HUTT RAIL SMASH

Grey River Argus, 14 December 1943, Page 2

HUTT RAIL SMASH

ENQUIRY RESUMED

Was Track to Blame ?-

EVIDENCE OF ENGINE CREW. P.A. WELLINGTON, Dec. 13. The inquiry into the Hutt line derailment of November 8 was resumed to-aay. The driver of the train, James Bain Ritchie was called to give evidence. He said he had been in the railway service for 23 years and had been driving on the Wellington-Up-per Hutt section for about five years. He made a normal examination of engine W.A.B. 794 before taking it out of the shed and found nothing unusual. He drove a goods train to. Upper Hutt, leaving Wellington at about 1.45 a.m., and passing the scene of the subsequent accident at about 20 m.p.h. He noticed nothing unusual about the track at that point. He examined the engine again at Upper Hutt. Everything appeared to be 'in order. There were eight cars on the passenger train which he drove from Upper Hutt, leaving at 7.25 a.m. He carried out the usual terminal task of breaking, etc., at Upper Hutt. Approaching the vicinity of the accident his speed would be 30 to 35 m.p.h. He .had previously shut off steam. The first unusual thing he felt was about 50 yards from new ballast that was put down ■■•’’ter the derailment of August 20. The engine gave a lurch, as if it was wring into a depression on the river side‘of the track. He knew there was something wrong underneath, as bailast benan to fiv, and the engine rocked violently. An emergency application of the brakes was made immediatelv. From the point ot the lurch till the brakes were applied the distance covered w'ould be a few feet. He managed to hang on to the engine when it toppled over. Wnen it came to a stop, he went to Hayward’s bj r car. arid rang through for assistance. He had driven the same engine before, and had never had any trouble with it. Driving a different type of engine in the previous week, he found nothing unusual about the track. The spring gear of W.A.B. 794 was in order when he examined the engine before taking it out on November 8. To Mr. Watson witness said he had no occasion to make up time before the derailment. He endorsed the views expressed in the letter from the E.F.C.A.. to the railways management regarding the state of the track between Wellington and Upper Hutt. That was to say in some places the state of the track was such as to warrant a reduction in speed. He did not think that the W.A.B. 794 was an-r rougher to drive than any other engine.

To Mr. Mcllvride. he said he was satisfied the oil had reached the external parts of the. compensating gear during the oiling-up on the morning .of November 8. Alfred Ernest Sutton, fireman on the engine, said the speed approaching the point of the derailment was approximately 30 m.p.h. He first noticed an unusual vibration under the floor of the cab. It rapidly became worse, until, finally;, the engine rolled over, ploughed into tne bank on the right-hand side, and came to a stop. He more or less retained his place on the engine. The driver had applied the brakes into the emergency' position before witness could say anything to him about the vibration. Sutton said that practically all his railway service in New Zealand had been on the Upper Hutt section. In the month preceding the derailment he had not noticed anything unusual about the track in the vicinity of the derailment. He did not remember feeling a bump there. To Mr. Watson; Since resuming work in October, after overseas service, he had noticed a good many, kicks and bumps on the WellingtonUpper Hutt section. Robert Gordon, who drove W.A.B. 794 on the Friday and Saturday before the accident said that on the Friday he noticed , one or two defects 'in the engine. He recorded them, and they were attended to. On tne following day, he booked further minor work to be done on the engine. None of the defects was serious enough to make driving dangerous. W.A.B. 794 was an exceptionally good riding engine. LOCO ENGINEER’S. EVIDENCE. Robert Frankston Black, locomotive engineer -in charge of the locomotive branch of the Southern Division of the North Island, said that after the accident on August 20 he found a broken casting on the trailing bogie of the engine. An examination of the broken casting disclosed an old flaw in the metal. Witness said that no other defect was found in the engine on that occasion. He had examined it after repair and found it in first class condition. The defects exhibited on that occasion did not in any way contribute to the November 8 accident. His examination of the locomotive and carriages after the November accident disclosed no defects which would contribute to the derailment. In the absence of any specific evidence as to the cause his view was that track conditions just before the point of derailment should be considered to see if they could possibly affect the engine in such a way as to cause derailment. Mr Watson: You mean you have formed a theory of the cause ? I think the condition of the track started the derailment. Mr. Watson: You heard Mr. Bertinshaw (Chief Engineer of Railways) suggest that the compensating gear jammed or failed and that that caused the derailment. From your examination of this particular locomotive can you find anv evidence that .it did ? There is no evidence that it did. Witness said the fact that there had been two derailments close together might appear to a layman as prima facie evidence that they were due to the track, but he was still satisfied that the first derailment was due to a defective casting, i Mr. Watson: What track condition in your opinion was the cause of the second derailment ? Witness: The fairly sharp kick out in cant, 40 feet back from the point of derailment. The cant there was gths. of an inch in 12 feet, followed by a continuous run out of cant. In my experience of derailment, cant is the important factor. I think it gave the engine a roll to the inside of the curve. In his opinion the roll of the engine would bring it to the- inside of the curve, thereby increasing the effect of the run out of cant, and W.A.B. engines required an easy run out of cant. . The Chairman: “The evidence would indicate that unless, this Hutt line is kept up to a high standard, it will not be safe to run these W.A.B s. on it ?” ' Witness: “Not bunker-first, If the run out of cant is going to be one •inch in much less than 24 feet,” To Mr. Hogg, witness said that allsteel carriages might have avoided a lot of damage to the first car, but might have put the damage elsewhere in the train. I ..Answering the Chairman, witness said that there had been a. trend away from all-steel construction because there had been heavy fatalities with it." There had been two bad accidents with them in the United States. The trend was towards heavy steel ends, and lighter middle construction. 1 'lt is hoped to complete the taking of evidence to-morrow.