ALARMING TRAIN WRECK IN SOUTHLAND

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 176, 29 July 1935, Page 6

ALARMING TRAIN WRECK IN SOUTHLAND

Passengers Have Narrow Escape

CLIMB THROUGH WINDOWS TO SAFETY

Per Press Association. INVERCARGILL, Last Night

The Seaward Bush line was the scene of. one of the worst train wrecks in the history of Southland at 5.30 on Friday evening, when 15 waggons and a. carriage on a passenger and goods train from Invercargill jumped the rails. The smash occurred 20 miles from the city between the Gorge road and Titiroa, and 200 yards of trad; was torn up. No one was hurt, but ‘lO passengers on board had a most alarming experience. They were nearly all iu the carriage which was derailed, only a few being in a. second i-arriage which was only partially derailed. When a reporter reached the spot al midnight he was met by a scene of great confusion. Nine waggons, tilled with ashes for a slip at Fukewao, two empty cattie waggons, four other trucks and the first carriage were com plctely off the rails. The lending bogey of the carriage behind was also off the rails, but the rear bogey had remained on the track.

The derailed waggons were strewn over the steep bank and at one place four or live were piled jn a heap. The remainder were scattered round in various positions. The ashes which had tilled the bulk of the trucks were strewn everywhere, finding a strange resting-place among other goods that had been carried on the train. Even in the darkness it could be scon what a fortunate escape the passengers had. The front carriage had a heavy list to the right and was balanced precariously at the very edge of a sleep bank. Had it jumped any further off the rail's it must have fallen completely over.

The truck immediately in front of it was even nearer to overbalancing, for it v. *.s held in position by the carriage at one end and the trucks at the other iu front. The tangled wreckage along the track had a serpentine appearance. For 50 yards the rails on one side of the track were completely torn away, and for a considerable distance beyond they were spread. The sleepers had been broken, like matchwood. The train had crossed the Mataura river railway bridge aud had entered on a straight level section after a dowu grade, when the accident occurred. The first derailment must have been that of a waggon near the middle of the train. The couplings broke a few trucks back from the engine, which proceeded a short distance with the remaining load before stopping. Passengers giving an account of their experiences said that thcro was no real panic and the women and children, as well as the men, remained calm even when the compartment in which they were sitting came to rest at a perilous angle. The doors in the derailed ear were jammed and accordingly, after some difficulty, they made their way out by the windows. A breakdown train from Invercargill arrived about 10.30, and after further men had been assembled a gang of about 20 worked through the night. The scene was still one of ruin on Saturday morning, but good work was carried out and ' the line was eleiu again fairly early on Saturday evening. The broken trucks still remain alongside) the embankment. The train service will be run again on Monday.