Slip In Gorge Delays Rail Traffic

Chronicle (Levin), 6 October 1948, Page 5

Slip In Gorge Delays Rail Traffic

A mixed goods train was halted by a slip in the Manawatu Gorge at about 11 a.m. yesterday. The slip hit the trucks in the middle of the train but it was not of a very serious nature although rubble continued to fall for some time along a considerable stretch of line. Its extent was such as to close the Gorge line for four hours, but no trains, apart for goods and a local service railcar, were delaved. The line was open in time for the Gisborne Wellington express to pass through. The mishap occurred about six cliains 011 tlie Ashhurst side of No. 2 tunnel. The train was travelling from Palmerston North to Napier and consisted solely of goods wagons. Small boulders which fell following the slip made the work of tlie men who wrere attempting to clear the line very difficult. A gang of workmen was transported to the scene immediately the slip was reported and they eleared the line by 3 p.m. Railcar passengers for the north were taken to Woodville by bus and made theif connection at that station with little lost time. Rain, which has been falling almost continuously in the Gorge since Satur day, was mainly responsible for slips on the -main highway through the Gorge. Although they were of a minor nature they kept busy gangs of workmen, and motorists had to proeeed with caution, particularly near that seetion of road close to the site of the recent hillside fire»