A Race with a Tram.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8141, 15 November 1905, Page 6

A Race with a Tram.

An Exciting Incident.

(Per Press Association.) DUNEDiN, Nov. 11,

An exciting race with a train is reported from Southland as the result of three horses straying on to the railway line. The train, on suddenly rounding a sharp curve, startled the animals, and as there was a. deep ditch on each side of iho rails at that particular spot, the harses took the only course open to them and galloped away at full speed in front of the train. AU the horses had covers on, liut this encumbrance made very little, if any, difference in their pace. All went well for a time, but when on turning a sharp curve the horses met with an obstacle in the shape of a bridge it appeared certain that they cou!d not possibly escape destruction. The engine driver applied the Westinghouse brake with all haste, but by a marvellous piece of good fortune the horses managed to check their speed, and almost instantly tho leader, closely followed by its companions, jumped to the centre of the track, and galloped across the two planks in the middle of the bridge. It was a marvellous feat (says the Times' correspondent), and the passengers wondered in breathless suspense, unable to realise for the moment what had happened. The horses disappeared from view in a cutting, and the passengers thought they had seen the last of them. Such, however, was not the case, for when the train emerged from the cutting the animals were then a quarter of a mile ahead, and still galloping as if for dear life. The race was continued, and just as the train was again overhauling the horses another bridge appeared in sight, and once more the. Westinghouse brakes were applied by the driver. The horses were racing abreast, and this bridge was a short one, a sort of culvert about 20fc wide. With unerring instinct and judgment the horses with one accord seemed to gather themselves for the spring, and without slackening pace one iota cleared the culvert at a bound, and galloped round the next bond. Eventually they were turned off the line by some surfacemen. As the train dashed past them the passengers saw the poor beasts panting terribly as a result of their wonderful race. The gallop had lasted for six miles, and as the train pulled up at Waipahi six minutes late, each and all agreed that the sight was one which they would not soon forget.