HAUNTED TRAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 714, 13 July 1929, Page 11

HAUNTED TRAIN

PELTED WITH COALS DRIVER AND STOKER DEAD Two remarkable mishaps befell the crowded Paris-Bordeaux express recently. When just beyond Poitiers, passengers were amazed to see carriage windows being smashed by a continual shower of stones and pieces of coal. At last the train was brought to a standstill. The tender had left the metals and had been ploughing up the permanent way for nearly a mile. “We were travelling at 65 miles an hour,” said the engine-driver, “and the tender went off the line. We came within an ace of a terrible disaster." A relief locomotive was brought, and the journey was resumed. Not long afterwards, the carriages began to he again bombarded with pieces of coal —this time burning coal The train slowed down. The boiler of the engine had burst. There was no sign of the enginedriver or fireman —till they were found half a mile behind lying on the side of the line. The stoker was dead, and the en gine-driver had serious injuries, from which he died later in hospital. A second relief engine was secured, and the express readied Bordeaux six hours late.