TRAIN HAVOC

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22878, 5 November 1937, Page 10

TRAIN HAVOC

HEAD-ON CRASH PARNELL COLLISION SEVERAL CASUALTIES TWO HOSPITAL CASES Out of control on a down-grade, a shunt train bound for Auckland collided violently head-on with a mixed passenger and goods train near tho Parnell over-bridge, close to the Auckland station, at 9.17 o'clock last night. Three railwayman on tho runaway train were injured and a woman passenger suffered severe shock. Both locomotives were damaged extensively, one being derailed, and about a dozen trucks and vans were smashed. Two St. John ambulances were quickly on the scene to convey the injured to the Auckland Hospital. Ihey were: — Mr. Harold Macky, aged 35, married, of 35 Edinburgh Street, Newton, a shunter on tho inward-bound train, who suffered injuries to the groin and hip. He was admitted to hospital. His condition is not serious. Mr. Frederick Edwin Henry Onglev, aged 41, married, of 14 Hawea Road, Point Chevalier, a shunter, riding on the derailed locomotive, who suffered concussion and a severe cut under the right eye. Several stitches were inserted and the injured man was admitted to the hospital. His condition is not serious. Fireman Jumps Clear Mr. Jack Muir, aged about 36, married, of Broadway, Newmarket, a fireman on the same train, jumped clear just before the crash and rolled down the embankment. He received numerous abrasions and bruises and suffered severely from shock. After treatment at tho St John ambulance station in Rutland Street, ho went home. A woman passenger also was taken to hospital suffering from shock. After treatment at the casualty department she was able to go home. Remaining at their posts in spite of the impending crash, the crew of the runaway engine signalled their plight in vain. Three hoarse screams of the whistle indicated that the train was out of control, but nothing could bo done to avoid the collision. Mass of Torn Steel A reverberating crash was heard all over lower Parnell when the two locomotives met, and rolling stock piled up in wreckage behind each. Locked together in a mass of torn metal, and half hidden by escaping steam, the locomotives became tho centre of a scene of chaos. Hugo pieces of metal were scattered like chaff, and there was a succession of violent impacts as the trucks and waggons piled up behind. Rearing up on its back wheels, a heavily-laden truck immediately behind the locomotivo of tho mixed train lifted the blinker bodily, forcing it partly into the cab. The driver, Mr. H. Reed, was slightly cut about, the face, and his fireman wriggled out of the wreckage unhurt. Waggons Wrecked Caught between tho suddenly-stopped locomotive and tho long rake of trucks and waggons behind, the first nine units of tho inward-bound train were reduced to a vast heap of twisted metal and splintered wood. Some of the trucks contained pigs and sheep, many of which were killed, others being pinned, mortally injured, under the overturned vehicles. Squeezed from tho track by tho impact, a truck carrying stock was forced bodily off the rails and down the steep embankment on the western side. The rear couplings broke, but a massive chain in front held the truck, on its side and at a precarious angle, dangling abovo a yard in which a number of motor-vehicles were parked. Immediately behind, two trucks were standing on end, forming a fantastic arch above a waggon recognisable only by its wheels. On tho eastern side a refrigerator waggon was hurled from tho lines with ono end torn completely away. Passengers Shaken Two trucks behind the refrigerator van wero forced sideways off the lines, tho end of one being crushed, and a third was derailed. The rest of the train, 18 trucks, remained on the line. The greater part of the mixed train escaped more lightly, although a large number of its trucks were wedged firmly together. There was no damage to the carriage and the van at the back.

Few pcoplo were travelling on the train, the 9.15 from Auckland to Swauson. All were shaken, but only the woman who collapsed as a result of the shock required attention.