DASHING TO COLLISION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13638, 4 July 1908, Page 7

DASHING TO COLLISION.

SCOTCH EXPRESS IN. DANGER. A remarkable accident occurred on tlie ■ mormng ci AJit Y lltJi, to an express t l ' lllll on the Midland Railway from Glasgow to London,, and only uy tiie pruAiiiue of wind and resourcefulness of the engine dnvtr Wus a terrible calamity avert-eil. 'lhe train, which left Glasgow at 11 o'clock on Saturday night, and was due at St. I'aucras just after 8 next niorning, paused through Leicester about 6 o'clock without stopping, and was travelling at a speed of about sixty liiikii an hour, with a clear road. lc. was at Wigston South Junction, about- four milts eourh of Litces t er, that the incident occurred. At this point there are four' main lines, as well as juncticn lints, and the •express was switched on to a goods track still running at a great speed.

Had' the journey be-en continued on these rails the express niufct have soon overtaken a heavy goods train, with disastrous lesults. Jtiappiiy the driver promptly discovered the mistake which had bam- iiiade and applied' his brakes 14 their full power, so. that the l-rain was brought to a standstill within 400 yards. So sudden was the stoppage that the couplings of some of the cairiag-.s wnv broken, and i lie collapsible passages joining the corridors of some of the vehicles were smashed.

The abrupt stoppage caused great alarm among the passengers, may. of whom wire severely shaken. But fortunately none sustained injuries other than thorse resulting from shock, and great- reikf was expressed when i, was discovered how nairowly the travellers had <-i_caped adisaster.

• The switching of the express on to the goods line :s supposed to .bst attributable to a mistake in transmitting or receiving a signal. It is understood that the nearestgoods train was about a thousand yards ahead when the express entered upon this track, and it is evident that a 'collision was only averted by the driver's 'instant .recognition of the danger.