident revealed nothing likely to have caused a mishap. The same applied to the carriages and van. Every locomotive was inspected weekly, and all trains before departure were carefully examined. A further examination iu the case of Central Otago trains was made at Ranfurly and it was the guard’s duty to make a brake test before leaving Gromwell and a duty of the driver to make a thorough test of the engine before tne day’s work. If a train was running late the driver was expected to recover lost time as far as possible, but in no case to exceed the speed limits imposed. Witness said he had made calculations on the question of the overturning speed on curves of 9.88 chains with, a cant ot 2S inches and on curves ot i.oo chains with a cant of 2 3-8 inches, these representing the cant of the 10-chain curies in the present case. In the first case the lowest speed at which derailment was likely would be under 59 m.p.h. and in the second case 50.4 m.p.h. Witness wouid not expect overturning at any lower speed unless there was a serious defect in the engine or tender. . . Holbert Pratt, guard of the train, said that he and the driver had three beers at tiie bar soon after rising. Shortly after passing over the bridge on the Middlemarch side of Hyde the van gave a lurch and a erash followed shortly. At no time had witness thought it necessary to apply the emergency brake. Woman Faints. Dorothy Isabel Robinson, porter, said that when she returned from making a check of the train after leaving Kokonga she noticed that certain luggage had shifted from one side of the van to the other. Witness was proceeding to add that she noticed that the train was rocking considerably when she fainted and was carried from court. James Burns Cairns, barman at the Ranfurly Hotel, said that accused had five drinks while witness was in the bar. Trevor Llewellyn Thomas, licensee of tiie hotel, said that accused had two shandies after witness relieved the barman. Witness also served the accused and another man with a drink each at lunch. Gordon Millar, surfaceman, stationed at Ranfurly, said that on June 4 when the train passed him about a mile and a quarter from Waipiata it was travelling well above normal speed and the. ears- were swaying. Similar evidence regarding the speed of the train about a mile and a quarter on the Cromwell side of Tiroiti was given by Leonard Keating, ganger, 'Waipiata, _who estimated the speed at between 4u and oO miles an hour. David Roy Wilkins, surfaceman, who also saw tiie train near Tirolti, described the speed as a little faster than usual. , . Janies Eric Leask, farmer. Becks, who was a passenger on the train, said that on the bend near Kokonga, and again at Tiroiti the speed was such that he . found difficulty in reading his paper. Witness was a frequent traveller on the Central Otago line, and the trip on June 4 was the roughest he had ever had. Lie considered that the speed from Ranfurly was too fast. Another passenger, William Gunnyon, commercial traveller, who joined the tram at AA'aipiata, said that after leaving the station he had to give up reading as the train was rocking so much. After leaving Hyde it rocked still more and witness considered the speed was dangerous. Further evidence regarding the speed of the train was given by Joseph Geoffrey. farmer, Weddefburn, who-said that ufl ■ passing Kokonga he noticed that the speed increased to such extent that the carriage in which he was sitting tvivJ swaying and two bags were thrown from the luggage rack. After the train left Hyde it seemed to be travelling at a dangerous speed and other passengers appeared to he concerned about it. . Alfred George Mathias, farmer, Waipiata, said he had been travelling for a long time on the Central Otago line, but the trip on June 4 was the first occasion on which he had felt nervous. There was considerable swaying and he put this down to excessive speed and to the tact that the carriage .was an old one The hearing was adjourned till IU a.m. on Monday.