TRAINS HELD UP

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 68, 22 March 1933, Page 8

TRAINS HELD UP

PASSENGERS MAROONED

Passengers in the Limited expresses frOm Auckland and Wellington last night are having a journey they will remember for a. long time, for they were marooned at \ Taumarunui and Ohakune, and at the time of going to press it was not known when they will reach their destinations. Fortunately the ordinary express, which, left Auckland at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, had passed through the danger zone before any. trouble occurred, and it arrived at Wellington according to schedule this morning.

- Both the railway permanent way and the road suffered from the cloud burst, and washouts and slips .were frequent over fifty-seven miles of railway line from Okahukura to Ohakune. Altlough. reports are still somewhat indefinite, it appears that the'portiort of the country most affected" is between Eaurimu and Taumarunui. :

The Limited express from Auckland last ovbning ran into trouble early this morning- about a mile' north of Okahukura, where a bank had collapsed on account of a culvert being washed away. The engine ran into the slip, /ind some of the engine wheels were derailed, and a carriage and the guard's van left the line. The passengers, however, all escaped injury, and the Railway Department immediately made arrangembnts for a special train to take them to Taumarunui, seven miles further south, where they were able to obtain meals and accommodation at the local hotels. The north-bound Limited.was held at Ohakune, where the passengers were being cared for. It is expected that the line north of Taunyirunui will b.o cleared by 5 o'clock this afternoon, but south, of that station more difficulty will be experienced. There are a number of washouts and slips as far as Baurimu, and although the 2 o '«loek express from Wellington to Auckland left on time today, the passengers will nave to be transhipped about five miles south of Taumarunui. It will be some time before this section of the line can be cleared, but it is the intention of the Bailway Department to maintain the service.

The only other line affected by floods and .washouts is that between Okahukura and Stratford, and all services on it have been suspended in the meantime. *