CLEARING THE LINE.

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

CLEARING THE LINE.

' Tho breakdown gang waa soon at : work, all haste being necessary in order to allow tho express tb pass through. Tho only obstruction: ther# was the second.bogie oarrjago, which was half on and half off tho line. Sleepers and ecrowjacks were requiBitioned, and the engino which had brought the party from Seacliff was attached to .the back'of tlie train, and an attempt made to drag the carnaje on to tlie rails, a wire rope providing tho coupling, It was & caw of either throwing tho carriage over or pulling it on to the line, and the carriage itself solved the problem by capsizing a.i Sooa as the strain was applied, whflo several men who wore standing at the eide had to i jump clear to escape crushing. By using long iron'rails as levers.the gang-managed ' to lift tho end of tho carriage sufficiently clear of the line to allow a, train to, pass, and attention was'turned to the permanent way itself. A short while suSoed to straighten: the' line, and tho train, mima tliat portion of it which.bad gono.over tie, bank, was coupled up, and it steamed away for Waikouaiti, where the express would pass, leaving at L 25 p.m.,. having .Keen.' delayed about three hours and 40 minutes.; *The first cxpre«3 engine had returned to Seacliff, and the express was then brought; on, passing very slowly over the damaged.' portion of the lino, and having been delayed an- hour and a-quarter. • , / , Tho workmen were then detailed to. strengthen the line and repair the embank;, ment, which had been torn up in several ' places. :' . ■ was evident that the first carriage had' left'the line just at the end of tho cutting,as shown 1 by the marks on the lower sidei and had then plunged down, cutting op the earthworks in its progress. When the second oarriago was capsized it was found that its undergear had also been strained,, . but not to a great extent, and, of course, the, windows .-on the lower side were all broken. > I The couplings of tho whole train, hati suf-,.; ; fered, and in the case of the overturned'' vehicles .wero snapped and twisted. - ; . The only contents of the intermediate: vans were a few cases of kerosene, a fender. - sundry parcels, and a barrel, _ and these, goods seemed to have got off a little collision' of their own, in which the tins came off second best, as they wero battered.' and/ crushed as severely as any'small boy could hope to effect at a " tin-kettling." • The line, , after leaving Seaoliff, runs' through .a series of small cuttings and round N .soycral .curves, and after the truck jumped the rails the train had rounded two sharp' ' curves safely; but came to grief at the commencement of the third, which is just' opposite Brinn's Point. How the truck" came to leave the line in the first place? Isa mystery, as it had rounded a curve and' was on a straight piece of line, unless'the engine had suddenly "jerked the train ox- tho speed had been too high. It is also strange i that if should travel over a quarter of a ! mile before being noticed, even though the' noise might have.been drowned by the noiseof the train. . The damage done is but slight, consider- ■ ing tho nature of .the accident, and- it, is. fortunate that the derailment did not take place within the butting or further round the I curve, as one carriages would >un-.. doubtedly have' been telescoped, in which ' caso serious loss'of life might, have been', occasioned. - ' 1 . ■Dr Marshall llacdonald, hearing of ■ the accident, proceeded to tho scene by. tho ex--pres, but his services, fortunately, wore-nofc required, Dr Allen, of the asylum, ,'\yai.: also soon.in attendance, aud exanjined Missee Mollison arid. Munro, finding:tfiey had' susr tainetl no ftrther' injury than stated previously. of residents in- th«' vicinity, and' also , several Maori women,'• rushed. t<? the train to render assistance and . helped the lady passengers from the train. Tho 10.13 Palmerston train was delayed,, and did pot reach town until after 4 p.m., instead of 1.8 p.m., and the traffic was naturally disarranged for some time.' / Some! of the passengers by the damaged train were piqked up by the express, and others for' intermediate stations proceeded by the slower! train.' The breakdown gang was at work all day at tho scene of the accident, and a» large crane was taken up) -to that the overturned vehicles should be placed on the line some time, to-day. A departmental inquiry will probably be •held.