MAROONED ALL NIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 121, 22 May 1926, Page 8

MAROONED ALL NIGHT

STORM HARDSHIPS ON RAILWAY

WAEM HEARTS EASE THE

BURDEN.

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, This Day.

Telephoning from Helensyille tonight, the "Herald's" special reporter says that the passengers on yester-day's^Whangarei-Auckland express and Auekland-Helensville train had unpleasant experiences. In both cases wash-outs on the line were the cause of the trouble, and travellers had either to sleep in the carriages all night or accept the hospitality of residents. The train which left Auckland at 4.5 p.m. yesterday encountered a wash-out near Waimauku, and had to return to Huapai, where sixteen people stayed at the Huapai Hotel for the night. However, nine passengers preferred to sleep in the train, and they were . exceptionally well treated by the Kumeu, Waimauku, and Huapai residents. By 1.10 p.m. to-day the obstruction had been cleared away, and the train continued its journey, in driving rain, as far as Wharepapa, where three service ears were waiting to transport the passengers over four miles of good metal road to Helensville. Travellers bound further north left by steamer for Dargaville this evening. The plight of passengers for Auckland from Whangarei was even worse, as they were isolated at Kanohi, a small flag station about 11 miles north of Helensville, owing to two extensive wash-outs. The express left Whangarei at about noon on Thursday, and was running to time at Maungaturoto. Heavy rain was falling, and as the train proceeded the line became awash. The train slowed down and precautions were taken. ALARM IN A TUNNEL. All went well until Makarau Tunnel was reached. Here two or three feet of water covered the line, and a waterfall from the walls of a cutting played on to the train as it entered the tunnel. When the express was inside the tunnel, a fairly long one, the passengers were startled to hear an explosion. This was caused by two warning detonators placed on the line, and was followed by the stopping of the train in the darkness. The feelings of all were relieved when the train crawled ( into daylight, but it still had to negotiate several hundred yards of submerged track, with a ganger showing the way, waist deep in the water. Kanohi was reached at 4.30 p.m., and the train halted for the night. Faced with an all-night stop, the 78 passengers accepted the position in various moods. Fifty-nine, including 21 women and children, decided to stay in the train, while the rest either walked to the Kaukapakapa Hotel, or along the railway to Helensville, which was reached at about 10 o'clock at night. PASSENGERS WELL TREATED. Makeshift beds were rigged up in the carriages for the others, and with rugs and blankets obtained from residents, the marooned passengers resigned themselves to sleep as best they could. Fortunately the night was not cold. Everything possible was done by the residents, and the engine-driver, fireman, and guard, to make the people as comfortable a? possible. Hot tea was brewed in the cab of the engine, and refreshments and hot scones were brought from houses, while a couple of cases of apples brought by a farmer were greatly appreciated. Great praise is due to a gang of eight maintenance men, who, braving the torrential rain and darkness, set out from Kaupapakapa at 9.30 p.m. to push a railway truck along the uphill grade for 2J miles to the express. It was a task which only few would attempt, but their most bitter moment was when, having pushed the truck so far, no one chose to return in it. LINE CONSIDERABLY DAMAGED. This morning investigation showed that the line was suspended above the ground, and out of alignment for 30 to 40 feet at a time for quite half a mile. As there was now no rain, the outlook for the passengers was much brighter, and the pangs of hunger Were again alleviated through the generusity of their helpers. This spirit of helpfulness was illustrated by the action of two platelayers in arriving with loaves of bread in the early morning. Two motor-cars soon arrived. One was a taxi that had been held up on the road all night. These cars carried some of the passengers to Helensville, and the Railway Department dispatched a bus to bring back the rest. The last lot of sixteen arrived in the afternoon. The generosity of those who had helped them was referred to in glowing terms by the passengers.