RAILWAY SMASH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21639, 3 November 1933, Page 6

RAILWAY SMASH

QUEENSLAND COLLISION miraculous escapes NO SERIOUS CASUALTIES In the grey light of dawn on October 13 the mail train from ToAvnsville, Queensland, bound for Brisbane with 144 persons on board, crashed head on into a stationary goods train at the Eudlo station, on the North Coast Line. Passengers were hurled from their sleeping berths by the impart. The fireman of the express, Mr. L. McCartney, was badly cut about the face and legs, and an elderly lady sustained abrasions and shock, but otherwise no casualties occurred. Both locomotives were derailed, ayd trucks laden with merchandise were splintered to matchwood, their contents being strewn over the permanent way. The Townsville mad train had plowed down to round the curve into Eudlo, and approached the station at a speed variously estimated at from eight to 12 miles an hour. It is presumed that the express should have swung on to the loop-line, as goods train, bound for Gympie, was standing stationary on the main line about 20yds. from the points. The two engines crashed with a terrific impact, the tearing and grinding of splintered timber and iron rousing the slumbering residents of Eudlo from their beds in alarm. The u.oods tram had reached Eudlo nhout a quarter of an hour before the smash, and, with the brakes off, was waiting to begin shunting operations. The driver of the mail train did everything possiblo to avoid a collision, and remained at his post, instead of jumping clear, when he saw a smash was inevitable. Impact of a Projectile Even at the slow speed at which it was going, the powerful engine of the express, with the weight of a long string of Pullmans behind it, struck the stationary goods train with the' impact of a projectile. The cowcatchers of both locomotives were wrenched off like bits of wire, and the buffers dented and buckled like tin plates. Both engines were derailed, and the parlour car, which was placed between the baggage van and the first sleeper, was also derailed and forced on to the verandah of the sleeping car, the occupants of which wero hurled out of their beds. The leading end of the sleeping car was also thrown from the rails. The application of the Wesfcinghouse brakes at full pressure brought the contents of the luggage racks toppling down on passengers, and threw the sleepers violently from their bunks. Several sustained bruiser, or minor injuries. The most seriously injured man was the fireman of the goods train, Mr. L. McCartney, wio hurt the muscles of his left arm, and sustained severe gashes on the ear and tho leg. He had just stoked the fire, and was stooping down to clean away the coa! left on the engine cabin floor when the impact occurred. He was buried in an avalanche of coal that poured from the top of the tender, and had to be rescued by the driver and members of the other train crew. The force of the impact tore the shoes from bis feet. The driver of the goods train, Mr. .1. Wallace, had a miraculous escape. He was near the front of the engine, attending to the sand box, when he saw the express rushing down on the same line. He jumped and landed in the side drain. He must have been rendered unconscious, but picked himself up shakily about ten minutes afterwards, suffering from shock, but otherwise unhurt. Mr. H. W. Reauey, driver of the express, sustained a cut on the face. Great Stroke of Luck "How the crew of the goods train escaped being killed is a miracle to me," said Mr. F. Warren, a passenger. The top of the waggon immediately behind the engine of the goods train was hurled over the tender of the engine, he said, and entered the cabin, and, but for the merest stroke of luck, would have struck the fireman and the a enginedriver on the head. As it was, the fireman received a laceration at the back of the ear. Several men who were in bunks in the front compartment of a sleeping car immediately behind the parlour car had a remarkable escape from death. The parlour car had commenced to telescope the sleeper, and had crushed the platform before the train was brought to a standstill. A few more feet, Mr. Warren said, and the men would have been crushed to death. A woman living near the scene of the accident sent word that she had some kettles of water boiling, and invited as many passengers as wished to have cups of tea and bread and butter. Many of the passengers were thus able to soothe their shattered nerves with rups of steaming hot tea. "As we were all disconsolately viewing the wreckage," said Mr. Warren, "a small and very inquisitive boy walked up and said, 'lt's Friday today, and the 13th, too. Is this any good;' and proceeded to drag sticks of sugar cane from the tangled mass of iron and splintered wood." Passengers' Rude Awakening "1 heard a crash, followed by what sounded like an explosion, and 1 looked out of the window and saw the guard running along the side of the train holding his hand to his car," said Miss A. Harper, of Brisbane. For a few seconds after the collision, she said, there was a death like silence, and then the screams of the women and children were heard. It was dark at the time of the impact, but fortunately the lights of the carriages of the mail train did not go out, she said, otherwise the consternation would have been greater. Most of the passengers were asleep St the time, and quite a number were thrown from their bunks to the floor, some of them falling on their fellowpassengers. One elderly woman, with silver grey hair, was thrown heavily against a wall, and her head was cut. A young woman who was dressing was thrown to the floor, and for some minutes was so dazed that she was unable to complete her toilet. She was rather badly bruised about the body and suffered from shock. Two little girls who were asleep on the floor of a sleeping compartment, said Miss Harper, were rudely awakened when their mother was thrown from her bunk and fell on them.