STRANGE ACCIDENT.

Colonist, Volume XXX, Issue 5019, 30 September 1887, Page 3

STRANGE ACCIDENT.

An extraordinary railway aoeidtdft, attended with oonriderabie low" of Government and; private property, happened early on the morning of the 9th inst., near Petersham, ioo)j the suburban line frojnSydney to Parramatta. Fortunately no lives were lost, bnt-that the :|pJfguw^MLi^hjß one pasgenger traTelling by the train escaped serious injury or ; death wat li tie short of a miracle.* It wm an express goods train going to Goulbnrn, aod passing over the viaduct it is supposed that the axle of the foremost gooda waggon broke and |h^'tl^eiir off the line several trucks, which toppled down the embankment the one after the Other in quick •accession, or left the viaduct and fell into the bed of the creek fully 40ft below. Almost immediately after the tracks and their contents had'fallen to the bottom ■of the embankment or iuto the bed of the creek a fire • broke bd tiC and' quickly enveloped the damaged rolling stock and goods which littered the ground in all directions. ' What iJaused the fire is not yet known, but it is supposed that some matches, which formed part of the loading of the vehicles, ignited, and the flames spread from some of the tracks over the other goods, including a good deal of isawn timber. An alarm was quickly given, and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade men soon arrived on the spot, bat it was too late to save the greater part of the merchandise and rolling- stock. Okie of the guard's vans containing the morning newspapers for the Southern towns as far south as Albury was burnt, together wi|h its contents. The damage is estimated at aboal £8000.;