MANGAWEKA SMASH

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 239, 4 September 1930, Page 2

MANGAWEKA SMASH

DERAILMENT OF TRAIN. TRUCKS SPLINTERED. A narrow and deep cutting with a downhill grade winding round curves—truly a worse place for a railway accident could hardly be found, and when a heavily loaded and long goods train, with two big “A. 8.” engines thundering downhill at the head of it comes to grief in such a spot, the result needs no active stretch of imagination to visualise. But the first thought that presented itself to a “Standard” reporter when the scene of the accident at Mangaweka was visited yesterday was what would have been the result had it been an express with its freight of human lives. Torn and twisted rails, gaping and dismembered trucks and endless tons of coal lay piled in confusion in this deep cutting about ten chains on the Mangaweka side of the viaduct which spans a deep gully a little over a mile above the township. The cause of the trouble is and will probably remain a mystery, but an examination of the permanent way shows evidence of wheel marks about five chains from the viaduct and gradually becoming more severe until the marks terminate in the shambles about 10 chains further down. It seems inconceivable to the layman that 26 heavily loaded waggons, principally of the “L” and “LA” type, with one or two goods vans and at least one double waggon could telescope and become a splintered, shattered mass of wood and iron without the crew of the engines knowing anything of what was happening behind, yet such was what occurred. The two 90 ton monsters at the head of the train continued on their downhill career with the crews oblivious to the havoc being wrought behind them, although the noise of the smashing and. splintering of the tortured trucks must have been clearly audible in the town over a mile away, yet, it was not until the Westinghouse brakes operated automatically •on the engines and brought them to a standstill that the crews got out to investigate the trouble. The centre of the train was wrecked beyond description—and mostly repair, too —and again reference must be made to the toll that would have been taken of life had it been an express train, or even if there had been trucks of stock in transport the shambles would have been infinitely more ghastly. DAMAGE IN THE CUTTING. In the deepest part of the cutting the damage was greatest for here the trucks were lying broadside on and in all shapes—partly on top of one another, the end of one protruding through the side of another. Some were almost upside down, while strangest of all the heavy railway lines had given way at the fishplates in one section and the lines had risen bodily as the result of the strain they were subjected to for the ends of eacli to drive clean through two trucks, one of the wooden “L” type and the other through the end of a steel “LA” truck. The.undercarriages and superstructure of both steel and wooden waggons were ripped and torn in varving stages; splintered sides and shattered ends told their own tale of the terrific force that had been let loose, while the : cutting itself was a mass of coal with which tho train had been principally loaded. In a closed van a petrol engine in a crate had been severely damaged, but, strangely enough, a large consignment of timber which had been near the engines was least damaged of all. DAMAGED SLEEPERS.

For several chains the permanent way was a mass of torn ana mangled sleepers and rails, and in tnis respect the acciuent could not have happened in a worse place. The steep siues oi the cutting which commences practically from the Mangaweka end of the viaduct and continues light down to the level ground below, on winch the town and station, are situated, precluded the building of a loop line to allow the passage of other trains past the wreck. x he re was only one thing to do, and under the capable charge of an officer of the Railway Department, a large gang of men was working feverishly to clear the wreckage away. Goal was being shovelled up the banks of the cutting or clear of the permanent way, while working from the Mangaweka end of the wreck a powerful steam crane was picking up the shattered remnants of the waggons and depositing them on the top of the cutting, from where later they would be reloaded into waggons and taken away. To empty of coal the trucks which were lying broadside across tho cutting the crane was hooked on to the wheels, and its powerful lift did the reft, the waggon cascading its load of coal on to the already coal-laden floor of the cutting. Another hold and away tne battered mass of steel or wood would be swung outwards and dumped and the same procedure was adopted to shift the rails which, bent almost in half circles, thrust their free ends skywards through the trucks. WORK CONTINUES ALL NIGHT. As the wreckage was cleared a temporary line was laid to allow the crane to proceed with the shifting of the derelict waggons further up the line which were being emptied of their load of coal in the meantime by other men. Under the glare of powerful acetylene lamps work had continued all night, ana it must have been an impressive sight to see the powerful crane lifting and dumping the battered remains ol the waggons like boxes while the men toiled incessantly to clear the cutting of wreckage. Already the greater part of the wrecked train was lying on the top of the cutting, as the result of the night’s activities, but with no let-up the men were carrying on. In the meantime a train laid stopped at the viaduct end, from where the passengers and mails were being taken by motor vehicles to the Mangaweka station to resume their journey southward in another train, while northward bound passengers were doing the reverse. It was expected that the wreckage would be cleared late in the afternoon or early in the evening, and then there would remain the laying of a line to get the through traffic past. HEAVY EXPENDITURE. Coming as it does when the railways are already under the fire of public opinion regarding the returns therefrom, the accident" is doubly unfortunate tor it will undoubtedly entail the department in heavy expenditure. The majority of the waggons were so badly smashed that repairing them would seem to be out of the question, and added to this item of expense will be that of compensation for the goods in transit. In marked contrast to other train wrecks that have occurred in New Zealdand—and Palmerstonians will particularly remember the one at Kelvin Grove when a diversity of goods littered the track, together with the damaged waggons—the wreck loss at Mangaweka, apart from the trucks, is plainly in coal which in itself is undamageable, the greatest loss perhaps being in the shrinkage of weight through the coal being spilled pell mell. No live stock loss was incurred and there seemed to be no evidence of valuable goods in transit unless they had been removed,

and this was unlikely as the disembered trucks were all on the spot, and nearly all had contained coal, witn one or two carrying timber. PREVIOUS ACCIDENT.

Tho locality was stated to have been the scene of an accident about twelve or thirteen years ago, but on this occasion the derailment of an engine occurred further downhill to the bottom of which tho line winds in a series of snake-like curves. During the day crowds of interested spectators arrived at the scene of the accident and frequentlv the expression “how fortunate it wasn’t a passenger train was heard. A walk across the footway over the 150 feet deep viaduct, across which the train had just rumbled before the trouble which caused the derailment had occurred, unpleasantly brought .to one’s mind the potentialities that were there for a more serious smash if the trouble had occurred the same distance north of the viaduct instead of to the south as it did. In that case the climax would have been reached in .the middle of the steel structure which spans the dizzy depths ’beneath. After viewing the effect of the terrific force and strain the waggons and the permanent way had been subjected to under tho pull of the two powerful engines in front, it was quite within the bounds of reason to visualise the whole structure collapsing and the train plunging into the gully beneath.