LUTED EXPRESS DERAILED

Stratford Evening Post, Volume IV, Issue 222, 31 August 1936, Page 6

LUTED EXPRESS DERAILED

CRASHED INTO SLIP. CARRIAGE SMASHED TO >T MATOWOQD. inoIqiQ isb&Si I ■■■■• '•■'- '•;;•■"• Passengers' Miraculous Escape: Only Five Injured. TRIBUTE TO DRIVER. Press Association —Copyright Wellington, August 30. Striking a slip a quarter of a mile on the Wellington side of the Paraparaumu Railway Station, the Auckland-Welling-ton Main Trunk express was derailed at 6.25- a.m. to-day. The locomotive crashed down an embankment to within a few yards tof the main road running parallel with trie line and a second class carriage immediately behind the engine was smashed to matchwood. The four following carriages left the rails. The passengers m the front carriage had a | miraculous escape. Although many of them suffered from abrasions only four were injured sufficiently seriously to necessitate their retention in hospital. j The engine-driver was Mr. G. A. Wilsb.er I and the fireman Mr. G. Cooke, both of Taihape. Their escape was even more remarkable. The locomotive 1 came to rest on its side buried in earth up to the floor of the engine cab out of which the two men crawled without a scratch or scald from escaping steam. The injured were:— Mr. A. Bush, retired, aged about SO, Taumarunui, fracture of both legs, condition serious. Mr. J. Bush, son of Mr. A. Bush, carVpenter, Taumarunui, abrasions to the face. I Mr. V. Viley, farm worker, Taumarunui, injured pelvis, condition satisfactory. I Mr. C. J. Rogers, school teacher, Taneatua, head injuries, lacerated right foot and cuts to hands, condition satisfactory. Mr. C. W. Reeves, commercial traveller, aged 46, Naseby Street, Christchurch, injury to the left leg and abrasions to the face. In Hospital. The Wellington Free Ambulance received a call by telephone at about 7.30 a.m. and two ambulances were despatched. They reached the scene of the accident after an hour and a quarter's run land were back at Wellington by 10.45 I a.m. with the five victims, who were all j admitted to the, Wellington hospital. After I treatment at the casualty department I Messrs. J. Bush and Reeves were able to j teeve the hospital. j . An, eye-witness of the accident was Mr. I W. Howell, whose dairy farm is directly j opposite the spot where the, slip ocjcurred. Just after daylight Mr. Howell went into his paddocks to bring in his cows for their morning milkiing when his attention was attracted by the exposed clay,soil of the sloping hillside. Realising that there must be a slip on the line and that the express was due to pass through Paraparaumu in a few minutes he made a valiant but unsuccessful, effort to intercept the south-bound express.' v . . , .. iM ■ Attempt to Sto'p Tr'aTri. •■ • ' "I was out getting in my cows when 1 saw the slip," said Mr. Howell, "and although I could not actually see if it were across the line I knew it must be over it. I looked at my watch and found it was 6.23 a.m. The train was due any minute and I immediately ran- toward the station close on half a mile away. It was my intention to break the signal wire so that, the arm of ,the signal would go up to the danger position for I knew there was ho one on duty at the station at that hour. "I was about 40 yards off the station," he continued, "when the engine whistled and a moment or so later it passed through. I Waved frantically and called as loud as I could but the noise of the train and the. poor visibility it was im--possible for the engine crew to hear or see me. Raih was pouring in torrents arid I should think the visibility of the driver would not be more than 50 yards." Steps were immediately taken by Mr. Howell to call assistance., He sent one of his boys to call the tablet master arid Dr. Patersori, arid with another he went in his lorry to the place of the accident. "Just as I arrived there," he said, "the driver and stoker, were crawling out .of the engine cab. The driver worked like a Briton and' did everything he could for the distressed passengers. Everything seemed to collapse in bits. A carriage was smashed to matchwood and absolutely all I that was left was the floor and debris."

PASSENGER'S STORY | "RENDING, TEARING CRASH." Possibility Of Carriages Being Telescoped. VARIED IMPRESSIONS. Press Association —Copyright. Wellington, August 30. One of the few passengers in the first ! carriage to escape without' a scratch i when the Auckland-Wellington express struck a slip at ParaparaunlU this morning was Mr. H. A. Milne, a Hamilton business man, who said in a description !of the accident on his arrival at Wellington by a relief train that he joined the express at Frarikton on Saturday. I Mr. Milne said the train was doing an ; average speed at the time the engine left the line and went down the bank. "I saw the driver and fireman crawling out of the tog of the cab," Mr. Milne added. He could not understand how nobody was killed. . He felt . the brakes being applied, and then the engine struck the slip. The carriage piled up (ike matchwood. Broken glass and debris were strewn over the floor and seats—all that remained of the carriage. Had the engine not left the line, Mr. Milne said, the front carriages would have telescoped and the accident must have been much more serious. His first job was to pull a girl passenger from underneath the debris; The most serious injuries were received by a man who was crushed beneath the seats. "The most amazing thing of the lot was to see the driver and fireman climb out of the engine with no apparent injury and join in the work of helping the injured," Mr. Milne said;

Helping the Injured. Residents and settlers provided biscuits and tea which were served in the guard's van and were much appreciated. Everyone who could set to to itemove the injured. Men ran about in the rain without the coats they had given to the women and children. Passengers in the sleeping cars gave up their berths to the injured, and the women and children. Everything possible was done for those who were hurt. There was little confusion, although some of the women were affected by shock. The relief train left the scene about 10.15 a.m. ahd arrived back at Wellington shortly after 11.30 a.m. Some of trie passengers were taken to Wellington by taxis and private cars. Mr. Milne mentioned that it was noticeable that nobody travelled in the front carriage of the relief train. They all piled into the back. Tension was still noticeable among the passengers on the relief train. It was raining heavily at the time of the mishap, Mr. Mibie said, and the passengers had to wade through mud and slush when they got out of the train, and again on transferring to the relief train. Some idea of the impressions people in the carriages further back received was given by Mr. and Mrs. J. Richards, Levin, who were going to Wellington to spend the day with their son. They were In the third car from the engine.'" • ; ; , ', Imprisoned. "We heard a crunching and splintering sound and had the sensation of going off the line; we thought the leading carriages had already gone over," Mr. Richards said. The train,..he. stated, went on a short distance aider the engine went over the bank and came to a stop with the second carriage level with the engine and tender. Passenger's in the first carriages were imprisoned for a time as the cars had been driven together when the train came to its sudden stop. "It was not quite daylight at the time, and it was very wet and misty," he continued. "The front of the engine came to rest down on the road. The driver and fireman stuck to it. It tipped over on its side. I have never seen so quiet an accident. Nobody got excited; they were all calm and collected. The doors of the carriages', he said, were jammed and it was difficult for the men to clamber out to assist the women passengers to alight. Saved from beath. Mrs. Richards received a slight head injury through being thrown against the seat in front, but there were no serious injuries outside the front carriage. A nearby farmer invited some of the women passengers to his home for tea, and tea was provided for others in the guard's van.

"The whole carriage disintegrated around us," said Mr'. H: Stephens, Christchurch, an engineer, who was also a passenger in the first carriage. "I cannot understand why we were not all killed. I cannot remember having been shaken up any more than I was in this smash. It was all over in a few seconds, but I felt then that my end had come, r had a momentary glimpse of the carriage folding away from me, and then I was floundering among the seats and on the floor. The whole carriage seemed to come backward on us and then it folded away and a peculiar twist it took undoubtedly saved us from serious injury or death. "I was amazed," he added, "when 1 found 1 had received nothing worse than a few brui"2s. three or four other passengers were more seriously hurt, and I gave a hand in getting them attended to. Just before the actual impact I felt the brakes being applied sharply, and tken there was a rending, tearing crash. TrSe train was travelling fast, but 1 wouldn't care to estimate the speed."