VICTORIAN ACCIDENTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9912, 29 July 1910, Page 2

VICTORIAN ACCIDENTS.

—-« BIG SACRIFICE OF LIFE

THE BRAYBROOK DISASTER. There have been several big railway disasters in Victoria, says the "Sydney Morning Herald," apropos of the Richmond accident, but the greatest of them was that which occurred, at Braybrook on Easter Monday, 1908. It still stands as the most appalling railway accident .that has ever occurred in Australasia. At the little suburban station known as Sunshine, and formerly as Braybrock junction, a Reii.digo train, heavily freighted with happy excursionists, crashed into the rear of a train for Bailarat just as the latter was leaving the station. The Bondigo train, drawn by two heavy engines, was travelling at a fair spaed, and the force of the collision was terrible. The guard':; van and three carriages of the Bailarat train wero shattered and Hung clear of the line, and forty-crte. passengers wero killed outright, and about seventy seriously injured. Three of the latter subsequently succumbed, and the Claims Agent received notification of aio less than 400 persons being injured' in sonic form or other —about one-third of the total number of passengers on the two trains. It was in the Bondigo train that the death-dealer rode, for though so many of the Bailarat passengers were injured not one of the passengers in the Bendigo train suffered serious injury. Indeed, the Bailarat train was practically stationary when the Bondigo special dashed into the platform and shattered the rear carriages of the obstructing train. The Bailarat train, already late, had tarried at Sunshine to take on board a number of people who had been spending the day with friends. The front carriages were too full to take all those who were waiting, and the train, being a long one, the rear cars had to be brought up to the centre of the platform. It was at that point that the collision occurred. The last lot of passengers to board the rear cars were among'the killed and injured. They had barely arranged themselves in the compartment, and the train had only begun to move, when the death-dealer delivered his awful message. The facts elicited at the inquest went to show that the driver of the Bendigo train, following a recognised departmental custom, ran past the distant danger signal at full speed, trusting to the brakes to pull him up before reaching the station he was forbidden to enter. The department had to pay about £127,000 compensation in respect of this great disaster. THE WINDSOR ACCIDENT. Next to the Sunshine disaster, I ho most serious railway accident in A"ictoria was the or.o which occurred near the Windsor station, on May 11, 1887. In this ease tho 5.20 p.m. ordinary down train had come to a standstill. between the distance and home signals outside the Windsor Station, owing to the hose-pipe of the steam brake snapping. It stood just round the bend of a sharp curve at the bottom of a deep cutting. Tho guard had just got down to examine the gear, when the 5.40 Brighton express ran through the Prahran Station and dashed into the stationary train. The driver of the express could not fice tho ordinary train more than a train's length ahead, owing to the bend, which was just beyond the High Street Bridge, and be came on in fancied security and. with undiminished speed. Tho crash was only seen to be inevitable just before it occurred. Some of the passengers escaped by jumping out of the stationary train in tho nick of time, but Others, having less warning, kept their seats. Tho advancing engine cut into the guard's van of the ordinary train, and three of tho carriages were smashed to pieces. The driver had only time to put on the steam brake, which materially checked the speed of the express, before ho and the fireman were killed. Four of the passengers of the ordinary train were also killed, and 247 people were injured more or-less, seriously. The total amount awarded in compensation in connection with this disaster was £128,985._ It was iu connection with this accident that the largest amount in damages over paid in Australia was awarded. Mr E. S. Parte, genera! superintendent of the Bank of Australasia, was among the passengers killed, and his relations obtained a verdict for ■£13,049 3s, and costs amounting to £IOBS Is 9d, the-total amount paid thus being £14,114 4h Bd. Following on this incident, the Railways Act of Victoria was amended so as_ to limit the amount of compensation in respect of one person to £2OOO. DISASTER AT JOLIMONT. On August SO, 1831, the tyvc of one of tho wheels of the Brighton, express broke, and caused the derailment _ »f five carriages near tho Jolimont Station. The 'first car to leave the rails, the fourth in a train of nine, was dragged along the metal for some distance, when the couplings broke, and it fell over an embankment about five feet high, into swampy ground. Tho carriage stopping dead, with the couplings still attached to those behind, the remainder of the train was suddenly checked, the momentum of tho fifth, and sixth carriages causing them to shoot upwards, and then fall in the same direction. The first carriage that had fallen was completely crushed beneath the one to which it had been coupled. The remainder of the carriages were brought to a. standstill, i-.iul the seventh and eighth loft the rails, though they did not fall. There were about 120 passengers in the three carriages that toppled over the embankment: and 'four of them were., killed, and' about forty injured. Claimants were awarded damages amounting to £45,000 in connection with this accident. THE HAWTHORN MISHAP. On the evening of December 2, 188:2, on the Hawthorn line, a collision _ occurred between a, special train, which had been engaged to convoy intending purchasers of land to the sale of the Box Hill estate, and the ordinary train from MelGoume to Camhorwoll. The disaster happened about lilOyds from a small wavside station called Picnic between East Richmond and _ Hawthorn. The drivers knew nothing of the impending catastrophe until they got within two or three hundred yards of each other, and, as both trains were travelling stt-'a fnir rate of speed, the distance was too short to enable them to avoid a, collision. Tho drivers stuck to their locomotives until they were just within a few feet "f each other, when they jumped off. The buffers of the engines snapped, and tho front of the engine attached to the train from Melbourne was smashed in right up to the funnel, Two carriages in each train wero telescoped, and one passenger was killed, and 178 were injured. In damages and compensation £120.000 was paid iu respect of this disaster. LITTLE RTVEII DISASTER. Another important accident was Hurt at Little River, when two trains^ crashed into one another head on. The accident came about through a stationmaster leaving his little girl in. charge, and she gave a "'staff" to a train, and enabled it to proceed, whereas she should have held it until the tram coming in the opposite direction had arrived. Two cngineuien and one passencrer v eic killed, and' 48(5 pen-out; injured in this collision, and compensation amounting to £22.637 way paid by the Department. THE BEAUFORT BOLT. Prior to the one now reported, the most recent serious railway smash iu Victoria was that which occurred at Beaufort on February o of this year. On that occasion the 11. $0 no goods train, from Stawell, composed of ihirtyfiv--> trucks, drawn by two powej-li.il engines, was descending a steep incline about three miles long near Beaufort, when it get beyond the control of tho drivers. A goeds engine was standing in Beaufort station as the up train approached, and the signalman, seeing 1.h1i.l snn!("tlii;'g uns w-oug, :;;riiod the

oncoming train into a dead end. The bolting train struck tlio end with terrific force. The leading engine was derailed, and thrown alongside the line, while its tender was left in an almost perpendicular position. The second engine and its tender were jammed together in the form of a V. The driver of the first engine and the_ fireman of the second were killed outright, and the other driver and fireman seriously injured. The latter died before he was extricated from the position m which he was jammed beneath his engine.

THE RICHMOND CRASH

About 9 a.m. on July 18, 1910, the 5.37 a.m. tram from Elsternwick crashed into the rear of a train from Brighton, standing at the station tit Rich; luond, one of tho .most important or MolbournV suburban stations. The weather was foggy and the trains were running late. Nine persons were killed and 110 injured.