MISHAP ON MAIN TRUNK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18888, 22 December 1924, Page 10

MISHAP ON MAIN TRUNK.

GOODS TRAIN DERAILED. ENCOUNTER WITH A SLIP. ENGINE CREW NOT INJURED. DISORGANISATION OF TRAFFIC. [BX TELEGRAPH. —OWN COBRESPONDKNI".] WELLINGTON. Sunday. At about half-past five o'clock yesterday morning a goods train running from Paekakariki to Wellington ran into a slip and was derailed between No. 3 and No. 4 tunnel near Ngaio. The train consisted of an engine and 11 trucks, all of which went off the rails. The line was completely blocked. Neither the driver nor the fireman was injured.

All trains coming to Wellington by the Manawatu line yesterday, including the Auckland expresses and the passenger train from Palmerston North, detrained their passengers at Johnsonville. They were then conveyed to Ngahauranga and Wellington by motor-buses.

The mail trains for Napier and New Plymouth yesterday were despatched at half-past nine o'clock from Lambton station, and proceeded to their destinations via the Wairarapa. The 12.45 p.m. and 2 p.m. Wellington-Auckland expresses were cancelled.

At an early hour on Saturday morning, on receipt of the news of the Ngaio slip, the Eailway Department sent 80 men, with a heavy crane and break-down equipment, to the scene. All the 11 trucks were damaged by the fall of earth, some being reduced to a mass of buckled iron and splintered timber. Had it been a passenger train there would have been very serious loss of life.

Though the lino was clear at midnight last night, a number of the truckn were still lying in the vicinity, where they were placed after the mullock had been removed.

Besides the limited, which left at 7.10 this evening, an express train also left Thorndon at 8.35. Each had nine carriages and 350 passengers.