RATANA INQUIRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 103, 4 May 1938, Page 9

RATANA INQUIRY

RAILWAY DISASTER THE QUESTION OF SPEED NOT EXCESSIVE, SAYS GUARD [ Per Press Association. ] WELLINGTON, May 3. Giving evidence to-day before Board of Inquiry set up to investigate the cause of the Ratana railway disaster on March 26, the guard of the train, T. H. White, said the speed was not excessive. The train reached about 40 miles an hour on the Ratana flat but the driver made the ordinary application of the Westinghouse brakes and reduced the speed to about 25 miles an hour before the curve. In the opinion of witness the locomotive left the rails at a speed of from 20 to 25 miles an hour. Mr. F. C. Aickin, railway law officer, intimated in the morning that it had been definitely established that the third man seen on the footplate at Palmerston North was a youth who had handed the driver the train advice. Mr. Aickin said before th? adjournment late this afternoon he thought the identity of the man known as “Mac” might also be established. A man referred to as “Ted” by a witness had been located and wa> now in Whangarei. It was thought this might be the “Mac,” but the opinion had not been confirmed* A man called “Ted” had made a statement to the police and would be called to give evidence. Frederick Harry Taylor, an apprentice at the railway workshops at the Hutt, and a passenger by the train, said he knew a witness had stated yesterday, in effect, that he (the witness) said a railway cadet travelled on the engine from Wellington. Witness said that he was with other apprentices on the station at Wellington, and before the train’s departure saw a young man on the engine footplate, talking to the driver. Witness went to his carriage. He did not know

the youth was a cadet. He he would have an opportunity of leaving the engine before the train started. Witness dozed on and off to Palmerston North and was asleep when the train arrived there. He walked to the engine. His seat was 1 in the first carriage, and he stood about 25 yards away. There were ■ three persons in the cab, the driver the fireman and a man who appeared like a person who worked about the track. If the third person had grey pants on he would have noticed it. Mr. Aickin, counsel for the Railway Department, announced at this point ; that he had ascertained from Palmers- . ton North station that a lad with grey ■ pants and brown coat delivered a train advice to the driver at the station. It was necessary for him to wait some time in the cab until the driver cleaned his hands. He submitted this disposed of yesterday’s evi- . dence. To further questions witness said the third person in the cab at Palmerston North was not the youth he saw in the cab at Wellington. The person at Palmerston North looked like a train examiner, but witness did not get a good view of him. Witness denied making any statements that there was a railway cadet in the cab who travelled from Wellington. What he said was that he thought there was a junior stoker or a cleaner out of the running shed. To Mr. Justice Frazer witness said tha* at the time of the accident he did not know it was a breach of the regulations for a third person to be in the cab. Guard Gives Evidence The train guard, Thomas Henry White, giving evidence, said that after the train examiner at Palmerston North told him the train was right, witness went up to the engine. The fireman was on top to assist with the taking in of water. The driver came out of the cab and said a man from Fordell had asked him to stop and the driver asked witness whether he should. Witness said: “No; right on to Aramoho. We have no authority to stop.” Witness went into the first carriage and checked the tickets and by the time he finished the train was past Turakina. He had also to count the passengers. Answering a question by Mr Aickin, the guard of the train, Thomas Henry White, said that if the train passed Turakina at 2.2 a.m. it would be three minutes late on its schedule. In answer to another query, White stated that the train picked up three to four minutes in the distance between Marton and Turakina. Mr Aickin: To do that the train couldn't crawl?—No. I put it to you that it would require to travel fairly quickly to do that?—Yes, at a fair speed. You must have some recollection of the trip between Marton and Turakina.- I have a recollection of the work I did between Marton and Turakina, but apart from that 1 do not recollect anything particular about it. Witness said he felt nothing out of the ordinary in the running of the train. If the train had been travelling fast round some of the curves he thought he would have noticed the lurching of the carriages. Witness said he did not remember the train passing Ratana but he remembered the accident, of course. Mr Aickin: The accident must have caused you some thinking afterwards? Witness said it had, although immediately after the derailment his concern was for the passengers. He did not spend any time thinking of the cause of the accident until some time afterwards. Estimates of Speed White added that coming down the straight before entering the curve the train was doing a fair speed. There was an ordinary application of the brakes before the curve. The speed increased from the top of the Turakina grade. In the opinion of witness the driver took hold of the train near the cutting in order to enable him to proceed round the curve at the proper speed. He estimated that when the engine left the road the train was doing 20 to 25 miles an hour. Over the Ratana flat before the application of the brakes the speed was about 40 miles an hour. Witness added that he often rode on the Limited and was accustomed to high

speed. Fifty miles an hour on a straight, good track was a comfortable speed. The application of the brakes was fully transmitted right through to the van. When the brakes were applied he was in the van making out the running sheet. He continued writing and felt the brakes released. He had no experience of a jolt until the crash came. “She seemed to leave the rails immediately he let the brakes go,” said witness. “There was one bump before she stopped. I am satisfied the brakes were not on at that time. I did not hear a crash.” Witness added that in his opinion the whistle was not sounded. He heard a peculiar sound as if the steam pipes had burst and thought this could have been mistaken for the whistle by passengers. He lost no time in leaving the van and half-way out looked at his watch. The time was 2.18 and this was entered in his book. He was not above making an error under such a predicament, but the reading of his watch was 2.18. Questioned about an alteration to the figures in his book, witness said he was quite sure that after looking at his watch three figures were entered. The figure “8” was probably faint and he may have gone over it again. A mistake in time could have been possible. To reach the scene of the derailment by 2.18 seemed slow running. To Mr Aickin: If the Train Control officer in Wanganui was called at 2.25 a.m. and if Hare and another witness did not leave the scene of the accident until 10 minutes after it had occurred and took a further three minutes to reach the telephone and open it, the time of accident could be fixed at 2.12 a.m. He did not see any fog when he left the van. While at Marton he was close enough to the locomotive to see if a third man had been in the cab. He did not detect any smell of liquor on the driver, wi.o was perfectly sober. Cross-examined by Mr Watson, witness said he had not seen or spoken to the driver of the train since the accident. Mr Watson: You have said you may possibly have made a mistake in your book? —Yes. I suppose you did not know until told this afternoon that though it was 2.13 you were still within a reasonable speed?—No. You checked your watch in Wanganui subsequently and it was a minute slow?—lt was a minute out one way or another. Third Man in Cab? There was no possibility of anybody getting in the cab at Marton without your seeing them unless they jumped up on the blind side?—Yes. Did you hear any statement after the accident about a third man on the engine?—l did not hear any such statement and I saw no sign of a man in dungarees with one boot on. Did you have any difficulty in writing in the guard’s van just before the accident?—No. I would have had difficulty if the train had been travelling exceedingly fast. Was the application of the brake effective in bringing the speed down to 25 miles an hour?—Yes. You never applied the emergency air brake or hand brake?—No. Witness added that when he went back to the telephone some time after the accident he noticed a fog south of the cutting. This fog was of varying intensity. To Mr Aickin: On a good track the train could do 50 miles an hour without the carriages swaying.