Wild Dash of a Train.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2817, 20 June 1900, Page 3

Wild Dash of a Train.

A highly exciting accident happened on the London and South-western Railway, the other day, happily unattended by loss of life. A long and heavy goods train on the up line from Southampton had reached Medstead, in Hampshire, when a stop was made to detatch a truck. Medstead is on a hill, and there is a steen giadient to Alresford on the south, and Alton on ihe north. Whenthegoods train was divided to f-1 ow the trucks to taken out, the back portion, consisting of 19 heavily-loaded trucks and a guard’s van, started backwards down the in cine towards Alresford, and in spite of all the efforts of the guard to stop it by the brake it escaped control, and disappeared at high speed. The distance from Medstead to Alresford is is 6i miles. The line is a single one, and was fortunately quite clear. The stationmaster at Medstead had time to warn Alresford,and at tbe latter station the decision was hastily reached to dirept the runaway into a blind siding, the tremendous smash which would inevitably ensue being obviously a lesser evil than to allow the runaway to proceed along the main line, when because of its huge weight and speed, it might have gone even to Southampton,and smashed its way through the station. Probably Medstead did not tell Alrcsfot'd that the guard was in his van.

for the decision was virtually a sentence of death upon him. If this had been known,, however, it is difficult to see what other course could have been adopted. In a few minutes the thunder 'of the approaching runaway was heard,and it dashed, brake-van first, at express speed into the “blind” end of the siding. The impact was terrific; the trucks were smashed or scattered in all directions, and one truck, loaded with bricks, leaped right over the guard’s van and the fixed duffers of thesiding. By marvellous good fortune,the guard who had pluckily stuck to his brake escaped with his life, but was badly injured. Traffic was much delayed, as no train could pass the scene of the accident, passengers had to be transferred around it. In the wheels of the smashed trucks the hand-brakes remained visible in some instances,showing that the shunters of Medstead had not failed to take the usual precautions to keep the train stationary before detaching it from the engine.