RAILWAY SMASH

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 257, 27 September 1935, Page 10

RAILWAY SMASH

MASS OF WRECKAGE. LINE SLIGHTLY DIVERTED. Per Press Association. INVERCARGILL, Sept. 26. Good work on the part of the breakdown gang at the scene of the train derailment near Edendale resulted in the line being cleared to. allow the express from Invercargill to pass through on time before 8 o’clock this morning. The wreckage which completed blocked the line was removed as far as possible and a slight curve made in the line to enable traffic to clear the obstruction. It is anticipated that at least two weeks will elapse before the wreckage can be removed as the staff have other important work to attend to in the meantime. To-day officials were engaged in sorting out the freight which had been strewn about the line. It consisted chiefly of lime, building timber, and split posts. The twisted metals and shattered and splintered timbers showed the vemendous stresses to which the rolling stock had been subjected. The breakdown gang experienced considerable difficulty in handling two empty petrol wagons which still carried the drainings of the last load. The gang was faced with the problem of working with flares near these tanks, and it was eventually decided to leave them in their present position and divert the line slightly. From the examination of the line it appeared that the second truck left the rails more than 500 yards above the scene of the derailment, and no doubt this was the cause of the final accident. It is presumed that the coupling between the first and second trucks gave way near the foot of the incline, and that the second truck, already free from the rails, slewed crossways and caused the remaining portion of the train to pile up in a heap of indescribable confusion. REFERENCE IN HOUSE. WELLINGTON, Sept. 27.

Reference to the railway accident which occurred on Wednesday evening near Edendale was made by Mr D. McDougall in the House of Representatives yesterday. In a question addressed "to the Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes), Mr McDougall asked that the grade and curve where the accident occurred should be put in a safe condition. He suggested that it could provide useful work for tlie unemployed. Mr Forbes replied that the matter of improving the line was under consideration at the present time.