EXPRESS DERAILED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3829, 2 August 1927, Page 54

EXPRESS DERAILED.

THE PASSENGERS UNINJURED. A FORTUNATE ESCAPE. OTAKI, July 25. The express from Auckland fouled a rail 100 yards from Otaki station this morning, capsizing the engine, he postal van, and a second class smoker. No one was injured, but a good deal of damage was done to the line. The rail penetrated a portion of the engine. Ninety passengers were on the train, 17 of whom were in the second class < arriage. The smash was~heard a quarter of a mile away. The Napier-bound passengers were transhipped and the Napier mail train returned to Wellington, while an engine from Palmerston North took the Auckland passengers north. The cause of the accident was probably a defective rail, possibly due to the cold, frosty weather. The train was luckily travelling only at about 20 miles an hour owing to the fact that repairs are in progress on the line. A breakdown train with repair gangs and equipment, which was despatched from AVellington, was soon on the spot. Without delay the construction of a loop was concentrated upon, and this was completed in time for to-night’s Limited express for the north to pass over. NORMAL SERVICES RESUMED. AUCKLAND, July 29. As a result of the good work done by the Railway Department the Main

Trunk line at Karaka, where a heavy slip occurred, was sufficiently cleared this morning to let both expresses from Wellington through, although, from other minor causes, they were both behind schedule time of arrival at Auckland. Today all the south train services returned to their normal state. It is estimated that 2000 tons of material have already been shifted, and there are still on the sides of the line a further 7000 tons to shift before all traces of the slip are removed. Last evening the passengers and mails by express trains bound south had to be transferred. One five-ton motor lorry, carrying mails, was bogged on the main road while trying to avoid another vehicle. The mails had to be unloaded on to the road and a considerable amount of time was lost. Mr R. M'Bride (a Penrose resident) was injured through the explosion of an acetylene lamp while working at the slip last evening. He was taken to Pukekohe to receive medical attention. For several days at least the line where the slip occurred will have to be negotiated with great care, and the first -xpresses from the south, which pioneered the way this morning, crawled through, a railway man walking in advance with a green light. Other trains which passed during the morning also travelled dead slow.