RAILWAY SMASH NEAR SEACLIFF.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12395, 3 July 1902, Page 5

RAILWAY SMASH NEAR SEACLIFF.

"■ ■ O- . \< TRAIN THROWN OVER A BANK. 'f'v'.;- 1 MARVELLOUS ESCAPE OF PASSENGERS. Railway accidents of a serious nature have bsen painfully frequent on the Ot&'go railways. tins year, and yesterday another was added to the list, the smash-up ftccutfltig this time on the main north line north'of i Seacliff. Information was received ,in town ! just before 11 o'clock yesterday morning that a serious railway accident had occur/ed; and that the early morning (rain to Oamaru had been thrown down an embankment, but' beyond that no' details could be ascertained, and one of our reporters proceeded ; t!i the ccoue of the amu?h-up by the 'pxpress.! Upon arrival at Seacliff,. Mr A. ; Grant .(traffio manager' and Mr Maclean, (traffic engineer), and staff, and the pressman were accommodated in an engine cab attached to a van containing wrecking material, a\id conveyed to the scene of the accident. Precautions had'been taken against trains,' running on .to the wrecked train, as the engine ex- ' ploded a number of danger signal? on 1 the run down. Upon arrival on 'it could be seen at onco that a serious smashup had taken place, as-thn two ends of the ; train were standing on the line, while the centre was lying down a steep, embankment,, one long bogie carriage being at ..the bottom. The. position of tho train might -be described as ?, triangle, tho base being, the permanent way, one side carriages, tho other irterrocdiato vans, and the point the end of the long carriage, which was about 20ft bfelow the ■ lino level. • The passengers were : disconsolately huddled togethor above the line, watching the wrecking party preparing to clear the way for the express. >.. . Those who had been on board the trainabout 20 in all,—-when interviewed on the subject, said they had not been aware, that anything was wrong until they fouiid the train going over the side. Fortunately, no • one had' been seriously hurt. The escape ; of the passengers was by the narrowest.passible chance, and they have much to be. thankful for, Had tho train been a heavier one, or had the derailment taken place a short distance farther on, there would have 'been-serious bodily injuries, if not loss of life, to chronicle. As it was, beyond'a severe shaking, the majority of the passengers escaped injury, hut a young lad name'] William Dakiel, who lud been standing'on the rear platform of tho first carriage, was thrown off against tho bank, though he (also luckily escaped injury beyond* few braises. A little girl named May Mollison, daughter ; of Mr Mollison,' of Mollison and 'Co., together with another girl, were in the back part of tho second carriage, and both received ft severe- shaking, Miss Mollison Y head being cut and bruised slightly over, tho left temple, and Miss Munro, of Shaj Valley, another occupant of the same' carriage, ' sustained a slight injury to the knee. Those who were in the back part of tho train ex*! porienced nothing beyond a shock, as tlieir carriage came to a standstill. HOW THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED. The prccise cause of tho accident .could 1 not be definitely ascertained;- that will be ' an inquiry. The train left l)unI edin at 7.40 a.m., and was composed of ; or.gino No, 330, three or four empty trucks,' ' two intermediate vans, a loug bogie carriage ■ set apart for smokers and divided into two 1 compartments, a first and a sccond, another , long bogie carriage similarly divided, a new I American side compartment first and second class carriage, and the guard's van. Seacliff ■ was left at 9.39 a.m., and when about a a.-ilte ■ and a-quurtcr had been covered, one of tho | empty trucks jumped the'line on the left • side. This w«s, quite evident by the marks t of the wheel flanges on the sleepers. Tho • accident dots not appear to have been noticed either by driver or passengers, as no shock was felt, and no noise heard, though , the rattle- of the truck was plainly heard ; by surfacemen over half a-mile farther along the line. The bumping, of the truck'soon toid on the axle box, and picces of casting • | tf-ero found all along the line, the box lia-v ing evidently broken up, but the train had proceeded over a quarter of a mile from whore the truck jumped the rail before tin.' embankment was reached. Just at this point- the .line leaves a mi-ting and sweeps round a wide curve on, a steep embankment, and it is surmised that as the train left the cutting- the driver r.oticsd tho truck and put cn tho brakes. At any rate, the train 1 buckled on the curve, presumably by reason of the force of the momentum of tho rear part. Tho lnicklo evidently "lifted tho train, and the point- of the first carriage, being tho first portion of the weight behind the engine, naturally formed the apex and plunged down the embankment, dragging the next . carriage behind it half-off tho lino and the , two intermediate vans in front down tho side. Tho intermediate vans were lying on tl-.vi' sides, mid both were strained and soiiK'vlwt splintered, while tho wheel box | and one wheel of the first had mounted the ' platform of the carriage, smashing tho ironwork. Tho carriage itself had a slight cant to one side, but it. was still possible to walk through it in length lying at an angle of a little less than 45 degrees.. J3ut little damage was done to the body, though tho wheel gearing at the front end was badly twisted and broken. The empty truck, the first cause of the accident, was lying bottom up on the other side of the line, where it had been thrown out of the way. It had apparently not been damaged except, by the breaking of the wheel box and a straining of the midergear.