TRAINS COLLIDE

Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1937, Page 4

TRAINS COLLIDE

TRUCKS WRECKED.

GUARD’S NOSE BROKEN

(Per Press Association—Copyright)

AUCKLAND, August 13

The tangled wreckage of trucks, a damaged engine, and broken line to-day marked the scene of an accident invoking two goods trains on the Alain t:unk line, two miles south of Huntly, just before midnight. The guard of one of the trains, F. Skeen, of Frankton, suffered a broken nose, but the ciews of both trains otherwise had remarkable escapes, the affluent wbi.h is to be the subject of a departmental inquiry, caused an upset in the Alain Trunk se.t vices throughout the morning though the line vvas clear for traffic by 1 p.m. Friday, the thirteenth, will have vivid memones tor passengers on the expresses Irom the south, who were awakened from their sleep at Taapiri in the early hours of the morning to tranship to buses which carried them f.om there to Huntly, where emergency services had been organised to take them to the city. Passengers from the first express numbering 130 arrived in the city zu minutes late, and 130 passengers from the second expiess were 1 hour 30 minutes late

The Railway Depaitment acted qui lcly in the emergency. A breakdown train arrived very soon after the accident with three breakdown crews wdio bail been aroused from their homes m the city and from two camps near Huntly. The bus services which took up the running for the express traffic also required quick organisation. Both goods trains, which were heavily laden, were outward bound from Auckland, one following within a few minutes of the other. A damaged bumper was found on .the first when about a mile from Tanpiri, and the train stopped. It was in an automatic signal area, but as yet it is not known officially whether there was any dislocation in this service. All that is known is that the second train carno suddenly on the stationary one and crashed int'o it, causing tenific damage.

Trucks Telescoped

The second train ploughed straight into the guard’s van of the first, splintering it and tossing it to the side of , tuo unis. I nice u ucks ahead were telescoped and splintered, crashing to the side of the track and partly across it. The heavy rake of tru; ks be ind the second engine crashed resoundingly, the first truck being driven under the rear of the engine and lifting it clear of the rails. Several other trucks - were stove in. The guard of the first train, J. Lind, was fortunate that lie had gone forward to investigate the damaged buffer as otherwise he would probably have been seriously injured. The driver of the second train and his fireman were thrown down in the cabin, but were uninjured. ’The shock of the impact threw Skeen down in the'guard’s van of the second train, breaking his nose and causing other facial abras.i~n.-5. He was attended by a doctor and was later taken to his home at Frankton where has was reported to be in a satisfactory condition.

The noise of the accident was heard in both Taupiri and Huntly, and ass.stance was available, within a few minutes. Indescribable confusion prevailed on the line. Trucks were uplifted or lav smashed and twisted across a wire fence that separated the permanent way from the Great South Road, but out of the confusion a semblance of order, was soon established.