RAILWAY SMASH.

Otaki Mail, 3 September 1930, Page 3

RAILWAY SMASH.

twenty-six trucks pile up in MASS OP WRECKAGE. EXPRESSES AND MAILS HELP UP. Wanganui, Last Night. A, serious railway smash occurred about.a mile and a-half north of Manga ivekii at aubut six o’clock this evening, when 2(5 trucks, mostly laden with coal and timber, were piled in, a mass ol' wreckage. The accident occurred in a cutting about a. quarter of a mile south of the Mangawekn. viaduct. - Sleepers were thrown on to the top of .She bank twenty feet above the railway line and rails were twisted and bent, some being left in a vertical position.

The train, which comprised 44 trucks, two engines and a guard’s van, was due at Mangawoka early iu the afternoon, but was considerably delayed. At the time of the accident the train ■was travelling downhill on a bend and trucks' some distance ho- 1 - from .the engine came off the rails causing .the accident. The engine and the first IS trucks were not affected, neither was the guard's van. Expresses and mails are held up and the work of restoring the permanent fWa p, be : considerable. . further details show that the track rs badly knocked about and will not be cleared till daylight. Meanwhile the 2 p.m. vexpress, Auckland to Wellington, aSi delayed at Marton and the Limited =at Palmerston North. The south-bound ft .‘ n n . ot reach -eta}-'scene of uid Passengers Zwflr? 16 tra «is from Wellingmoto^ e anas %