Three Wagon Loads Of Hay Destroyed After Taking Fire In Tunnel

Wanganui Chronicle, 3 May 1948, Page 4

Three Wagon Loads Of Hay Destroyed After Taking Fire In Tunnel

Three wagon loads of hay consigned from Taranaki stations to Westmere caught fire when a freight train was passing through the tunnel in Goat Valley, between Kai Iwi and Westmere, on Saturday evening and were totally destroyed. The fire was observed by the crew after the train had emerged from the tunnel. They immediately detached the burning wagons from the rest of the train and took them on to Westmere, a few miles distant at the summit of a grade By this time the fire had a good hold and the only equpiment available for combating it was a chemical extinguisher. Even if a call had been put through to the Wanganui Fire Brigade, seven miles away, the hay could not have been saved. The wagons were shunted on to a siding and the fire burnt itself out. It was still smouldering yesterdaymorning. The hay was loaded in open fourwheel wagons of the “La” type and constructed of steel. The wagons were damaged, out not extensively and after a certain amount of attention at Westmere will be able to run on their own wheels to East Town Workshops. The fire caused some delay to traffic on Saturday night, but only two southbound freight trains were affected.