RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 July 1908, Page 3

RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

ENGINE AND CARRIAGE DERAILy ed. THREE CATTLE KILLED. So long as the railway lines remain unfenced so long it seems are the public to suffer inconvenience and delay and the Railway Department will suffer loss and heavy expense in repairs to the line and rolling stock. It is only recently that a bad accident occurred near Jackson's by a bullock being run over by the night express from Otira whereby a serious delay was caused to the train and considerable damage done to an engine through being derailed. On Saturday night, however, a more serious accident took place to the same train on the Kumara-Hokitika section. The Otira express due at Greymouth at 8.10 p.m. that day was considerably late owing to slips that had occurred and it did not leave Greymouth until 9.5 p.m. for Hokitika. The train consisted of an engine, two carriages and a guard's van and carried about forty passengers from different parts. The engine was in charge of driver Andrew Torrence and fireman Bruhn and the guard of the train was J. Thompson, formerly of Kaiata. Everything Went well until within about a mile of Arahura station or at the 18 mile peg When, without warning, it ran upon Something which' subsequently proved to be three head of grown cattlq two of Which were lying on the permanent way and the other stand? ing. The engine was travelling at

the ordinary express rate of between 25 ahd 30 miles an hour and when it struck the cattle it was at once derailed and leaving the embankment, which at this point is about 6or 7ft bight it ran down and along the bush for a dis- * tance of quite a o fa chain, when it toppled over on to the'* embankment iofter down taking the front car, .in which were three passengers seated in the rear compartment. One of these who is used to railway signals, hearing the drivers shriek whistle for "breaks hard down" at once applied the car brake and it followed the engine in its wild career along the side of the line, though in doing so it was fortunate that the other carriage • couplings snapped. So that the second carriage and guard's van remained stationary on the line. Meanwhile the engine and car that were derailed were brought to a standstill through the engine falling over on its side alongside the embankment and the engine driver and fireman were thrown from the cab with some force with about five hundred weight of coal thrown over them as they both lay in a heap. Fortunately beyond a few bruises they were not otherwise hurt. Neither were the three passengers in the front car hurt, as,

acting on the advice of ihe passenger who had applied the brflkes and had showed himself otherwise so practical and cool under the circumstances, they lay prone on the floor of the carriage and though they must have felt the somewhat rough handling they escaped without injury. Several of the occupants of the other car alighted from the platform of the car others escaped through the windows. The guard promptly walked to the nearest telegraph station and tried to send word to Hokitika where arrangements were made to send drags for passengers. But though the accident occurred at 10.25 p.m. it was nearly 3 a.m. yesterday before the passengers were ensconed in the drags on their way to Hokitika which was reached later. The 'enginedriver and fireman stood guard over the wreck till the guard returned with them for orders to proceed witli the passengers to Hokitika. Yesterday morning two engines conveyed a special train.. from Greymouthto the scene of the accident. On hoard were the Traffic Manager (Mr J. Ashhfy), the Railway Engineer (Mr Benzoni), Inspector Warren, ganger Carrie' and the foreman of the works (MiMather) who with a gang of permanent way hands and experts numbering about thirty, soon got to work With their gear and by 5 o'clock last night had the crippled engine and carriage placed. on the line again and the permanent ■ way thoroughly repaired and in proper order for traffic to resume to-day. Sergeant Folley of Hokitika met the party at the scene of the accident yesterday morning.

A glance at the engine shows to what an extent the damage has been done. The front bogey wheels have been completely wrenched off, the steam jacket is dented in several places, the side. footplates are all torn and twisted about and generally speaking she shows signs of the rough usage experienced. The body of the front carriage is so badly smashed that it was left lying where the accident occurred and the bogey and wheels were brought to Greymouth to be repaired. The men had all their work cut out to do the necessary repairs in daylight but just succeeded and reached Greymouth soon after seven o'clock last night.

AFTER THE ACCIDENT. (From the West Coast Times).

As soon as the accident occurred Mr Grant (the-Stationmaster at Hokitika), who was on the train, took his bicycle, which he had with him, and rode in toHokitika. to summon assistance. He sent out a number of hired conveyances, which brought the passengers on to town, arriving here abdSi 2 a.m. In this respect we ares-asked- to especially thank Mr and Mrs Toker, of the Arahura Hotel, for their attention to the lady passengers, whom they took to their house, and afterwards drove into town to their homes. The acci-., dent brings one point into prominence, viz., the want of telephonic communication as far as the Railway Department is concerned nearer than Kum : ara. An effort was made on Saturday night to get the town by telephone from Lincoln's mill, but it was ineffec-. tual. If any of the passengers were badly hurt and it was a matter of urgency to get medical assistance, this want might have proved a very serious one. The accident also emphasises the necessity for keeping cattle and horses off the line, as these collisions have become too frequent of late, and they might not always '•• end so fortunately as they have hitherto. The driver of-Saturday \ night's train, Mr Torrance, , deserves credit for his prompt ness and presence of mind in signalling "brakes down" when was inevitable, and that probably assisted the saving of the train. It is very fortunate also that the accident occurred where it did, as a few hundred yards further on there was an embankment where, if the engine and car had overturned, the consequences would have been very serious.