THE QUEEN’S ESCAPE

Patea Mail, Volume XLVI, 29 August 1923, Page 2

THE QUEEN’S ESCAPE

ATTEMPT TO WRECK TRAIN LONDON, August 26. An attempt to wreck a train was discovered at Lamesley, on the NorthEastern Railway, four miles south of Newcastle, twelve hours after the Queen had passed on a journey to Scotland. Th driver of a later express reported the obstruction when he reached Newcastle, and an investigation resulted in the discovery that an iron shoe used for lifting heavy objects had been placed across the rails, with the shoe gripping the inside of a rail. Fortunately the express engine caught a lever attached to the shoe, and threw the obstacle clear, but if the shoe had been fixed on the outside it would have cauused the derailment of the train. Later, half a mile from the first obstruction, it was discovered that a warning board placed across th© rail! had been smashed to pieces by a southbound train.