TRAIN SMASH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23492, 5 May 1938, Page 16

TRAIN SMASH

INVESTIGATION ADJOURNED ESTIMATES OF SPEED VARY REFERENCE TO STEEL CARS (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, May: 4.; After the evidence of three more passengers had been heard, the inquiry into the Ratana railway disaster was adjourned late this afternoon. It! will probably be resumed during.the second: week, in June.'-.' .■''; The inquiry opened at Wanganui on April'l3, and after a one-day sitting adjourned to Wellington, where it was resumed on April 26. So far 37 witnesses, including departmental experts- and railway workers, have given evidence before the board. The passengers heard today were called by the board at the request of Mr G. G. G., Watson, counsel for the driver, E. Percival. ; - .The chairman ■ (Sir ' Francis Frazer) said the bdard could not go any further in the meantime. Statements made by passengers to the police had been examined, but there was not a great deal more .on the. police files than had been disclosed at the inquiry. About half the passengers whose statements had been taken said the train was travelling too fast; and. the other half maintained that. the. speed was moderate. ' . At the instigation of the chairman counsel engaged on the inquiry will examine the police to-morrow, when a decision will be made as to what additional witnesses will be called when the inquiry is resumed. Wood or Steel? Mr F. J. Foote, appearing for the relatives of one of the victims, asked if the board thought it was within its order.of reference to consider whether steel cars should be substituted for wooden cars in order to prevent loss of We in.future derailments and whether the department proposed offering evidence on this question. The chairman; replied that, though this was not, in:;the order .of reference, he did not thjik that; there would be any objection; if the board decided upon making any recommendation regarding the Use of steel, cars, cars with steel ends, or steel in any part of their conduction. The members of the board, said the chairman, had inspected the. .cars damaged'in the Ratana accident and some were badly- knocked about. The* board had examined ■ photographs that morning which.showed the damage received by steel and wooden cars in other accidents. " Steel cars," he added, " do not seem to get knocked about so badly, but that depends on the violence of the collision." Climbed on to Footplate William Henry Eden, a cleaner employed by the Railways Department at Wellington, said he was m the second ' car' and en route to Wanganui. He knew both the engine driver and the fireman and spoke to them at Palmerston North. Witness said he was wearing_a brown coat and grey trousers. He climbed on to the footplate at Palmerston North, but left the cab before the train departed. At Marton he gave up his seat to a woman. Ihis seat was wrecked and the. woman killed. He was awake for about a minute before the accident. He did not notice anything-abnormal about the speed after leaving Marton, and just before the accident it was slightly below normal. When he left the car he thought there was a light fog. ,v He made towards the locomotive cab to turn .off the.steam,, but scalded his foot in boiling:water,, which was.coming away from thelocomotive. ; ■'"' ; To Mr Foote, witness said that.at the time of the accident he did not knoAV the authorised speed for that particular part of the track. The clicking of the wheels over the rail joints appeared to be normal. He could not think of any other means of forming an opinion as to the spgcd. ~ , In reply to a question by the chairman, witness, said he might have confused the steam from the engine with mist. Whatever it was, it was not very thick. Reduction of Speed Mr Foote: How long before the derailment did you notice a reduction in the speed? Witness: About a minute before. It seemed a gradual reduction. In reply to the chairman, witness gave the names of three friends who were in the same car. He spoke to them aEter leaving Marton. The chairman: There was just a suggestion at one stage that you might have been travelling on the engine. That is why I asked you this question about your friends. Mr Watson: That is one of the reasons why I asked for this witness to be called. Witness added that he did not hear' any whistles blown. The escaping of steam after the accident, however, sounded like a whistle. Frederick William Billows, of the Land and Income Tax Department, Wellington, said he was in the third car. He had had considerable experience in timing competitors at athletic meetings. He had been over the section of the track concerned on many occasions. At no time, said witness, was the speed excessive." He travelled in the same car. as Winstone, an earlier witness, but did not notice the car swaying alarmingly from side to side. He was wide awake.at the time. Talk with Driver Witness said he spoke to the driver casually at Palmerston North and saw the previous witness, Eden, in the cab talking to the fireman. The driver was coming round the side of the locomotive with an oilcan. Witness said: "Hullo, having an oil-Up? I thought you would have had a 'K' engine on an excursion such as this." The driver replied that it was just his luck to strike an engine with a bearing running hot. Witness did not hear the driver say: "I'll get a bit of speed out of this later on." Nobody had ever asked him about this conversation until now. He had not discussed' it with the driver or anybody representing him. He did not hear any passenger suggest that the accident was due to speed. Cross-examined by Mr H. F. O'Leary, K.C. (for the Railways Department), witness said that the man referred to by Mrs Manning as having said that the engine was going too fast was not witness. Swaying Not Noticed Thomas' Joseph Calnan, a storeman, of Wellington, who was in the front compartment of the third car, said he gave interviews to reporters after the accident. Just before the

smash he was talking to Quinton, an elderly man, who was killed. Five minutes before the accident the speed did not appear to vary from that of the whole trip. He did not notice any swaying. He felt the brakes go on a minute or so before the accident. Cross-examined by Mr Aicken (railway law officer), witness said that just before the accident the speed definitely decreased. He did not notice any difference in the speed from Marton to the point where the speed was finally reduced. The application of the brakes and the crash did not come simultaneously. He felt the brakes being released, and the accident occurred a few seconds later. A rough estimate of the time which elapsed between the release of the brakes and the derailment would be no more than 10 seconds.