TRAIN DERAILED NEAR WAIHOLA

Southland Times, Issue 23948, 14 October 1939, Page 6

TRAIN DERAILED NEAR WAIHOLA

TRUCKS TELESCOPED

MORE THAN 200 YARDS OF TRACK TORN UP

(Special to The Times)

DUNEDIN, October 13. One of the most serious railway accidents of recent years occurred at. 9.50 last evening, when a goods train from the south was derailed at a point about one and a-half miles south of Waihola station. Fortunately, no one was injured. The train comprised the engine, a rake of 60 trucks, and a passenger coach and two vans. This morning the scene was one of the utmost confusion. More than 200 yards of railway track were completely torn up, the rails being twisted from the sleepers in a number of cases and scattered down the embankment. A. large number of the 25 trucks which were derailed contained coal. Some of these had telescoped, and splintered trucks and coal lay scattered far and wide. The engine and tender and leading truck were not derailed, neither were some in the middle of the rake, but midway between engine and rear of the train there appeared to be two derailments. The coal trucks were L and La wagons, and some of these were reduced to matchwood. Some K and Ka wagons were in a similar condition. There were no passengers in the single carriage. . As yet, departmental officials can give no indication of the cause of the accident, but express the opinion that it is one of the worst smashes in years. Loose rails are lying about the embankments, heavy, thick steel drawbars have been snapped like sticks ana tossed along the line, and twisted steel and smashed woodwork litter the track for hundreds of yards. Tons of coal have been spilled down the embankment, and some of the trucks which were not completely shattered were overturned. SCENE OF WRECKAGE The accident occurred on a straight stretch of the road which has been built up across a low-lying, area, and the whole scene is plainly visible from the Main South road. With gangs of men toiling over the mass of wreckage attempting to restore order out of chaos, it looks as though a squadron of air bombers had passed overhead. The train was due in at Dunedin from Clinton last night at 10.30. When word of the derailment was received in Dunedin a breakdown gang was immediately called in, and, with the department’s heavy crane (with a lifting power of 40 tons), set out for the scene of the smash. The work of clearing the track began at 1 o’clock this morning, and although the men were aided by powerful lights progress was slow until dawn.

A glance at the scene is necessary to realize the tremendous amount. of work involved in opening up the line again. Not only have the shattered trucks to be removed, but the line has to be rebuilt before the heavy crane can advance to clear the way. The breakdown gangs were making remarkable progress when a reporter visited the scene this morning. Heavy T. wagons were being hoisted up in the air like so many toys, but so twisted and smashed were they that the majority fell to pieces or the bottoms dropped out of them. The wreckage of this nature was simply piled in a heap at the side of the line. And as the crane cleared enough of the “way” for a length of new line to be built, busy men soon had rails and sleepers in position again. The K wagons apparently contained mixed goods, and crates of bottles of a well-known cordial presented a sorry mess through the shattered sides of the truck. Another contained cream and yet another fish, but the crane at that early stage in its clearing-up process was a long way from these wagons. OFFICIALS ON SCENE Officials of the department were on the scene early, among them the district traffic manager (Mr A. E. Hargreaves), who stated that the main consideration was to get the line open again for traffic. With this end in view another locomotive crane was coming up from Invercargill to tackle the rear end of the long rake of trucks, he said. Telephone communication was obtained by tapping the department’s own lines beside the track, but officials considered it very fortunate they were able to do so, because one heavy wagon had been hurled against one of ‘he double steel rail posts and had bent and cracked it like a bow and finished up within a few inches of the wires. With the breakdown equipment was a powerful oxy-acetylene plant with which heavy couplings or ironwork holding trucks together were cut through. This was brought into play early when a completely smashed coal wagon was “burnt” away from its less damaged mate. Passengers on the expresses both south and north were transferred by buses (both railway and Citv Corporation vehicles) from Waihola station to Milbum, to entrain again at each of these points. They took it all in the best of spirits, but an unavoidable loss of time resulted, and the express arrived in Dunedin 50 minutes late.

The Dunedin-Invercargill express, which usually arrives in Invercargill about 1.10 p.m., did not reach here yesterday until 2.23 p.m. The Christ-church-Invercargill express arrived a little more than an hour late last night.