STARTLING STATEMENT.
VIADUCT ROTTEN AND ANTEATEN. EVIDENCE, AT RAILWAY INQUIRY BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. SYDNEY, June 28. At the inquest on the victims of the Aberdeen railway smash On June 10, Police-Sergeant Grady gave- evidence that he examined the viaduct immediately after the accident and found the rails had .spread at. the spot where the train first left the rail, that the sleepers were decayed, and that the wood of the viaduct was rotten and white ant-eaten.
Other Avitnesses- testified jthat the viaduct was ivhito ant-eaten and had been unsafe for months.
Mr. E. Butcher, the railAVay engineer for the northern district, expressed the opinion that the derailment was caused by the high speed at Avhich the. train Avas travelling, Avhich synchronised Avitli the- depression- in the tracks.
Mr. Butcher, continuing,' said he did not think the condition of the bridge or of the piers contributed in any way to the accident, and' even ii the bridge had been of steel the accident . Avould possibly have not been averted. He concluded by stating that the results Avefe so serious because, after the derailment, the viaduct Avas in the Avav before the train could be brought to a standstill. He suggested that the accident Avas caused by excessive speed. *
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Bibliographic details
Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 29 June 1926, Page 5
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207STARTLING STATEMENT. Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 29 June 1926, Page 5
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