EXPRESS DELAYED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23155, 29 September 1938, Page 12

EXPRESS DELAYED

' COLLISION WITH LORRY VEHICLE STALLED ON LINE DRIVER ESCAPES UNINJURED [by telegraph—press association] OAMARU, Wednesday The south-bound express was delayed at Oamaru yesterday afternoon for more than half an hour when it struck a motor-lorry which had stalled across the line at the Coquet Street crossing. The driver of the lorry, Mr. Stuart McNeil, of Oamaru, and another roan in the driving cabin, David Kiely, jumped clear when they saw the engine coming. The right-hand front mudguard of the lorry was torn off and the woodwork of the right" side of the bady broken. The engine suffered minor damage, including a broken steampipe. The accident occurred about 1.20 p.m., the train being delayed about half an hour while another engine was obtained. The lorjy, which was owned by the Oamaru Borough Council, was bought only a fortnight ago, and was engaged in carting barrels of tar from the gasworks crossing at the entrance to the gasworks. The yard is in a slight hollow and the driver was unable to engage the clutch to climb the rise, the lorry running back across the line. The engine struck near the back of the body and slewed the truck round, the report caused by the broken steampipe being heard throughout the town nnd clouds of steam shooting across the road. Two or three barrels of tar in the truck were burst open nnd thrown along the line, and a trolley parked at the side of the crossing was also slightly damaged. The crossing is about 100 yacds south of the station. The engine was moving fairly slowly and a man working in the railway yards rushed along the line to try to stop the train, but his efforts were not successful.