GOODS TRAIN DERAILED

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24901, 14 June 1946, Page 8

GOODS TRAIN DERAILED

HERD OF CATTLE ON LINE

ACCIDENT NEAR GORE (P.A.) GORE. June 13.

A J class engine and seven waggons of the Invercargill-Dunedin night goods train were derailed when the engine struck a bullock wandering on the line about 300 yards south of the Gore Borough boundary at 11.23 last evening. The driver and fireman had a remarkable escape when the engine twisted at the cab, and the boiler section slewed round at an angle. Several of the waggons and the goods in them were seriously damaged. The north passenger express due to leave Gore at 8.14 p.m. to-day was halted some distance south of the scene of the wreck and the passengers transhipped to Gore by vehicles of the Railways’ Road Services. A relief train was marshalled at Gore and the passengers dispatched for the north.

This morning about 10 men were engaged in diverting the line round the engine of the wrecked train to give passage for other trains. The train was travelling about 26 miles an hour when it ran into a herd of 40 cattle when approaching Gore. The engine struck a bullock, which, the driver said afterwards, seemed to pass under the wheels. The impact caused the light trucks between the engine and the remainder of the train to buck into the air and fly off the rails, two of them to the right and five to the left. Waggons Hurled Off Line The engine carried on for about 100 yards, throwing the mauled carcase of the bullock clear, and then slewed round to the right. The nose of the engine ploughed to the depth of the boiler into clay at the side of the line, ■while the cab was buckled between the angle of the engine and the tender. The only injury received by the driver was a cut on a hand suffered when he escaoed through the window. The fireman also managed to get clear almost unhurt, and the only other occupant of the train, the guard, was not injured. Seven waggons, which were hurled off the line, presented a scene of confusion this morning. Two timber waggons flew to the right, one capsizing. The other landed on one end of it and was damaged when it struck the ground. To the left of the line were two X type waggons, one with the side stove in. and the other with the woodwork splintered. The coachwork of one waggon was torn off the bogie and smashed in two when it struck the ground. A consignment of furniture for Gore was among the freight on the train, and it suffered damage. A plough, which had been loaded in one truck, was broken in two. The Invercargill-Christchurch express was delayed by the derailment of the goods train near Gore, and did not reach Christchurch until 8.35 p.m. —two hours and nine minutes behind schedule. The steamer express Rangatira was held until the train arrived, and did not clear Lyttelton until 10.45 p.m.