SERIOUS RAILWAY COLLISION.

Evening Star, Issue 5592, 9 February 1881, Page 2

SERIOUS RAILWAY COLLISION.

__ o At a quarter to ehven o'clock on lha morning of January 20 a mixed train left Stawell for Ballirat. This train was arrange d ae follows:-Next to the engire were s>x trucks of wheat; then came the carriage, and then the van, Following this train came a special grain train, consisting of an engin9 and some teven to ten trucks. The pr.B enger, cr, a3 it shuiid properly be called, the mixed train, arriwd at at one o'clock, its usual hour, and pulbd up in the station, where it was detained for some twenty minutes, owing to the nonarrival of the ten minutes past twelve train frem Ballarat, then due, To this delay mast the accident in seme measure be attributed. All at once the whistle of the approaching special pr.ua train was heard, and the railway cfTicials gave word to

the driver of the mlx>od tiain to move out of the aUtion. Ste&m was turned on, but before they had moved more than a train's length the grain train dashed

into the station at a furious speed, aorno say forty miles an hour, and completely (smashed np the paisenger carriage and vai?. The appcarar.co of the train after the collision was such that an eye-witness would wonder how any of the passengers Led escaped with life. Toe van of the mixed train was pushed in a slanting direoJion on top of the carriage, and cau*ed the roof, eides, and opartments to be smashed to pieces, the flooring alone remaining on the wheels. The van w»i upeudod, one sot of wheels being forced into the flooring of the carriage, and another roatiug on tho r&ils, Tee engine of the grain train was knocked abaul a good doal, and the lampß and head-rails smashed. Its locomotive gear was not, however, disibled. Luckily for the guard he was not in the van at the time, or his death would have beon inevitable, The debris, broken buffers, couplings, etc., were eocn cleared away and thrown inio a heap on one side, so i.h to allow the other tia'cs to pass tluxu-jh, The grain train was not damaged. When the trains c-ilJided the guard's van cf the pssienger was pushed in such a manner on to the carriage as to force the »<mpart;meuta down on top of nearly ail the passengers and j»m them to the flooring, where ttiey remained for some time until they were extricated. o»hers were pushed out on to the ground, and one jumped out. The injured were at ence removed to the Bailtrat Hospital. The driver of the grain train found that tho load was too hea*y for his ongioe to pull up the high bank near the Beaufort station, and accordingly he backed, pulled up aad divided his train, taking onlive trucks, and leaving the others behind vrlih tha van. With these five trucks he wont over thebauk, and, asitis believed, the trucks got tho mastery of tfce engine, and weiit thundering down the gradient with a constant increasing speed, the reversing of the steam being a futile attempt to check them. The driver kept the whisila going continually to warn the etationnmter; but he could not soe if thero was any train ia the station, from the fact that there is a large pile of timber near it which completely hides any view of the station, and ia a constant source of danger on that tcoiunt. The fireman of the mixed train ctates as follows :—" We were waiting in the station for the Ballarat train to come in, when I heard tho guard and porters singing out to go ahead, Ai the eamß time I heard the noiso of an engine, with reversed steam, coming down, and we started to go ahead with &team and ndog sand. It wa« imfOisible for ua to go very far, as the bignal had juss been dropped to allow the Bod-'.rat tra-n to coaie in, and it was then approaching. We had moved down vo Tanniii'a gate—about the tula's length away—when tho othor train rin into us. My mate was knocked down on the footpath, end I was arukeu a little. I hid serieus thoughts of jumping off, bnfc thought better of it, and stuck on. 1 saw a woman jump out of the carriage be-fore the collidcm, and land on the gravel oa her left side and face. We pulled up, aad w-»ns back to render what assistance wss ia our power." Mr Therms Bates, commercial traveller, residing in E&si Melbourne, testes:—" I waa a passenger in the mixed train. When we were at the stabion the tuiia following ue wss coming up, and the slaiionmaster tc id tho driver of our train to sildo on. We moved a little way when tho ran into us, a«d that ia all I knww. Taey k-ok nie to tho hotel insensible. How I got there I don't know."

One of the passengers who escaped with a few bruises made the following o'.atemcnt to OUr r-porter last evening :—.<• Ths firat s^epicion I had of unyl.hirg baing wrong was when I noticed the gu*rd vi cur train running along tho platform £nd fcign»lii"pr the osgine-drlver to go ahead. Trie engine 1.n.1 just moved when wo in the carriage foil a shock liko a stroke of lightning. Not a sound was mierecl, for there w.ia not time juct then for aa erehmaiion, before wc were under a pile of broken timber, %ith tho guard's van on top of as. Jaac before the smash up I recollect seeing Mrs Spencer spasmodically throw up her hands ov*r hsr head, as if fc."> shield her«olf from the ora»h« ing timber about hsr, and I paw the \vhe»lef the guard's vau ooma like a fi-sh, revolving so rapidly that I could net observe *he a pokes. The wheel struck her hand, and forcing it against a piece of the carriage must have cut it off iu ais infant. As for my sol', I was bent double muler tho brjkeu timber and p*n?lling. and the pressure on my foot was so greaS that ray boot was burst from the toe to ttie \uiddU of tr.v for.t."

The pas«engfra had heard the warring whistle of the approaching ftiigijtP, and observed tho h*aty departure of their own train, and ni*ny were looking ouk of ths oarriage windows when the disaster occurred. One gentleman muflied !ie head ia his I travelling rug as & protection, and Mr Alexander Wilton, of Moani Emu, placed himself in what ho considered a saf« posiiioa. ( The collision wme nlih a crash, aud feh* paesengers trere thrown upon each other. Mr Wilson fell beosath thnoe or four other?, find as 4ha bottom of »he carriage was fyroed opt-n he roiled cut between the rails, escaping v?ith a few scratches. Anothar gentleman, a M. 1 Rhodti, seix*d a little girl, jumped upon the seat, and held her in his arms. In an inEt&ut the seats were driver: togsihtr, snd the whole carriage collsn-jsd. B iJh Mr Rhode and the child escaped vri'-keuk any material injury. A Mrs Spencer, an elderly lady, of Stawel), was thrown oat of the ctrrlsgc, and the wheel of the via boi-.g driven ovsr one : f hsr wrists, cut her left hand completely off. Her skull was also fractured, and she was much braised and injured In other ways. Mr Thomts Bates, a commercial traveller, was picked up insensible. At Srst ha was conaidered dead, but on removal to tho railway piriform he recovered con- [ ecicusness, and later in the day was enabled !to procord to Melbourne. A daughter of j I Mm Spencer,namedMiEsSusinTiratnins, eus- ] taincd s me contusions on the head, a cut j face, and a blackened eye. A servant j girl named Elizabeth Wallace jumped j out of the train as the collision ooenrrsi, j receiving a severe bruising and a sprained I auklo. A Mrs Mmjz'cl, of Buninyoag, was travelling with her three children. Tier little girl was rescued by Mr Rhode, a& a'ready mentioned ; cno of her Rons wss I plightly Injured, end the other very severely, f Hi? upper jv.v w,-:s frsc'nred, tbr: whole of f \\b froth x:e;a kr.ooksd out, and lm logs !:;uoh damaged. other rocjived a fchaking mere or Isst 2.:v>r.-. Among trcse were Mr and M;a SUdcn, relatives of Sir Cbarlss .Siadon. The irjnrfd pi':ssiiger3 were afkrwards rcnovtd by train to the Ballarau Histrici Hospital, v/hore Mra Spencer ths bey Masw'ni still lie tr- f, nic.'jt prcctrioL'S ooficitlcii. The oilers are

The trr-.iu v/'iu-h ciiiaed the v-'cis n w'ic-ifc train Ai-srat, driven by J>.niea Nesmaii, the hiconiotif a foreman at th.it pi;-'je. Ii left Ararat *i twelve ninnies later than the. piv-jSCßger Ut.vj, and Nt-wmap that about; tweuty t>: r,3 to i nraah wheat r*v3 pub upon the ttuchs. Aboui throa milejfrora Beanforii the deepaßt cuttlrg on the lino commenoes, and traina havo to ascend and descend a hill with a gradient of 1 it 50. Bsfczo entering the cutting he believed that his looomotivo waa not; of sumcient power to draw the whole of the trucks up the incline, and he therefore divided the traiD, leaving the hindmost portion behind with the guard's va3 in the oare of the

guard. Aa soon m the descent commenced Newman diic-ivered that be bad lost all control of the locomotive, and although he reversed the steam the spaed increased, and the engine and tracks dashed down the gradient ana into the s'a icn at a terrific speed. A board has been appointed to inquire into the whole of the circumstances attending the disaster, and it is expeoted that Newman wril bo proceeded against for aegligeccj, ________________