THE SYDENHAM RAILWAY DISASTER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9100, 19 March 1901, Page 1

THE SYDENHAM RAILWAY DISASTER.

The inquiry into the Sydenham railway accident is demonstrating beyond a doubt that the speed of the train was excessive, and the class of engine used unsuitable. This, was made clear during the examination of officials. The conditio/i of the permanent way and. the suitableness and speed of the "F" class of engine were the principal points upon which .the examinations turned. The engmeer-in-chief for existing lines dedared that the foundation of the portion of the line in question was better than on any other part of the line; the ballasting was good, and the rails would not want renewing until next year. On the matter of speed, the chief mechanical engineer asserted that the engines were safe to run 30 miles an hour. If a tune-table were submitted to him on which it was suggested- to run those engines- at 40 miles an hour he would object to its adoption. The engine had a tendency to oscillate, and in consequence it would not be safe to drive faster than the speed specified. - It was also badly proportioned, the position of the centre of gravity not being good, and in view of these defects he* reported ' against the engines when he entered the service. One of the mosb interesting disclosures that the . witness made wat- that out of eight derailments of the "F\ class of engines, the. one which was wrecked had a record; of four, the other derailments being ; divided between four other engines. There are 18 of the engines in the service, and the witness estimates* that they had, during their life on the New South Wales railways, executed a v^ry_ heavy mileage, which, if divided by ' eight— the number of derailments — would show that they run 643,000 miles, or 26 times round the world, for each derailment. That he regarded as sufficient to show thsy were not dangerous.