TRAIN RUNAWAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23009, 9 April 1938, Page 16

TRAIN RUNAWAY

'TRUCKS, VANS, CARRIAGE - DASH DOWN INCLINE A SCENE OF WRECKAGE PASSENGER'S ESCAPE - * ! f [BV TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] . TIMARU, Friday Left stationary when the engine was shunting with the front part of a mixed train at Winchester, the backportion which left Timaru at 11.36 o'clock this' morning rolled back clown the slope to Tenuika, a distance of over three miles. Although the engine set off in pursuit, the rake of 18 trucks, two vans and a passenger carriage gathered speed down the 80ft. incline and did not stop until it crashed into the Samson post at the Temuka station. The stationmaster at Winchester had communicated with Temuka, where the desperate course was taken of diverting the runaway vehicles into the yard, where they ran through a loop and on to a blind siding alongside the main line. Vehicles Telescoped The impact with the stop-block telescoped the vehicles. They were thrown fan wise in f a mass of wreckage on both sides of the track, the guard's van being thrown across the main line and being smashed to matchwood. Tho two rear vans of the rake continued ofl for their own length and came to a standstill lying on their sides. The bogeys of these two vans were completely "torn off, and had to- bo cleared from the main line by an engine. The north express was held up at Timaru from 1.46 p.m., the normal •departure time, until three o'clock, .when the dine was clear. : Remarkable Escape

A gang at work on a railway bridge "was quickly brought to the scene of ;tha accident to assist the maintenance gang, and the difficult work of clearing the main line to permit the passage of expresses proceeded at a remarkable' pace. Tho only parson on the runaway part of the train was Lieutenant Fraser Mcintosh, of Christchurch, who was a passenger for Ashburton. He lnul a remarkable escape from injury or death. He was on the carriage right until the impact with the post, escaping through a window of the overturned vehicle.

Unaware that anything was amiss Xieutenapt Mcintosh read a book "throughout' the runaway journey from .Winchester to Tenuika. His first indi' ioation that all was not well was the sudden impact of the train with the buffer and the carriage pitching upward. He said he had been under tho impression that for some reason tho. "train was returning to Tenuika. . Prompt Action Taken

r About 200 tons of train ran away iirhen the engine-driver and guard were engaged in the shunting operations, and the momentum it gathered made, all hope vain of stopping it without damage. . • „ T The Temuka stationmaster did all 'jhat was possible under the circumstances, as there .were no facilities for ' stopping the train, except by the desperate method of letting it run into the -Samson, post. If the guard had not been engaged in shunting and had "been on the runaway vehicles he no doubt would have been able to apply the brakes, but as it was the lom> passenger was blissfully unaware that anything was wrong.

THE YEAR'S MISHAPS - AVERAGE ONE A WEEK . ixi ■ i! TOLL FOR THREE MONTHS % TWO iFATAL ACCIDENTS Since the beginning of this year, 18 'Vailway accidents, in two of which lives liave been lost, have been, reported jn New Zealand. This figure, which '<Joes not take into account crossing smashes or the like, shows that on an ' -average more than one accident a week has occurred on the railways. The list of mishaps for the year to

date is as follows: — January I.—Three carriages derailed on Rimutaka incline. January 3. —Five trucks derailed at Durham Road, near New Plymouth. 'January 4. —Mishap to locomotive at Otira Tunnel; truck derailed at Pukerua Bay, near Wellington. January 5. —Partial derailment of goods waggon near Plimmerton, Wellington, with disruption of ser-

vices. January 8. —Partial derailment of waggon near Rimutaka summit. February 9. —Collision between train and jigger in Manawatu Gorge Tunnel. February 14. —Derailment of locomotive near New Plymouth. February 16.—Collision between South Island express and goods train hear Dunedin, with two cars derailed. February 23.—Mixed goods train from Hastings to Wellington partially 4.£ derailed at Mangatera, near Danne- "?•;* virke. • March 12. —Derailment of truck be- ;• tweeri New Plymouth and Tngle- • wood, with damage to a mile of track. • March 26. —Ratana disaster, when Wellington-New Plymouth excursion train was derailed, with the loss of six lives and numerous injuries to passengers. March 29,. Petrol waggon partially derailed at the scene of the Ratana disaster. March 30.—Collision between a mixed train and a goods train at Aylesbury, near Christchurch, resulting in death of fireman.' March .31.'—Derailment of four wng- : peons at the Moturoa Wharf, New . Plymouth. 'April 1. —Eleven waggon? derailed '" near Karioi, six miles from Oha-* .'c: ,„kune. v [April 2. —Truck derailed at To Horo, near/ Otaki. lApril 8. —-Rake of 21 trucks and enr''riages smashed at Temuka after - : rnnawav of four miles.