Two Trains Collide

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 40, 17 February 1938, Page 7

Two Trains Collide

EXPRESS CRASHES INTO GOODS ON SIDING

Per Press Association. DUNEDIN, Feb. 16.

The north express, which left Dunedin at 8.40 o’clock this morning, crashed into a goods train at Ravensbourne siding five minutes later. The goods train was standing by waiting to push off a rake of truck and had one U.B. truck attached to the tender. This truck took the full force of the terrific impact, the express engine slicing right through it to the cab of the other engine, which was reduced to a mass of twisted metal.

The crew of the goods engine had a miraculous escape, jumping clear of the cab just in time. Passengers in the first carriages of the express were thrown from their seats, but the only one injured was an elderly woman who suffered minor cuts about the face. The first two cars were derailed and 140 passengers were conveyed back to Dunedin, leaving at 10.50 o’clock by a special which was switched on to another track at Ravensbourne.

The District Railways Engineer, Mr Morey, who was a passenger in the rear carriage of the express, said that all he felt was a sudden jolt and thought that the train had been pulled up suddenly because the signals were against it because of some mechanical fault. The I second north express, timed to leave at o’clock, left at noon.

NOT KNOWN YET WHETHER INQUIRY TO BE HELD

Per Press Association. DUNEDIN, Last Night. It is not known yet whether an in-

quiry will be held. The decision will be made when the facts of the accident have been submitted to the head office in Wellington.