RAILWAY CRASH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22210, 10 September 1935, Page 6

RAILWAY CRASH

TWO EMPTY TEAINS GUARD KILLED BY LEAP THREE CARS WRECKED With a roar which made residents start from their beds, an empty passenger train crashed into the rear of another empty train near the railway station at Seymour, Victoria, early o;n the morning of September I,' and reduced the guard's van and two carriages to an almost unrecognisable mass of tangled and splintered wreckage. At the moment of impact the guard made a desperate leap for life, but ho was fatally injured and died in hospital late that night. Six other railwaymen received minor injuries. The damage was estimated at £IO,OOO. Prompt action by n signalman prevented the wrecking of other carriages, nnd saved the Railway Department several thousand pounds. In a race against time as the passenger train rushed down the incline toward the train near the station, he ran 300 yards from tho signal box and reached the driver of the stationary train in time to shout a warning. Tho train was started, thus reducing greatly the force of the impact.

Panting and staggering, the signalman reached tho guard's van and told the guard to jump clear. A second or two later the crash occurred and carriages rose up in the darknes3 and shattered into wreckage. Both of the trains had been used to carry a large number of children, who were travelling to Sydney at excursion rates, as far as Wodonga. Travelling with only Mr. Middlin and two other officials on board, the first division returned to Seymour early in the morning. While the line was being cleared, this train was held up at a signal near the locomotive sheds. The second division was following it at a distance of about a section. Signalman's Warning A dramatic telephone message from the station staff at Mangalore warning the signalman at Seymour, Mr. Child*, that a train had just passed through the station was the first intimation that an accident was imminent.

Realising that the showing of tbia green signal light to allow the first division to pass would also lead the driver of the second division to believe that the line was clear of other trains, Mr. Childs flung down the telephone receiver and ran along the line to warn the driver of the stationary train. The roar of the approaching train could he heard in the distance. As ho stumbled over the sleepers in the darkness, panting heavily, the roar grew louder. He reached the cabin of the driver, Mr. Lonslade, and shouted, " Get her going for your life. There is a train coming into the back of you." Then he ran on beside the eight carriages of the train as the driver opened the throttle and the train gradually gathered a speed of about 10 miles an hour.

Suddenly, while Mr. Childs was still toiling past tho last carriage, the lights of the approaching train appeared above the top of a fairly steep incline about 400 yds. from the locomotive sheds. Then the whistle sounded a series of short, shrill blasts, the emergency danger whistle. Mr.' Childs shouted, " .Tump, guard, jump." Then there was a report like the bursting of a shell, followed by a confused blur, and Mr. Childs saw dark objects heavine up above his head in the darkness. With a series of splintering and crunching noises the wreckage settled into a heap in front of the locomotive of the second division. Splinters, heavy pieces of wood, and bits of iron flew through the air. Search of Wreckage A woman living near by said that she vibration shook her house. When she reached the scene of the accident, men from the locomotive sheds were climbing over the wreckage, looking for Mr. Middlin with the aid of flares. Steam was hissing from tho engine in clouds. Mr. C. McCalman, guard of the second train, who was in the guard's van at the end of the nine carriages of the second division, was hurled against the walls of the van, and lost consciousness. As soon as he recovered, he joined in the search for Mr. Middlin, and found him lying under a heap of wreckage, about 60yds. from the engine. Mr. Middlin kept repeating, "I was on the step. I was on the step." In the hospital. Mr. Middlin was given a blood transfusion and then ho underwent an oneration, hut he died while under the anaesthetic.