A CLOSE CALL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 28 November 1924, Page 4

A CLOSE CALL.

FOR MAIL TRAIN. HORSE DROPS DEAD. ON TAWHITI CROSSING. By prompt actions on the part of police and railway officials, what- might have -resulted in a serious smash , to the mail train was narrowly averted last night. The signals were down and the mail train was due, when Geo.. -Syme and Co.’s carter, Mr A. Hall, drove on to the railway crossing at- Tawhiti with a load of timber. The train was not in sight, and the occurrence would have been an every-day one. but for fact that the horse collapsed and measured the length of both animal and vehicle across both tracks. Constables Tocker and Lemm, who were standing on the station platform saw what had happened, and realising the danger lost no time in giving instructions to put up the sigals.- It is stated tha-t the train had already passed the distant signal when the alteration was made, but the home signal was sufficient for the driver, who polled up the train comfortably within a few yards of the stricken horse. Willing workers soon cleared the line, and in a few minutes the train pulled into the station.