BLOCKED IN A TUNNEL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16121, 9 July 1914, Page 3

BLOCKED IN A TUNNEL

FIREMAN UNCONSCIOUS ON FLOOR

OF CAB. DRIVERS ABANDON TRAIN AT MIHIWAKA. AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY. "I myself have seen men engaged on the engine emerge from tho tunnel practically unoonsoious, bleeding at the ears and nostrils." This startling statement was contained in' a correspondent's letter, of which a summary appeared in the Otago Daily Times of Saturday last. It referred to a condition of affairs alleged to exist within a few miles of Dunedin, in connection with the Mihiwaka tunnel, near Port Chalmers, and the letter was directed to a condemnation of the practioe of utilising two engines to draw a train through the umnel. A reporter who made inquiries into the matter yesterday was given to understand that the statement was only a strong way of describing a state of affairs which existed up tin about a fortnight ago. A number of en-gine-drivers who were spoken to stated that for months, and even years, this tunnel has been dreaded by drivers and firemen, livery traveller on the north lino knows how long it is and how steep the grade of it is. To leave a window open in a comfortable well-aired carriage is to admit a dense stream ot heavy, poisonous, sulphur-laden smoke, which fills the compartment with its acrid presence, and makes the atmosphere unbearable, and the rush of sunshine and oxygen at the end a relief from a tension that becomes almost unbearable. This result is brought about through one small window. It can readily be imagined, then, that the drivers were not overstating the position when they described the oassage through the tunnel on the narrow and exposed footboard of the engine as a nasty ordeal. With a single engine, they Bwd, it was pretty bad, sometimes. But when two locomotives belched their poisonous fumes into the air the result was sometimes appalling. Uuring the passage through the tunnel the men in the cab covered themselves as well as they could with coats, and succeeded, at the expense of a stuffy, five minutes. o.rebreathing their own vitiated breath tune after time in keeping out the worse fumes of the coal gp. The fireman could nearly always manage to keep out the sulphur He had little to do in the tunnel for stoking was hardly ever performed during the passage, and he was able to keep his head well covered. But with the driver it was different He had to attend to the mechanism, and it was necessary for his hands to bo free. He could not keep himself covered. So he just held on _ and "breathed smalL" When an occasional heaven-sent gust drove a small lano for a moment in the solid wall of rushing,.blinding smoke he thrust his head into it and filled his lungs with purer air Then he held his breath, and looked through his smarting eyes for the dim speck at the ° nd ' A DRIVER'S NARRATIVE. "I have been through Mihiwaka with a two-engine train," said one driver, with a rueful grin. " Sometimes it. has been all ri"ht But the tunnel roof is low and the walls are just sufficiently wide to allow for tho passage of the train. The smoke rushes from the stack, and striking the roof w diverted downwards, and hits tho cab. JJilty vards into the tunnel, and the driver s eyes begin to smart. Then the fumes get into his throat, and ho coughs and begins to wish for the end. But there is still the worst to come. He .sees the regulator through the watery mist m front of his stinging eyes, and hangs on hoping for the daylight. If it is-very bad his head becomes dull, and he does not feel it so much, for his perceptions are not so acute then. Sometimes the coal is bad, and from tho ' green' fire there comes a heavy white smoke, which is particularly trying. It has been so close that at times I myselt have been nearly stupid at 'the worst stage. Then there appears the little pm-pomt ot lio-ht at the end, and the driver holds his breath and hangs on. The rush into daylight brings relief, and the fresh air soon drives away everything save the tickling in the throat, which persists for many miles. But it is bad at the time—very bad I "' Bleeding at the cars and nostrils? quoted tho reporter, sceptically. lnat sounds like the harrowing tale of the downtrodden pearl-diver I" . •' Well, I have never seen anything so bad as that, I admit," confessed the driver interviewed. "But a while ago one driving team was so affected at the end of the trip that the matter was brought home to the authorities verv forcibly. A fortnight ago the mandate went forth that trains with two engines attached were not to jo through tho tunnel. So if that rule is adhered to the trouble is at an end. A GOODS TRAIN BLOCKED. \n extraordinary story was elicited concerning the incident which had directly led to the new rule, and was vouched for by several persons in a position to know. It was that some weeks ago a heavy goods train, with two engines, was going through tho tunnel at night. When near the further end the atmosphere became so insupportable that tho stoker m the rear engine was lying on the floor of tho cab unconscious, while the stoker in the front engine was in nearly as bad a condition. The engines began to slacken, and, owing to the condition of the stokers, it was impossible to get up speed again. The driver of the foremost engine felt his senses going, and, fearful lest he might also become unconscious and the Cram rush backwards into Sawyers' Bay, he jammed on the brakes, and, leaving his engine, sought the driver of the second locomotive. Together they abandoned the train, and walked to the end of the tunnel. Recuperating in the fresh air, they returned, and were able to Ret the train out of the tunnel after it had been in for a total period of 45 minutes. In tho meantime it had been standing without drivers and with its firemen .in the condition described. One of the firemen did not recover consciousness until after he had been brought to the open air. In justice to the department it had, on a report being made concerning this incident, immediately decreed that trains with two engines should not be taken through the tunnel. For some considerable time, it was added, the Engine-drivers Firemen*, and Clci'.ncrs' Union had been ngitalnig for this reform, and the last case had brought matters to a head. Mihiwaka, with its steep grade and confined space, was the worst tunnel in Nev Zealand —much worse than the Lyttelton funnel, of which so much fuss was made, foe the iatter was more commodious, and was level all through. Nothing could be done further than prohibiting the passage of such heavy trains as would necessitate two engines, and if this rule which had been made were adhered to all would now be well. EX-UNION SECRETARY SPEAKS. Mr J. Henderson, for four years secretary of the Dunedin branch df the Locomotive ■Engineers' Association, and until recently a driver of some years' standing in the department, endorsed this information, received from other sources, and expressed the ! opinion that the engines at present used throughout the dominion required to bo modernised. Good fuel was essential, and lignite coal, which was at present in use, should not be made service of. RAILWAY OFFICIALS RETICENT. Prominent railway officials were copies of the allegation?, and wero given un opportunity of commenting on them, but they neither affirmed nor denied them. Mr Harris, traffic clerk, who was seen in tho absence of tho manager, said that the details of the matter would not have reached the traffic department. They would have

learnt merely that a train had been stopped in the tunnel. The guard would have had to remain by his train, and could not have left it. Mr Harris referred the Otago Daily Times representative to Mr Hislop, of the locomotive department, who on seeing the report, took rufuge in tho regulations. He, also, could neither affirm nor deny the statenfcnts. He was in a position to know, but it was not his business to talk about departmental matters to outsiders. The reporter could see the engineer at Addington. He might say something. Then, again, he might not. Addington certainly was a far spot to visit on a speculative errand. But then, regulations were regulations. No railway servant could tell anything to anybody. LOCAL AND IMPORTED ENGINES. Tho correspondent's letter also contained an indictment of the colonially-manufactured locomotives. The writer stated that he had repeatedly heard the men remark that tho compound engines that were to do the work were more than half the time in the workshops. Tho cheapest locomotive imported could more than hold its own with engines, three times its cost, made locally.' Questioned regarding this matter, tho drivers appeared to concur in a modified form of this statement. They thought tho locally-made compound engines were not nearly so useful or so easy to handle and clean as the imported locomotive, the American type particularly. An engineer who is an expert on tho subject, however, expressed a different view. He declared that, without being biassed by sentiment in favour of New Zealand-made goods, ho could say that Now Zealand engines could hold their own with those of any country, and give points to many. The compound engines he confessed a dislike to. " But we make single engines in our railway workshops," he said, " which are fully as useful as, if not of greater value than, the imported types, and Messrs Price Bros., a private firm, make splendid, engines for the department. The workmanship put into the locally-made engines is far superior to that of the imported varieties. It is absurd to say that even the compound engines are half their time in the workshops undergoing repairs. There have been compounds which have been on the road for four years without being repaired. So, whatever may be tho right or wrong of your correspondent's remarks regarding the terrible tunnel, he is wide of the mark in his statement concerning the engines."