RAILWAY COLLISION

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 August 1938, Page 7

RAILWAY COLLISION

CARRIAGES TELESCOPED AUCKLAND MISHAP [PER PREUS ASSOCIATION.] , AUCKLAND, August 2. Struck by the engine of a suburban passenger train which was following on the same line, two empty carriages and the guard’s van at the rear of a stationary goods train were telescoped at the northern extremity of the Takanini station yards shortly after 2 o’clock this afternoon. There were no passengers in the wrecked cars, and. although the locomotive of the suburban train was partially buried in the wreckage of the guard’s, van, it did not leave the rails, and the engine crew was unhurt. The accident occurred almost directly on the level crossing which cuts across the road leading from the Great South road to the Takanini post office, about three miles north of Papakura. The goods train, which had left Auckland at 12.5 p.m. for Frankton, was standing for about half an hour at Takanini while shunting proceeded, the last units in a long line of trucks and. carriages lying . about 200 yards north of the station itself. No official explanation as l to the cause of the accident was furnished; but several Takanini residents heard the suburban train approaching along the straight stretch of track between Mahia and Takanini. When the engine turned the slight bend which brings the Takanini station and the automatic signal into view for southbound traffic, the train rapidly reduced speed. However, the use * of maximum braking powei 1 could not avert an accident and although the train was actually travelling slowly when the impact occurred, the wooden cars at the rear of the stationary train were smashed like matchwood, crumpling into a mass of twisted iron and splintered woodwork. The unoccupied guard’s van was reduced to less than a shell, the top and portion of the battered sides being wrapped around the engine almost as far back as the cab.

i The two preceding carriages were also telescoped, as one was forced through the other seats and fittings' were torn from their mountings. The floor and chassis were torn from the bodywork, and the wreckage of the top and the sides of the foremost carriage hung drunkenly from the roof of the car behind it. Sections of the wooden cars were reduced to firewood, and even staunch iron stanchions and heavy steel members of the chassis of the carriages were twisted and snapped. The chaos was increased by a litter of small debris which lay between the telescoped van and the carriages. The front portion of the engine was fairly extensively damaged, but the three carriages which it was drawing were not affected. SCHOOLCHILDREN ESCAPE. Included among the passengers were 20 schoolchildren returning to Takanini after attending the fortnightly manual training classes at the Otahuhu Technical School. Although all escaped even slight injury, several who were travelling in the second car from the engine were flung from their seats on to the floor when the- impact occurred.

As the accident occurred on a section of the line where a double track is used, no serious dislocation of the Main Trunk traffic resulted. It was a coincidence that a heavy duty mobile crane, used by the department in emergencies, should be included in the rolling stock drawn by the goods train that was struck, and it was immediately shunted on to a siding to raise Steam. A breakdown gang was also dispatched from Auckland, and upon its arrival oxy-acetylene torches were employed to cut through the sections of twisted steel, so that the removal of damaged cars would be facilitated. With the assistance of the crane and powerful jacks, the work was continued after nightfall. It was found necessary to cut some of the bogies and undercarriage from the wreckage, but 'shortly after 8.30 p.m., it was possible for the disabled engine and telescoped cars to be drawn to Otahuhu, thus leaving both lines clear for traffic.

Two expresses were delayed for about 45 minutes in the afternoon. The afternoon train to Wellington was detained at Manurewa until the line was clear, while the northbound express from Rotorua was held at Papakura. Some interruption was also caused to the normal suburban timetable, which ist to a degree dependent upon the double track; but no delay was caused to the southbound Limited express to-night. It is understood that a departmental inquiry will be held into the accident. Five trotting horses from Takanini, which were travelling south for the Addington meeting, v were in the forward part of the- stationary train. They were uninjured, and continued the journey to Wellington, en route to the South Island later in the afternoon. The sulkies and other equipment being transported for the team was undamaged.