RAILWAY MISHAP

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 July 1946, Page 4

RAILWAY MISHAP

LORRY AND WAGONS CAPSIZE AT BLACKBALL

A heavy lorry was extensively damaged and two empty coal wagons and a large, four-door brake van were overturned in an unusual accident at the Blackball railway yard late oh Friday afternoon. The lorry, practically a new vehicle, owned by Crofts Transport, Stillwater, and driven by Keith Austin, was being turned into the yard when the brakes failed to hold it on the gradient. It touched the wagons, was slewed round sharply and jammed between, the train and the transom supports of the overhead arrangement for the conveyance of coal from the bins. This caused the two Q wagons and the van to capsjze. The guard, Mr. E. P. Greenwood, who was in the van at the time of the accident, escaped with only a slight bump on the head, and the lorry driver was also uninjured. Traffic was held up on the line for about seven hours as a result of the mishap, and a breakdown train had to be employed, to remove the badly damaged vehicles.