MAIN TRUNK DERAILMENT

Evening Star, Issue 18045, 12 August 1922, Page 3

MAIN TRUNK DERAILMENT

A SENSATIONAL MISHAP. ENGINE CRASHES INTO CATTLE. NEARLY A DISASTER. [Per United Press Association.] AUCKLAND, August 11. The south-bound Main Trunk express was derailed near Drury at 8 o’clock, narrowly escaping a serious disaster. It crashed into a group of straying cattle near a curved embankment, and the engine jumped the points on to a siding. The tender, two postal vans, and one passenger car, which was unoccupied, were thrown on to the side line. The engine-driver (A. Blackwell), on feeling the bump, at once applied the emergency brakes, and though the engine rocked fearfully, no vehicle was overturned. The tender almost went over, and was badly smashed, the bogey being buried to a depth of about 4ft. The engine was also very much damaged, and the first postal van (of which there was no occupant) was wrecked underneath. The second postal van, in which three men were engaged, had windows broken, the men receiving bad shakes, and the mails and loose letters being thrown about. The passenger coach next, an unoccupied one, was slightly damaged, the door being splintered. Nobody was injured. A relief train from Mercer arrived at 11 p.m. to convey the passengers to Prankton, whence another will convey them south. PASSENGER’S ACCOUNT. AUCKLAND, August 12. Mr G. P. Harrison, of Wellington, who was in the second carriage, said that the first thing was the sudden grinding of the brakes, and then the carriage was violently rocked about. There was some apprehension when the woodwork above the entrance door started breaking in on account of the iron and woodwork of the platform roof being forced back by the crushing weight. The suspense that followed was ended by three severe jerks and a “bang” as the train stopped. Except for one man, who hurriedly picked up his bag and started to beat a retreat, all remained in their seats. TRACK TORN' FOR 75 YARDS. VANS IMBEDDED. AUCKLAND, August 12. The officials of the Traffic Department, on receiving word of the accident at Drury, lost no time in taking steps to transfer the passengers, luggage, and mails to a second train, which was brought from Mercer. This train left Drury for Wellington about 1.40 this morning. A breakdown! gang was promptly despatched from Auckland to clear the track and repair the line. In order that there may bo as little interruption to the traffic as possible, it is expected that a temporary loop will he constructed to carry the railway traffic round the scene of the accident, as the twisted rails and debris will take some time to remove. The engine, the two postal vans, and a “ reserved ” passenger car were the ones which ran on to the siding. All are more or less severely damaged underneath. The tender has a pronounced tilt to the left, and its wheels axe completely buried. The track was tom and twisted for about seventy-five yards, while all the undergear of the engine, tender, and postal vans was shattered or shorn away. Most of these vehicles were embedded to a depth of about 4ft in the formation of the track. One postal van was carried towards the right embankment, white the other had a list to the left. That they remained upright at all during the crashing, splintering upheaval among the tangle of the track is beyond explanation. Though the engine men were shaken badly they received no bruises. Fireman Miller was slightly scalded by boiling oil from, the feed-pipe as he stood at his post in the cab. He made light of the incident. IN THE MAIL VAN. A TRYING EXPERIENCE. AUCKLAND, August 12. There were three postal clerks in charge of the mails in the second van—Messrs J. D. Robb, J. Deacon, and S. H. Dunstan. They had a memorable experience, their car being crushed and splintered. Their story was in the form of some vivid impressions. First of all there was a succession of bumps. These were followed by a violent swaying, which compelled them to take a firm hold of the hoppers. Then the mail bags, as one clerk graphically phrased it, “began to jazz”; while all the letters leapt from their pigeonholes and fluttered all over the van. Windows crashed; but just as the postal officials expected the final smash up the train came to a stop. The chaotic confusion of the mail bags and letter's in the van is indescribable. It looked as if everything had fallen from a wrecked aeroplane. The disorder was quickly set right, the clerks sorting the letters as though they had been in a comfortable room at headquarters, and not a letter was defaced. ENGINE-DRIVER’S STORY. “touohTand GO.” AUCKLAND, August 12. “It was ‘touch and go’, and how we got out of it so lightly I do not know,” said the engine-driver (A. Blackwell). “I quite thought it was all up with us, and we have had a wonderful escape. I was driving at tiro maximum speed of fortyfive miles an hour. Suddenly I felt jolts, and knew we had run' over something. I whipped on the emergency brake at once, and we started swaying from side to side. It seemed as though we were certain to tip over one bank or the other. The engine was hopping about all over the place, and I had to hang on and trust to luck. The tender collapsed and practically broke off, and the fact that it ploughed into the ground as it was pulled along helped to stop the train. From the spot where we struck the cattle to where we pulled up was only about 100yds. This shows the beauty of the Westinghouse brake. It gripped the coaches and held them rigid an their place, otherwise there is no knowing what might have happened. It is a wonder the train was not telescoped; bat ,v ie tender held the first postal van, and the other coaches in turn were dripped tight and remained steady. About 30yds before the engine came to a stop it took the points and ran on to the siding.” The opinion was expressed by the driver that the cause of the engine running on to the siding must have been that portion of the carcass of a cow became entangled with the points.