THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVII, Issue LXVII, 16 May 1919, Page 5

THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT

FURTHER PARTICULARS.

BRAKES FAIL TO ACT

EXPRESS TRAIN NARROWLY

EiSCAPES

(BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

TAIHAPE, May 15. The scene of the crash reminds one of a huge pile of refuse timber at a, forsaken sawmill, spiked here and there with protruding wheels and pit••utw of ironwork. The force required to cause such dual heaping and scattering is reflected in the hugeness of the pile and. the distance the wreckage nas been thrown. Pices of iron, two inches. in diameter, were hurled seventy-five yards away. Serious as the smash is, it might have proved incalculably worse. It appears that Guard Batty had received instructions to proceed ahead of the express, and had passed the tablet to the engine-driver when ho heard Ngaruakehu station telephone persistently ringing. There being no attendant there, he answered, and i-e----ceived instructions not to proceed, as ht> might delay the express. By this piece of good fortune a greater catastrophe was averted, as the oncoming express would undoubtedly have dashed into the mass of wreckage, which consisted of at least twenty trucks. Engine-driver Walsh suffered a terrible death, being pinned down where a jej; of leaking steam played Upon him. When' rescued he was still conscious, though scalded past all hope of recovery. He behaved with admirable bravery and stoicism, merely asking to' be given a stimulant.- , . ; I

The inquest was adjourned for a week.

WELLINGTON, May 15. Later accounts, of the" Main Trunk railway accident state that Guard Batty applied the Westinghouse brake., but apparently it failed to respond, and by the time Ngaruakehu crossing and station were reached the train had gathered speed equal to about a hundred miles an hour. The signaller at tho latter station concluded that the train had run away by the excessive speed at which it was travelling, and the fact that the driver was causing a peculiar whistle to sound, as if in distress. Warnings. were consequently flashed along to Mataroa and Taihape, but the end of the train came cat the curve about five miles down from Gardiner's Crossing, when the engine ,sliot off the track. The impact was terrific with the great pressure behind, and ocular demonstration is afforded at the scene of the disaster, where the wreckage is piled up to a great height, hundreds of tons of coal and timber having been flung over the engine for a distance of three or four chains. The wreckage is terrible,, and simply beggars description,.

When Guard Batty recovered from shock following on the impact he rush~ed to the assistance of Driver Walsh and Fireman McKenna. He found that the latter had escaped misaculously, though he was suffering intense agony from burns caused by the steam and boiling water. The driver had fared worse, and was still penned up in the overturned engine, and he was not released until a couple of hours afterwards, when a special train" from Taihape had arrived with medical aid, ■notice' of the disaster having, been sent there and to Ohakune. The traffic manager at Ohakune also organised a relief train, and it arrived about midnight with a gang of men, who exit a track over the bank for the express I passengers, who reached the block several hours later, and were transhipped to a train waiting on the other aide of the wreckage. The injured " men wore conveyed-back to Taihape. Local trains to and from Taihape have been suspended on that section for .several days, but the expresses will run as I usual, passengers being obliged to trani ship. The estimated damage will hardly be covered by £1200.