TRAM COLLISION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22901, 2 December 1937, Page 15

TRAM COLLISION

VIOLENT IMPACT EXTENSIVE DAMAGE DONE DRIVERS* REMARKABLE ESCAPE [by telegraph —OWN correspondent] WANG-ANTJI, Wednesday Two trams of the Wanganui Tramway Corporation came into violent collision at the Cemetery Corner, at the intersection of Heads Road and Guyton Street Extension. Although both vehicles were extensively damaged, neither motormen nor passengers suffered serious injury. The driver of one car, Mr. C. Hammond, was suffering® slightly from shock, and several passengers received bruises. The driver of the other car, Mr. T. Ahern, escaped injury. The trams, approaching a busy period, were running slightly behind schedule, and in consequence no time was being wasted. Normally one car would wait at a loop for the other, but owing to a misunderstanding neither waited, with the result that they met at the corner. The incoming car, which was the more extensively damaged of the two, fortunately was empty at the time, but the outgoing car contained a number of passengers. The driver of the latter vehicle was somewhat confused by the sun in his eyes. Although one car was brought to a stop and the driver of the other had applied all brakes, the collision was a violent and spectacular one. The noLse was considerable and the startling effect was added to by a display of sparks from the overhead gear. The cars were entangled, the chassis of one being superimposed on the of the other, so that considerable difficulty was experienced in unlocking them. The upper structure was reduced to a mass of smashed glass and splintered woodwork, which was thrust several feet back into the body of one of the vehicles. How neither motorman metwith serious injury is 'remarkable, enhanced by the fact that both held on to the ' brake controls until they were flung back.