Woman Seriously Hurt At Bunnythorpe Station

Chronicle (Levin), 12 November 1949, Page 5

Woman Seriously Hurt At Bunnythorpe Station

Struck by the rear of a shunting engine travelling in reverse in the yards of the Bunnythorpe railway station at 9.45 a.m. yesterday, Hilda Maud Scoullar, married, aged 55, residing with her husband at Cemetery Road, Bunnythorpe, had her left foot cut off, broke her left hip and received head injuries. Mrs. Scoullar did not lose consciousness and was taken to the Palmerston North Hospital where her condition last night was reported to be serious. The accident occurred when Mrs. Scoullar was taking a short cut across the railway yards from Railway Road to a bus stop on the main road. She had erossed one set of tracks and began walking down the first line of a second set of tracks. A shunting engine, driven by G. E. Pilcher, reversed down this line from a loop and struck Mrs. Scoullar. It is understood that the rear of the train obscared the view of the engine crew and railway staff operating the yards. The accident was first noticed by the shunter, Mr. J. R. Middlemiss, who saw Mrs. Scoullar being tossed aside -by the force of the impact. Her left leg fell under the wheels of the engine and her foot was cut off. The engine was quickly stopped and Mrs. Scoullar was rushed to hospital in an ambvlance. Her husband is Mr. Johh Gordon Scoullar, an engineer. __