TRAIN DERAILED

Southland Times, Issue 18969, 16 June 1923, Page 5

TRAIN DERAILED

TWO CARRIAGES LEAVE LINE. A LUCKY ESCAPE. (Per United Press Association). ASHBURTON, June 15. This morning a mixed train from Springburn containing sixty passengers including thirty pupils travelling to Ashburton High School and Technical School, was derailed at 9.30 after passing Valetta, eighteen tnilee from Ashburton. Guard Gardiner, who was collecting tickets, was thrown down and severely bumped, and many others were hurled from their seats and slightly hurt, but there are no serious injuries. The front portion of the train comprised goods trucks. It is surmised a piece of timber fell off and derailed a truck preceding the children’s car, casting shingle on the children’s windows like a monstrous hailstorm. The couplings behind the children’s car parted, releasing two carriages containing adults and a van. These dived toward the fence, cutting up the track, which miraculously was level. The children’s car then parted and stopped partly off the line just before a cattle stop with an ugly tilt. The calm behaviour of the women and children is specially commented on. A fleet of Ashburton automobiles quickly conveyed the passengers to Ashburton, where the children reached their schools less than an hour late. A repair gang arrived promptly and the front part of the train proceeded to Ashburton. This is the third derailment on the Mount Somers line in eighteen months.