THE RAILWAY DISASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18459, 24 July 1923, Page 9

THE RAILWAY DISASTER.

. .. ' : ' COMMISSION OF INQUIRY. EVIDENCE AT AUCKLAND. ■ — : — y&p'zA u- :; '-•••• '• ; ' v • ; STRENGTH OF carriages. I . '' '• , ; ..'A-',... • v 'V;S V«" If Jf'STRONG AS THEY COULD BE" DRIVER'S STORY j OF ACCIDENT. i'~ The Board of Inquiry appointed to in- •; vestigate the: circumstances surrounding • the disaster to the Main Trunk express pear Ongarue Railway Station on the morning of July 6, sat in Auckland yesterday. The evidence, of a large number : Vof witnesses, principally railway officials, > including the guard and the engine-driver, . was heard, and the inquiry was then ad- - journed to Wellington, sine die. : Mr. W. G. Riddell,™ S.M., presided, , ■ and with him was Mr. J. Marchbanks. V The other member of the board, Mr. J. P. Maxwell, was absent owing to illness Mr. H. H. Sterling represented the Raily_ ways Department. \... William Harding, stationmaster at 'Auckland, said that • before the Main : Trunk express was despatched from Auckland on July 5, he ascertained that, the train was fit to be despatched and that the train examiners had completed their : examination. James Forrester Mackley, locomotive engineer at Auckland, outlined, the arrangements made for sending a Iveakdown train with the necessary men and equipT ment to Ongarue, and the steps taken I to clear the wreckage. The special train • was despatched from Auckland between 11 a.m. and noon on July 6. The dam- . aged carriages were cleared away by the next afternoon. Witness described the damage to the engi.ae, postal van and the first three carriages. The front of the engine was considerably damaged and the smoke box door, which was made of cast iron, about half an inch thick, was . broken. 1 ' Mr. Marchbanks: Would it take a very heavy blow to break the smoke box door i—No, 1 do not think it would. , v Escape o£ the Postal Van. r r* i. r«L _ ' nro_ _ _____ .f it..

To the -Chairman: .The severance of the ■= air pipes would automatically apply the brakes irrespective of whether or not the engine-driver had applied them. Judgi ing from the" damage of the front part of the engine lie thought there was no doubt it struck a, boulder. He thought the boulder which damaged the smoke-bo: door was either carried along on the front of the engine or was pushed along on the track for some distance and then ; thrown off to the right. To Sir. Marchbanbs: There was a possibility of. the gas in the cylinders becoming ignited if the gas came in contact 'with a naked light- or a, cinder but he did not think thure was any possibility . of the gas igniting otherwise. - Chairman: How do you account, for the . postal car escaping so" lightly T— do not think the same pressure could have been exerted on it as was applied to the following carriages. Had it been, the car must have shared the same fate. The front of the carriage behind the van struck the bank and' So took some of the pressure from the "ran.' Mr. M<f,rchbcnks: Can you make any suggestion for strengthening cars to resist telescoping?—No, sir..' I cannot suggest anything feasible. The force exerted fin such cases as very considerable and nothing shoit of building ; carriages on the lines of a turret on a man-of-war would be of any use. They «ere as strong . as they could be made for ; the purpose for which they were designed. Witness detailed the emergency tools kept in the engine : and • in the , guard's van, , Length of Trains • Criticised. • ' Alexander James Farquahar, sporting writer, who was ' a passenger' on the express, said' be' was awake when .be train approached Ongarue, and he • estimated the speed at :20 miles an hour. Witness ■ considered that, everything possible was done to extricate the injured . quickly and to : alleviate their • sufferings. Every ; assistance was rendered by the , uninjured passengers,; officials and relief workers. The passengers were' courteously - treated by the stationinaster at Taumarunui, who rendered all assistance possible. Witness said he was a fairly regular traveller and wished .* to enter . a strong protest against ■the length of Main Trunk trains but did not suggest" that 1 this ' train • was unduly long. ■ Witness also , wished to make a protest against delay; at Kakahi. Chairman: Delay to uninjured passengers after this accident Yes, sir. For about an hour. - I. ; : Chairman; I am afraid that, is outside the scope of • the inquiry. Is' that all 7— Yes. ' , ; •'' ■ Claude Selwyn Patterson. Nicolas Brown, and Henry William Bright, train ■examiners at Auckland, gave evidence as to having examined the Main Trunk express on the: night of July 5 before its departure. Francis Henry Rcnayne, . train examiner, Frankton Junction, said :'. he examined r,. 1 !a , express at Frankton on the morning of July 6. , The train was fi£ to proceed. . . .William Charles Moloney, locomotive foreman at Frankton Junction, who went to the scene By the second relief train from Taumarunui, described the position and : condition of the engine and carriages arid • produced-' , photographs. ' He : considered the bending of the ; deadstock of the engine was done by one of the first boulders to come down, ( and that it was this boulder which had caused the derailment. He considered that the big boulder near the r, front lof • the engine . weighed about three tons. • . , K To Mr. Marchbanks, witness ; said ho heard a report that one of the small pipes at the ride of a carriage leading to the gas register had been alight, and that a fall of earth had extinguished it, but he ■ : did not ■ set. it. : ' .: '

Postal Officials' Experience. Darcy Reginald Smith, clerk in the Postal Department, Auckland, who was 011 duty in the postal van on the express, estimated 1 the speed of the train just prior to the wreck at not more than 25 miles an hour. On getting out of the van he saw a fire about the centre of .the first carriage, the flames - shooting out sideways from under the carriage for two or three feet. •• To Mr. Marchbanks: Presumably, the fire was from the gas cylinder. I did not put it out, and think it was extinguished by the slip. Earth kept coming down. Mr. Marchbanks-: Was the shock severe when the train left the rails ?—Not so severe as the shock when the train left the rails at Whangamarino some years ago. I happened to be in that, too. The shock at Ongarue was not - very severe. To Mr. Sterling: The fire was directly underneath ' the carriage. I did not see anv alongside the carriage. ' ■ Stanley H. Dunstan, another >. ; postal clerk, said the lights in the postal van continued to burn for some time alter the crash. When he got out he saw a fire coming from directly underneath the front part of the first carriage. Shortly afterwards he saw it was out. No Delay in Forwarding Uninjured. Hugh B. Mackenzie, chairman of the 'Auckland Harbour Board, who was a passenger on the train, said the suggestion that everything was not done in the ,mat- j ter of forwarding uninjured passengers to 4heir destinations after, the accident was utterly wrong. Everything possible was done. Regarding luggage, he said his was kept'for him at Taumarunui till he claimed it. There was no mention of a charge. The injured received every attention possible. , • , Henry Percy Hobson, guard on the express, said, the train had been delayed at Auckland, as ' the department had been advised that th* line was unsafe at Eukahia swamp, south of Frankton. Trie P c ed at Ongarue would' be between 20 and 25 miles an hour, not \ more than 25 miles at the outside. He felt the emergency application of i the brakes, and almost simultaneously the . train stormed. - Witness described ' events following the impact, and the F teps he took to meet the r situation. Going to the front of the tram he saw . a gas cylinder sticking out at right angles to a carriage, on the liver

sidft to t the slip, having been wrenched out of position. : There was a slight flame lssaing from ; it,' but the jar on the - mud caused :by f; his jumping down from lV the train extinguished it. ; > , To Mr. Riddell: It was making: daylight all the time. Had it' been dark we would have had to take the tail-lights from tho van, and the. headlight, from '• the engine to work , by, as well as the two hand lamps.": - 1 . ■ " it i , • Continuing, witness said he was in full uniform and received no complaints. There were ? sufficient tools .to . keep all going till the arrival of the relief train from Taumarunui. Brakes were tested at Poro-o-tarao, and ■ were then quite satisfactory. When the undamaged carriages were taken back to Ongarue after the accident it was necessary to pump up th& cylinders after coupling, up. to release the brakes, showing that they were still hold-ings-three hours after the impact. To Mr. Marchbanks: I am going to suggest to the department that the breakdown tool set in the vans should -be duplicated. , • • ' ' (

Engine-driver Receives no Warning. •The evidence of the engine-driver on the express, Alexander S. Stewart, was taken at his residence, Parnell, as he was not in a fit state of health to attend. He said the' brakes were tested at Poro-o-tarao, and were satisfactory. TTie train passed through Ongarue at about 25 miles an hour, and after that he-shut off steam and • " drifted " along at about 20 miles ah hour, but the roeed may • have • increased up to 30 miles an hour by the time the engine struck the slip. "After leaving Ongarue. the headlight was burning well. ■ He' did not see anything before running into the slip. When going round a curve to the right th s headlight always shone on the opposite bank. The first warning he had was when 1 he was into the slip. ' He applied the brakes immediately he got any warning of the slip. The engine appeared to strike a heavy stone, was tossed about, and after travelling some distance, was V thrown Into the bank. Something hit witness on the bead, and he was rendered ' unconscious. Witness ■ described his experiences, and the . events following his regaining his senses. Mr. Riddell: Could you account for the smoke box doo.r being broken off ?—The only explanation was that there were several large stones about, and the engine must have struck one in passing. Mr. Riddell: Do ; you know of your own knowledge . whether the slip "was moving? noticed; a whole lot come down when helping with the rescue work, and there had been a rush of mud through the-window; of the cab. Not Considered a Dangerous Spot. Continuing, witness said he was one of the - first drivers to run on the Main Trunk. line, • and had. been running on it for years. He had been off the run for some .time, but had been back again for about four years, arid knew the line as well as the best. He did not regard this part as: dangerous,, and did not anticipate any | trouble. He knew other places which were more dangerous and when coming to a dangerous' place would take extra precautions. He did not consider there was any necessity to do so here. He had no necessity to speed up. s y , Mr. Riddell: How. do' you account for the boulder near the'engine on the right hand side ?—I think it must have come down at the same time.* I' do not know if it .was the one tHht broke the smoke box. I think it. must have been on the line, and was driven along by. the cowcatcher. ' ; . ' ■ ; To Mr. Sterling: Mv impression is that the slip came down immediately, before we - came - along. Ido not ; think' the" big boulder hit the smoke box. I think the vibration of the train had a lot to do with the slit> f coming down just then. - To Mr. Marchbanks: It was a clear, frosty night. There was no need for the surface ; men to anticipate. trouble. Had the - slip been on the .straight lie could • ha*'« seen .it. ■' . Witness said . that had" he thought the place was dangerous or.had he anticipated danger,' he would hare eased' up. A driver felt for himself a well as for others.. .He. did not see any gas cylinder alight at the silo. *' ■ This concluded. the evidence.