SNOW ON MAIN TRUNK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19119, 10 September 1925, Page 8

SNOW ON MAIN TRUNK.

LIMITED EXPRESS LATE. GOODS TRAIN DERAILED, ACCIDENTS AT RAURIMU. The limited express from Wellington reached Auckland a lew minutes over an hour late yesterday morning, owing partly to a heavy fall of snow on the Main, Trunk line at Ohakuue, and partly to di>railment of a goods train at the foot of the Spiral at Raurimu. When the express was duo at Ohakune at 2.2 a.m. it wus held up by a goods train, which could not reach the station owing to slipperiness of the rails caused by the snow. The goods train was divided and taken to Ohakune in two sections, thus enabling the limited to proceed. Already late, the express was still further delayed at Raurimu, where a number' of trucks on a goods train had been derailed during the night. The work of clearing the line was carried out quickly, and the express was not held up for long.

Further delays occurred on the journey to Auckland owing to dislocation of the ordinary time-table and the difficulty of arranging crossings between the express and other trains. As there are 16 such crossings between the Spiral and Auckland the difficulty of rearranging the time-table can be imagined. By a coincidence another derailment occurred at about five o'clock yesterday morning not far from the one that delayed the limited. A truck of horses attached to a goods train running from Ohakune to Franktnn left the lino between Raurimu and Waimarino. The line was cleared for traffic at slow speeds in a short time, and it is not expected there will be any further delays to the Main Trunk expresses.