A WONDERFUL ESCAPE

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12315, 9 December 1925, Page 4

A WONDERFUL ESCAPE

DERAILING OF A TRAIN CRASH INTO A PLATFORM PASSENGERS ESCAPE INJURY . Travelling at about 30 miles an hour, a passenger train from Newcastle, New South Wales, left the rails near Ryde a few minutes after 6 o’clock on the evening of November 24th, and crashed info the platform. The engine and tender were wrecked, but the extraordinary feature of the accident was that none of the passengers were injured, and only the first coach was damaged. Railwaymen with many years’ experience declared that it was one of the most wonderful escapes from a disaster that had occurred in the history of the New. South , Wales railways. They attributed this fact, however, to the coolness and courage of the driver and fireman, whose escape from injury was considered even more remarkable. The engine and tender, after leaving the rails, ploughed their way over the permanent, way, tearing up sleepers and splintering them to matchwood. The rails. near the station were torn from their position, and “frogged” as the engine veered from its proper track. The line was “all clear” when the accident occurred, and the opinion was ventured by a railway official that the "permanent way collapsed under the continuous strain placed upon it hy the great' speed with which the “up” trains sweep round the curve" at this spot. COMPLETE ABSENCE OF PANIC

A remarkable phase of the mishap was that very Tew of the passengers in the train had realised the peril, and consequently there was a complete absence of pafiic. Most of the passengers declared that they felt only'a few bumps, and then the train came to a standstill with little more suddenness than on ordinary occasions. . "On , all. sides railway officials and eye-witnesses paid tribute to the restraint of the driver and fireman in their perilous position. The tender for several feet was buckled up underneath the engine, the undergear of which resembled a heap of torn and twisted steel. The engine, after colliding with the platform, was turned to' a" position at almost right angles. The nearest coaoh, however, was only slightly damaged. Thq buffers of the tender had only penetrated a short distance, scarcely reaching the seat of the first compartment. In this were passengers; but they did not receive a scratch.

Passengers who were in the second carriage declared that the final jar was not sufficiently heavy to displace them from their seats. When the passengers in the remaining carriages alighted they expressed amazement at what they saw, and only then realised -wpat" a remarkable escape they had had.