Seddon Rail Wreck-— Passenger’s Evidence To Board Of Inquiry

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 April 1948, Page 3

Seddon Rail Wreck- — Passenger’s Evidence To Board Of Inquiry

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, April 2. The board inquiring into the railway accident near Seddon on February 25, when six persons were killed and 59 injured, finished its Wellington sittings today and adjourned until Monday, when it will resume its hearing at Blenheim. Alfred Desmpnd Primrose, a stationary engine driver, and for a number of years a locomotive driver in the Public Works Department, said he was a passenger in the train as far as Seddon. The witness the engine laboured heavily up a long hill after leaving Blenheim, and the ■train went very slowly, but going down the other side he was concerned about the speed at which it t_o 0 s. curves. “It entered my mind that the train might go out of control, he said. “I did not feel any brakes go on. I considered that the train was taking curves at a dangerous speed. Wheel Marks Between Rails Percy Pmy Angus, chief mechanical engineer in charge of the locomotive branch of New Zealand Railways, said a peculiarity of the accident was that there were no flange or wheel marks showing between the rails on 'he part of the track still intact after the accident except at some little distance south of the sleeper on which the first mark that could be attributed to the accident appeal ed. Flange marks from the right-hand wheel or wheels appeared on sleepers close to the left-hand rail. It would require considerable obstruction to cause such a derailment, and consequently traces oi would certainly be noticeable. _Wi ness iouno no such traces, nor did the front o the locomotive show any signs oi encountering such an object. “I consider that the accident could not possibly have been caused by an obstruction on- the track, witness It was impossible after the accident to make a complete survey of the locomotive, as its left side was well buried, he said. The reversing lever was in full forward gear, the thi ottle valve was closed, the Westinghouse brake valve handle in full release, and the reversing lever and throttle in the normal position for drifting. The normal position of the biake valve was in the running position except when making brake applications, or when releasing brakes. _ There were four conclusions pos-

sible from the position in which witness found the brake valve handle. First, that the brakes might have been applied by the engine-driver and then released; second, that the brake valve handle might have been inadvertently or purposely placed m that position by the engine-driver or the fireman at the time of the accident; third, that some portion of the Icomotive might have struck it while the engine was still travelling in a capsized position; and fourth, that someone else might have altered it after the accident. Witness was unable to say which cause was the most likely. To Mr A. G. Wicks (for the Cresswell family), witness said he did not think a lack of knowledge of the route would matter to a first-year driver, provided he was a mature man. If a man did not have road sense at 25, he could never have it. Wherever possible mature drivers should be placed on express trains. Use of Speedometers A speedometer would assist any man in checking speed, and previous boards of inquiry had recommended them, he said. The departments History with them was chequered, and later witnesses would detail this. It was clear that the tender overturned first, said witness to Mr Wild. If was unlikely that the engine and tender went over together. He could not visualise any defect in the tender’s bogie causing it to overturn first, but be could do so if it had been a derailment. The tender bogies were completely torn off and one particularly badly damaged. A driver judged his speed by the click over rail joints, the revolutions of the wheels, the beat of the engine or the exhaust note. The department acknowledged that a speedometer would be of assistance in checking speed. He thought it advisable, where posisble, that any man should have a run over a route with which he was unfamiliar.

Mr Wild: Would #ou put a man of 50 to 70 days’ driving experience in charge of a passenger express for the first time over an unfamiliar route? Witness: He had most of that experience on an excellent testing ground, and it was known that he had experience over some of the route. As a suppositious case, not referring to Gurr, I would try to give a man a run over the route first.