THE ABERDEEN SMASH

Otago Witness, Issue 3773, 6 July 1926, Page 30

THE ABERDEEN SMASH

INQUEST ON THE VICTIMS. SYDNEY, June 28 At the inquest on the victims of the Aberdeen railway smash Police Sergeant Grady gave evidence that he examined the viaduct immediately after the accideut and found that the rails had spread at the spot where the train first left the line. The sleepers were decayed and the wood of the viaduct was rotten and whiteant eaten. Other witnesses testified that the viaduct was white-ant eaten and had been unsafe for months. E. Butcher, railway engineer for the Northern District, expressed the opinion that the derailment was caused by the hi ’i speed at which the train was travelling, which synchronised with the depres sion in the tracks. He did not think that the condition of the bridge of the piers contributed m any way to the accident, and even if lhe briege had been of steel the accident would possibly have not been averted. He concluded by stating that the results were so serious because after the derailment the viaduct was in the way before the train could be brought to a standstill. He suggested that the accident was caused by excessive speed. June 29. Railway experts, in the course of their evidence, stated that 50 miles an hour was a permissible safe speed for a train at the spot where the accident occured. The members of the train crew gave evidence that the train at the time of the smash was travelling at not more than 35 miles an hour. The examiners who inspected the train prior to the accident said the gear and brakes were all in first-class order. June 30. Experts who had tested the line gave evidence that it was not in a satisfactory condition as to fettling, and that the depression - should have been apparent to any fettler running over the road by trolley or on foot The timber in the viaduct, however, was safe, and there was nothing suspicious about the accident. THE CORONER’S FINDING. SYDNEY. July 2. At the inquest on the victims of the Aberdeen railway smash the coroner found that the permanent way where the accident occurred was not in a satisfactory condition to carry the class of engine used on the train at the time of the disaster, but he held that the deaths were accidental. Owing to the collapse of a wooden viaduct between Fogar and Aberdeen, about 180 miles north of Sydney, the Brisbane express was derailed shortly before midnight on June 10. Five persons lost their lives, and over 30 were Injured. The accident was caused by three spans of the viaduct collapsing when the train was passing over it. The viaduct crosses a ravin© 25ft deep. The first engine crossed safely, but the viaduct collapsed under the second engine and the first carriage. This engine crashed into the ravine, followed by the next carriage. It was fortunate that the first engine and the third carriage kept the track, thus preventing further wreckage and additional casualties.