THE RAILWAY COLLISION.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10658, 29 May 1913, Page 5

THE RAILWAY COLLISION.

Per Press Association. Auckland, May 28. Amongst those reported as hurt | were the following Stone, Wai- I kumete, who was so severely crushed and injured internally that small hopes are entertained of his recovery ; Gorrish; driver of tiie passenger train, who was badly cut about ilia head and face;_ England, | fireman, who received injuries to j his head and eye; Miss Smyth ; (Henderson), severely cut about the head, and rendered unconscious; H. Thomas (Waikumefce), laceration above both eyes, necessitating stitches, contusion and laceration of the nose ;W. H. Perkins (Henderson), serious cut over the left eye, necessitating several and injuries to the back; A. B. Stych (Waikumete) laceration over the eve, and scalp wound ; W. H. Eldert ja, of Henderson, severe injuries ■ to leg; A, W. Tuck (Henderson), injuries to the head, which temporarily rendered him senseless. Others were slightly injured. | BOENE OF THE ACCIDENT. The New Lynn station is just ten miles from Auckland lon the Auckland North line. The scene of the accident is about 300 yards above the station. The bridge on which the collision took place is about •fOffc. long, and the creek is between 40ft and 50ft. below. Had the cars gone over the bridge, which has no parapets, the accident would have been followed by more terrible consequences. AN ENGIN EDRIYBR’S ACCOUNT. J, Benny, an ehginedriver of fourteen years’ experience, who was with the fireman in'the engine box on the outward-bound train, in s peaking of the accident remarked that the whole tiling happened so quickly that he had only a few seconds in which to decide what to do after he caught sight of the other train as it showed up through the fog and dashed over tiie bridge to the collision. “My train—the 5.25 am. goods from Auckland' —was running rigid; up to time,” he said, “and the tablet picked up at Avondale was dropped at New Lynn. After taking water we went on up the line as usual past the station towards the bridge, in order to back on to the siding to let the passenger train through to Auckland. It was just before the engine had left the bridge, and as I was about to reverse the engine gear to shunt back on to the siding I saw the other train coming. My mate noticed it at the same time, and we made shnul taueous shouts of warning. Oar train iiad commenced to move back very slowly, but in order to offer as little resistance as possible when the smash came, I gave the, engine full reversion steam and we had got two or three car lengths when tiio , engines met. ” Benny is of opinion that had not his train been moving back at the time of the collision the smash would have, been a great deal more serious. There were twelve trucks laden with general goods, and covered van and guard’s van, behind the engine of the outgoing train. As the result of the collision, the buffers, and draw-gear between the vehicles were damaged, and the contents of the trucks suffered sonic hurt. Except for the damage to the

engine no harm was done otherwise. The' effect of the accident was to cause a stoppage of the traffic on the lines for about seven hours. The wreckage had been cleared away by’ about 2 p. m. MARYE LLO U S ES O A PBS. That there should not have b en a frightful death roll under such conditions is one of the most remarkable features of the catastrophe. Just how many people there were on the train it is impossible to say, but the official estimate places the number at SO. There were eight cars, and in the two which were telescoped were only a few people. Car No. 2, which was smashed from a length of 20ft into a total space of 4ft, or oft., contained two men, one of whom was terribly injured, while the other escaped without a scratch. The reason for this fortunate crowding of passengers to points of the train where the least damage was done is explained by the fact that suburban train travellers avoided these particular carriages, which were of the old type, in favour of the newer and more comfortable cars. This reason accounts for the presence of twenty passengers in the cnr immediately behind tlie engine, the car in question being a new one. It is significant that except for the injuries sustained by Stcne, one of fci'c two occupants of the telescoped oompartmeut, the passengers in No. I car were almost the only others on Poe train to suffer. They, however, suffered severely, and as far as can be ascertained only one out of the twenty occupants of this carriage escaped injury. Just how severe the concussion was may ha gauged from the fact that although the car was new, the

iron seats were driven right through the floor. How hard some or the passengers hit the neats in front, may be gangd, too, by the fact that the woodwork on the backs of the Heats ■ was in some caess broken clean away by the impact of the bodies. After the collision this new car presented a gruesome sight. On 20 seats were pools of blood, showing that practically every passenger had suffered. The car was of the second-class division and the seats were fixtures, and not upholstered., Consequently, the men and women thrown forward were badly cut about the head and face. Six had to be carried out in an unconscious condition. Others were assisted to the waiting-room at the station, while others, though badly cut about, were able to proceed to their homes. Dr. Rossiter happened to he in the locality at the time, and he devoted untiring attention to tiiose most seriously in need of aid. TTiVTF.T AP UK AT FAULT,

For some time past people who know'something of railway working have had apprehensions of trouble at the Kew Lynn station, Hera I there is a water tank, and the in- | ward passenger train from Avondale I crosses an outward goods train. The passenger train is brought to the water tank on the main lino and the engine is watered.- . The tram then moves up the line to the bridge and backs on to a loop line to await the passing of the goods train, Apprehensions have again arisen from the fact that- the timetable makes the passenger train an allowance of only something like five minutes for all the train crossing and shunting operations, including the watering, before the goods train is due, and it

has been thought by some who have had experience of the working of the timetable that this time allowance is too short and leaves an undue posssibilifcy of collision between the two trains. From what can be learnt of what actually happened this morning, it seems almost certain that in the first place the_ accident is attributable to insufficient time allowance for shunting allocated by the timetable. Whether or not such is the case, the fact remains that eeve va I psople have had forebodings ot some such accident at this place. A LABOURER’S DREAM.

John [Beidy, a labourer, was one of about forty other passengers in the second-class carriage immediately behind the telescoped portion of the traiii, While recounting his story of the smash to a reporter, Reidy, who is a man of staid enough appearance, said that he gave warning of the event at his breakfast table about a week ago. “The■ wife and family laughed, when I told them that I had dreamt ot a train accident on a bridge on the way to Auckland,” lie added, “but my dream has coma true” —this with a selfsatisfied shake of the head. “My wife awoke me during the night and asked me why I was so restless, el r plied that it she had dreamed what I had dreamed she would be restless too. I then told her all about my dream, in which I saw a train collision on the first bridge on the Auckland side of Waikumete—one bridge before this bridge where today’s smash had happened. There seemed to bo a carriage endways across the line, and a lot of people were thrown out of the train, although i I did not seem to notice that any -Were hurt. ” “Then .Vou were not unprepared for this 'morning’s smash,” commented the reporter in encouragement of the story. “No,” was the reply. “I have been nervous every time of crossing the bridge near Waikumete for a week past.” The dreamer took himself so seriously that lie related another instance of having predicted disaster as the result of a dream, This lie said occurred at Napier about 30 3-ears ago, and it related to the capsizing of a boat during a storm.