DASH INTO SLIP.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1924, Page 9

DASH INTO SLIP.

TRAIN’S NARROW ESCAPE. EDGE OF 750 FEET DROP. DERAILMENT OF ENGINE. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The engine of a goods train at Paekakariki had a narrow escape as a result or heavy rain, which caused a slip on the side of the hill, and a large quantity of earth and clay covered the railway line. The train was coining on warily, but as the slip was just round the corner it could not. be pulled up in time. * The engine dashed into the slip. The driver, Southall, and the fireman, who received slight injuries, acted with commendable promptitude. The speed of the engine was lessened, the engine being cast over on its side. The track just here is carved out of a cliff on the seaside. There is a drop of 750 feet on a narrow ledge between the rails and the precipitous slope, but the engine held. .

The New Plymouth mail train did not arrive until ten minutes to eleven last night owing to the accident which occurred to a goods train at Paekakariki. A passenger from the : West Coast, who arrived by the mail, said that the New Plymouth and Napier trains from Wellington did. not leave a there until late. They finally steamed out as a combined .train. On reaching the scene of the mishap the train had to be stopped in rhe tunnel and the passengers, of whom there were some hundreds, had to file through the carriages to connect with a relief train.

WASH-OUT ON NAPIER LINE. TRAIN SERVICE DISORGANISED. Napier, Last Night. As the result of heavy rain in Southern Hawke’s Bay, a wash-out on the railway line about two miles north of Matamau has disorganised traffic. Some telephone wires being down makes communication with the men at th© scene of the trouble difficult. Consequently details are meagre.

Apparently the wash-out started lastnight, but the line was made safe by use of tressels until further erosion took place. All trains got through except the noon train. The Napier- to Palmerston and Wellington t© Napier mail trains were both halted at - the scene of the wash-out. Later reports indicate that something in the nature of a cloudburst near Norsewood caused the water in the culvert to overflow and undermine the rails for a distance of 100 yards. Passengers north and south were transferred across the wash-out and those for Napier are due here at two o’clock in th© morning. The mail train is expected to get through tomorrow.