CARRIAGE STRIKES BUFFER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 246, 16 October 1937, Page 11

CARRIAGE STRIKES BUFFER

MISHAP AT WELLINGTON DISORGANISED RAIL TRAFFIC [ Per Press Association. I WELLINGTON, Oct. 14. Railway traffic entering and leaving the railway station was slightly disorganised about 6 p.m. to-night when a line of carriages was backed into one of the buffer stops at the end of a platform. Nine carriages, which were intended for the Palmerston North train leaving Wellington at 5.47, were being backed in by a shunting engine, but the driver failed to pull up in time. The rear of the end carriage in the line struck the buffer forcibly, riding over it, the top of it throwing the rear bogeys off the line. A coupling connectiig the leading carriage to the engine was snapped off clean. Nearly every other coupling was either bent, broken or undone. The buffer, a great block of concrete, was shifted on its foundations by the force of the impact. No damage was done to the bodywork of the carriages. Those waiting to catch the train had an unpleasant wait while a new train was run into the platform. A quantity of goods which were contained in the luggage van of the derailed train had to be transhipped. The Palmerston North train eventually departed at 6.20, a little over an hour late. Other departures were only very slightly affected.