EXPRESS TRAIN DELAYED

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22518, 28 September 1938, Page 6

EXPRESS TRAIN DELAYED

COLLISION WITH 1 LORRY VEHICLE STALLED ON LINE [THE PRESS Special Service.] OAMARU, September 27. The south-bound express was delayed at. Oamaru this afternoon for more than half an .hour when it struck a motor-lbrfy which had stalled across the line at the Coquet street crossing. The driver of the lorry Stuart McNeil, of Eden street, and another man in the "driving cabin. David Kiely, jumped clear when they saw the engine coming. The right-hand, front mudguard; of the l°rry was torn off and the woodwork of the right side of the body broken. The engine suffered minor’ damage, including a broken steampipe. ~... The accident occurred about I o’clock, the train being delayed about half ah hour while another engine was obtained. The lorry, which was owned by the Oamaru Borough Council, was bought only a fortnight ago, and was engaged in carting barrels of tar from the gasworks crossing at the entrance to the , gasworks. The yard is in .a slight hollow and the driver was unable to engage the clutch to climb the ;rise,_ the lorry running back across engine struck near the back of the body and slewed the truck round, the report caused by the broken steampipe being heard throughout the town and clouds of steam shooting across the road. Two or three barrels of tar in the truck were burst open and thrown along the line, and a trolley parked at the side of the crossing was also slightly damaged. The crossing is about 100 yards south of <he station. The engine was moving fairly slowly. A man working in the railway yards rushed along the line to try to stop the train, but his efforts were hot Successful.,