EXTRAORDINARY RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14331, 27 March 1907, Page 7

EXTRAORDINARY RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

EXCITEMENT AT LYTTELTON. The ordinary routine of running the express train on tho No. 2 wharf at Lyttelton, and transferring the passengers to the waiting “ ferry ” steamer wan disturbed yesterday evening by a startling incident. Tho engine drawing the train, instead of stopping at tho accustomed place, continued itra career till it ran half off the end of the wharf, and projected in extraordinary fashion over the waters of the harbour. The incident occupied but a few seconds. The engine, with a guard’s van next it, and a score of carriages behind, ran on to the wharf in apparently the usual style, but instead of stopping, went on as if it would draw the train into the water. Over the end of the wharf it plunged, but when half-way its course was arrested. Tho bogie, with the erdindors, indeed at bat may be styled the whole locomotive works of tho engine, broke loose and dropped into the water with a mighty splash, leaving the boiler projecting some eighteen or twenty feet out from the wharf end, the driver’s cab just at the edge, and the tender resting on the wharf. Fortunately, the coupling between the tender and the van hold fast, and the former, with the boiler, Avas thus prevented from falling into the water. The driver, G. Hill, and the fireman, Butler, both stuck to their places till the engine stopped. Naturally, the occurrence caused much excitement on the wharf, whereon the usual crowd was assembled to witness the departure of the steamer—yesterday the Mararoa. The passengers in the train displayed great alacrity in quitting the carriages, and an individual on the ran along calling out to them to jump off as the train avbs going over the end of tho wharf. The stoppage of the carriages, however, prevented anything like a serious panic. Information of tho mishap was meanwhile spread far and wide by the engine’s whistle, which shrilled continuously for several minutes. People came running from all quarters, and the end of the wharf was quickly thronged with a crowd eager to vieiv the unwonted spectacle. Baihvay men, police and harbour officials Avere soon on the scene, and the work of securing the half suspended engine Avas put in hand at once. It Avas at first hampered by tho crowding of the curious public, but after a ! Avhil© a space AA r as cleared for tho operations of the workers, and later in tho evening a rope Avas stretched across tho wharf, and persons who had ! no business connection Avith tho occurrence were kept outside of it. Tho work of replacing the engine on the lino was not attempted last night, but it Avas fastened to the Avharf Avith ropes anti chains, Avhilo the attached van and the carriage next to it were left in position, presumably to assist in the task of" keeping the engine from slipping over the edge of the wharf. It is stated that the crane which is needed to lift the engine back into its proper position is at present undergoing an overhaul in the Addington workshops, but it is stated that an endeavour to release the suspended engine from its picturesque but precarious position will be made to-day. _ There was, naturally, much speculation as to the cause of the accident, and the generally-accepted theory was that something had “gone wrong” with the Westinghouse brake. The driver _in charge of tho engine beans the reputation of a careful and experienced man, and he is accustomed to the job of taking tho train on to the Avharf. He Avas, it is stated seen to carefully examine his brake before taking the train from the Gladstone Pier to the wharf where the accident happened. An eye-witness of the occurrence stated that the brakes Avere applied at tho usual point, just as the engine cleared the “shelter shed” of No. 2 wharf, and that, for a moment, they appeared to check the train, bun that a rebound seemed to take place, and tho brakes apparently then railed to act, the train continuing its course till the engine Avas half over the water’s edge. The rails on which the train was running ceased about 30ft from the end of tho Avharf, a vacant space being loft for the operation of a “ traverse table ” for shifting trucks from one of the parallel lines of rail to another. This table Avas, at the time of the accident, not opposite the line on which the train Avas, consequently the runaway engine had to run across several feet of planking, till it came to a short length of line, terminating about 6ffc from the end of the Avharf, in “ stop blocks,” two massive baulks of hardwood, laid horizontally across the line, one about 12in by 9in, Avith another behind it about 14in through, secured to the wharf by strong bolts, and backed by massive wooden “chocks.” This obstruction, with a oouplo of planks to which it was bolted, Avas torn bodily away by the coAv-catchor of the engine and carried into the Avater.

In the opinion of some witnesses of the accident, the occurrence is a strong argument in favour of a course of action advocated in certain quarters, the substitution of the Gladstone Pier for No. 2 jetty as the wharf for the “ferry” steamers. Trains, it is contended, could be run alongside the Gladstone Pier without the possibility of their going over the end of the wharf into the water, and, iu other ways, it is stated, the work of entraining and detraining passengers could be more expeditiously and safely carried on at the pier along the eastern breakwater than at the wharf at present used for the purpose. In connection with the cause of the mishap, it may he mentioned that a statement was circulated to the effect that it was duo to the fact that the engine used to take the train to the wharf, not tho one which, brings it to Lyttelton, was not connected with tho Wostinghouse brake. This was proved to be absolutely erroneous. Tbo engine which partially went over . the wharf was on© of the R class, a Fairlie, weighing with the tender about 25 tons.