WELLINGTON TRAMWAY ACCIDENT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10965, 7 May 1907, Page 4

WELLINGTON TRAMWAY ACCIDENT

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENE. Tlie most serious accident that has occurred in connection with thc electric tramway system of Wellington (says the New Zealand Times of Saturday) took place at 5.30 o'clock last evening, when a palace-car left the rails at a point level with the top of Nairn street, on the Town Belt, ran ten or fifteen yards on, and then toppled over with a crash on its side a few feet from the Nairn street side of the track. The car (No. 55) was one of the new single-decked bogey palace-cars, and had four or six passengers when it left Brooklyn in charge of Motorman John Reay and Conductor Arthur Perkins. Among the passengers were a middleaged couple, Mr and Mrs Thomas Bell, of Murchison, Nelson, who had been enjoying a holiday in the South, - and were passing through Wellington on their way home. Mrs Bell was killed outright, her body being found in a badly mangled condition half in and half out of the car, by the weight of which it was pinned to the earth. The, head was crushed, and one of her -legs was broken. ■ ' ' Mr Bell, who is a Justice of the Peace and a farmer by occupation, was not able to give any clear account of the actual mishap. He escaped with a severe bruising, a cut hand, and a bad shock. He was * found clear of the car, on the opposite side of the track, and was taken away as . soon as possible, after being seen by Dr Hogg, to the residence of Mr John Gibbons, in -Upper Nairn street. The other passengers— one of whom was said to have been a boy — could not be traced last ■ evening, but evidently they escaped irijyry, as they disappeared from the -scene soon after the accident. .Motorman . Reay was bruised and slightly cut, ffnd Conductor Perkins was injured about the head, and is suffering from shock. ON THE SPOT. The shock of the car leaving the rails and turnirig over must have been terrific-, as some residents in the vicinity imagined that there had been an earthquake. Within a few seconds a crowd had gathered from tbe__neJgJ*_bQ£jjo«a!i, — a^d-j:cridfi|a«_-^nrir'assistance they 'could. It \Vas practically' dark,, arid for some minutes, the scene was one of confusion. Matches and candles were the only lights available for a time, as the track at this point is not very well lighted. By precarious light the work of rescue was started, no one knowing what was the extent of the catastrophe.. It was essential to find out what was inside or under the car. Part of the deceased lady was .discovered protruding from under the car, which lay on its; side, and all efforts were directed to Raising the car f rorii the body.. Posts"^nd- lengths of timber, spades and hammers, were produced, by the willing neighbors, • but the" great weight of. the 'car was such t^at little could be done with these primitive appliances. ■'- , Meanwhile, word had been sent to town, and the carshed staff reached the spot as soon as possible, arid with an equipment of jacks raised the car. Lighting gear was also taken up and attached to the tramway wire, and soon the quiet neighborhood was aglare; On account of the riecessary delay in getting men and gear to the spot, over an hour elapsed before the car was raised sufficiently to allow the body of Mrs Bell being extricated. The body was taken to the iriorgue in a shutter-drawn car. : HOW T'HE OAR APPEARED. t All kinds of wild rumors were current in the city concerning the accident, and various accounts gave differing degrees of damage to the wrecked car and the permanent way. A glance at the scene of the wreck showed the car lying oh its side from twelve to fifteen feet away from the track, arid eight or ten feet below the level of the formation,, and parallel to the metals. One bogey, or set of wheels, apparently the rear.one, was lying about twenty feet behind the car, and: just clear of tlie track. The front* bogey was also detached from, the car, and lay piled rip against one of the posts whicn carry the guvs of th© ."trolley-wires. . The" sequence of events seem, from surrounding circumstances, to have been as foi-. lows -—On the upper part of the hill line tine car got out of. hand, and the motorr man, finding the hand-brake was not .sufficient to check its speed, applied the'magnetic brake. This also proved ineffective, and instead of pulling up at'the crossing, ■where an .approaching up-car should have been passed; one hundred or one hundred and fifty yarfe from the scene ' of the accident, No. 55 swept on with increasing velocity. . The motorman then had recourse to the ''electric brake," a last resource provided! for use in just such an emergency, but the impetus gained by the heavy car was such that in negotiating the sharp curve it rocked wih^y from side tb side and in its outward careen, aided* by the centrifugal force exerted, was unable to retain equilibrium, and toppled over. As the car tilted over the rear bogey fell off, but the forward one wriuld seem to have held on until tlie front of the car collided with the heavy post already mentioned. Teh force of this impact was shown by the shattered condition of the huge hardwood 'timber, and stopped the course of the sliding car -body, which, only ground its way along for another few feet. -•■'■ .".■'.■ It is providential- that the car did not proceed further in its' flight downwards,! for had it don© so it would have met a car ' bound for Brooklyn, fully laden with pas- j sengers. • | AN EYE-WITNESS. An eye-witness who was walking homewards at the time towards Brooklyn, and who viewed the accident from one of the prominent points overlooking the scene, sayf:— "l ,wa_ suddenly struck, on looking in the direction of the Nairn estate along which the tram-line runs, to 6ee a car coming down at a tremendous pace. It was travelling faster tlian a steam engin9 on a levef plain. All the brakes must have failed judging by the pace* at which the car was going. So rapid were the movements of the ear in its descent that for a short moment one had difficulty i in 'following it. Then it toppled over to the right on the downward run, but here the embankment is only a "few 'feet, steep. To the left, a few yards further ori, there is a fall of a b least a hundred feet, and viewing the car as it crashed oVer tlie small embankment it seemed, as though eygrypne.on board would have been killed outright, Had the car swerved to the left on the downward .rack nothing could have saved those on it- from a frightful catastrophe." " -: •-.;'.■ At present the run : from Brooklyn to the Duke of Edinburgh corner litis to be done in fifteen minutes, according to time-table, and in twenty minutes bo the Government station. If a motorman is a minute behind his time -he blocks the cars on other routes, and he has to account at headquarters for everv fraction of time lie is late. With an allowance of only fifteen minutes from Brooklyn to the hotel corner, it is alleged that the motormen have to get on a fair speed in oider to comply wi. h time-table regulations. It is urged — and this, of course, is a matter for expert advice— that if more timp were allowed in .the downward run, the motormen, with a slower pace, would have more complete control over their cars.