TRAIN DERAILED

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 141, 15 June 1923, Page 8

TRAIN DERAILED

A STARTLING EXPERIENCE.

(BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

ASHBURTON, This Day. This morning, at 9.30, a mixed train from Springburn,, containing sixty passengers, including thirty pupils travelling to the Ashburton High School and leohuical School, was derailed after passing Valetta, eighteen miles from Ashburton. The guard, Gardiner, was collecting tickets. He was thrown down and severely bumped. Many others were hurled from their seats and slightly hurt, lliere were no serious injuries. The front portion of the train comprised goods trucks. It is surmised that pieces of timber fell oft and derailed the truck preceding the children's car, casting shingle on the windows like a monstrous hailstorm. The coupling behind tho children's car parted, releasing two carriages containing adults and a van. These dived toward a fence, cutting up the track, which, fortunately, was level. The children's car then parted and stopped, partly off the line, just before a cattle stop, with an ugly tilt. The calm behaviour of the women and children has been specially commented on. The train finally reached quiescence in three sections. A fleet of Ashburton automobiles quickly conveyed the passengers to Ash- - burton, where the children reached their schools less than an hour late. A repair gang arrived promptly, and the front part of the train proceeded to Ashburton.