BALLAST TRAIN SMASH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21254, 6 August 1932, Page 10

BALLAST TRAIN SMASH

WRECKAGE ON SPIRAL RUNAWAY TRUCKS AND VAN GUARD JUMPS TO SAFETY LINE CLEAR FOR EXPRESSES [DY TKLEGRAt'H—OWN CORRESPONDENT] TAUMAUUNUI. Friday As a result of a buffer on a ballast tiain breaking on the Raurimu Spiral at nine o'clock this morning, 14 trucks and a van were piled up in a cutting on the inclino above Raurimu. The runaway trucks and van careered down the Spiral for miles before the van left the rails. The train left Taumarunui at six o'clock this morning with 20 trucks loaded with ballast and a guard's van. The enginedriver was Mr. D. Robinson, the fireman Mr. To Abu Abu, and Ihe guard Mr. J. Lyons. The train was proceeding to National Park, and when about four miles up the Spiral above Raurimu on a steep grade, the seventh truck from the engine broke away owing to a buffer breaking. Fourteen waggons and the van then ran back down the Spiral toward Raurimu. The guard, Mr. Lyons, applied the hand brake, but it failed to hold the trucks. As the van and waggons quickly gathered speed, Mr. Lyons realised he had no alternative but to jump for safety, and he landed fortunately without injury. The van and waggons then continued their mad career down the incline for about 2£ miles, the van eventually jumpI ing the lino about a-quarter of a mile i above the first tunnel at the edge of a j cutting. The runaway trucks dashed into the cutting behind the van and were wrecked with a crash that was heard for miles. The trucks all piled up in a space of about 50 yards, and this morning they presented a tangled mass of iron and woodwork, The van lay on the side of the cutting smashed almost beyond repair. With the exception of damage to a few sleepers where the van left the line, the permanent way was very little damaged. A steam crane and a breakdown van from Ohakurie arrived later and the line was cleared at about 6 p.m. It was stated in Auckland yesterday that the trucks concerned in the accident were of tho type known technically as YB hopper waggons. They are built of steel and are V-shaped. They are used almost exclusively for tho carrying of ballast, and a mechanical devico permits tho bottoms to open and tho ballast to drop along tho track. Another mechanical device on the van of such a ballast train spreads the ballast evenly. Owing to the shape and construction of the trucks it is impossible to fit them with Westinghouse brakes. There was very little traffic between Raurimu and National Park during the time for which tho lino was blocked. A railway official at Auckland stated that only two mixed trains and two goods trains would have been held up by the accident. There was no delay to any of the expresses.