RUNAWAY LOCO.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume VLI, Issue 3416, 4 December 1935, Page 4

RUNAWAY LOCO.

SENSATION AT TOREHAPE

DRIVER REMOVED TO THAMES

HOSPITAL.

A sensation was caused at Torehape on Monday when the locomotive used for hauling clay from the pit got out of control with a full load and caresred down the line, eventually leaving the rails and overturning. The driver, Mr R. Rae, aged about 45 years, a married man whose family resides at Auckland, was rendered unconscious and was removed to the Thames Public Hospital.

The pit is owned by the Lands Drainage Department and is worked by members of the Torehape relief camp. When the locomotive left the pit it hauled a rake of seven trucks filled with clay. The impetus of this load precluded the engine from being stopped as, it is stated, it was insufficiently “spragged.”

It careered down the track for about three-quarters of a mile before leaping the track and overturning. The driver, who stuck to his post, was extricated and treated by Dr. S. L. Haslett, of Turua, who was summoned to the scene. Mr Rae, who was suffering from concussion, was later removed to the Thames Hospital by ambulance.