TRAIN DERAILED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 205, 31 August 1943, Page 4

TRAIN DERAILED

DISLOCATION ON NORTH AUCKLAND LINE (P A.) Auckland, Aug. 30. Rail services on the main north line were interrupted by a derailment this morning o£ part of the southwardbound passenger train between Ahuroa and Te Mekaroa, 14 miles north of Helensvije. The train left vVhangarei at 5.20 a.m. and the accident, which was caused by a broken rail, occurred at 9.15. Two rear carriages and the guard's van of the five-carriage train left the rails. They were not overturned. Nobody was injured and the passengers, who numbered about 80. were brought through to Auckland in the front portion of the train. A breakdown gang was quickly on the scene but it was necessary to tranship the passengers on the two express"s to and from Auckland and Opua, and also on the subsequent passenger services. Fourteen Armytrucks. under the command of Lieut.Colonel Stevens and manned bv members of the Rodney Home Guard and women of the W.A.A.C. and the Wellsford unit of the W.W.S.A., who worked solidly during heavy rain, were used for this purpose. ' There were 410 passengers on the northbound train and 380 on the other. Passengers who left Opua at 9 o'clock this morning did not reach Auckland until 9.50 to-night, over four hours late. Passengers who left Auckland for Opua on the 8.40 a.m. express were expected to arrive there at midnight. seven hours late. It. is expected the line will be cleared in the early hours of the morning.