TRAM SMASH

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 37, 12 August 1943, Page 4

TRAM SMASH

DRIVER FOR TRIAL

TECHNICAL EVIDENCE

The main evidence called for the Crown in the Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon at the hearing Of the manslaughter charge against Donald Norman Mac Lean, 33, driver of the tram which overturned at Kilbirnie on June 12, was" of a technical nature. The accused pleaded not guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial by Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M. John Warwick Francis Welch, the tramway engineer responsible to the general manager for the running of the system, said he considered there was no question whatever that the points did not operate because the motorman either passed under the controller with the power on, thus leaving the points in the same position as they were left by the previous tram, or his speed under the ■ controller was so great that the original contact was not made. Examination of the bogy showed that it was in order, and the flanges of the rails were well within the limits of permissible wear. The braking was also in good order, and the motorman's control had been installed in another tram since .the accident and worked satisfactorily. He did not consider that the position of the motorman's control at two or three notches after the accident, and the brake valve at full release, could be taken as reliable evidence of the position of those controls at the time of the accident—the controls might have been moved by persons extricating themselves or helping others out. The minimum speed at which a car would overturn with a load of 50 standing and 25 sitting was 20.35 miles an hour round a curve, and he was satisfied that the cause of the derailment was the tram being driven round the curve in excess Of that speed. The maximum speed of a tram of the Fiducia type on a level stretch with a fullload was 24 miles an hour.

Ernest Francis Hamilton, engineer and brake specialist employed by the Railway Department, who examined the braking system after the accident, said the examination showed that the brakes were in good order when the accident happened. . The accused, who was - represented by Mr. F. W. Ongley, was allowed bail in self £100, with one surety of £100.