TRAIN RUNS AWAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 84, 9 April 1938, Page 10

TRAIN RUNS AWAY

ENGINE'S PURSUIT

CRASH ON SIDING

APPARENT BRAKING FAULT

(By Telegraph.) (Special to the "Evening Post.") CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Additional details of the train breakaway yesterday afternoon show that sixteen wagons, a guard's van, and a carriage which had been left on the main line at Winchester during shunting operations started to move back down the line towards Temuka, about three miles away, some failure in the braking being thought responsible. The stationmaster at Winchester hurriedly advised Temuka by telephone and the engine, after being detached from, the remaining wagons, set out in pursuit of the runaway, the driver hoping to couple up with it while it was moving. Its start was too big, and the engine was unable to catch the moving rake. PROMPT ACTION. The staff at Temuka acted very promptly dnd switched the runaway on to a blind siding at 1.10 p.m. The runaway ran on down the siding and crashed through the heavy stop block at the High Street end. The guard's van was thrown on its side right across the . road, and the carriage, which was next to it, tilted over and mounted the van. The two box wagons following the carriage telescoped under the following truck and were smashed to splinters. The bogie of the wagon which was next was thrown I right across the main line, three trucks were badly damaged, and anbther two were derailed. The bogies were torn off all the smashed rolling stock except the carriage, which was the least damaged. *> POSSIBLE COLLISION. Had the runaway not been diverted, the damage would have been more serious, as the bridge over the Temuka River, 400 yards from the scene, is under repair, and trains are subject to a six miles an hour speed limit crossing it. If the runaway had crossed the bridge successfully, it would have collided head-on with another train coming from Washdyke to Temuka, which had been stopped by the Temuka railway staff when it was advised of the runaway. Gangs from the bridge immediately began cleaning up the main line to allow the first express from the south to get through. With the help of the engine from the runaway, train, the bogie of the wagon lying across the main line was pulled by wire ropes on to the main line and it was then pushed clear by the engine of the train from Washdyke. Both bogies had been ripped off it and it had ploughed deeply into the side of the.main track. It was rolled on to its side and pushed off into a paddock. Eleven wagons on the runaway rake remained on the rails and were undamaged. UNAWARE OF BREAKAWAY. The sole passenger in the carriage was Lieutenant Fraser Mclntosh, of Ashburton, who escaped injury. Interviewed after the accident, Lieutenant Mclntosh said he was not aware that anything was amiss when the tram started to run backwards, and he went on reading his. book. The speed did not become alarming at any stage, and he felt only a slight bump before one end of the carriage rose in the air. When it came to rest, tilted to one side, he climbed out through a window unhurt.