ATTEMPTS TO THROW A TRAIN OFF THE LINE.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 172, 26 October 1877, Page 7

ATTEMPTS TO THROW A TRAIN OFF THE LINE.

'(Daily 'times, '-October 20.1) A wicked. and malicious attempt to I throw a train off the main line between I Dunedin and Stirling was made on Thursday evening. The goods train which left Dunedin for the South at 9.4 p.m. consisted of an engine, foui-loaded waggons, two empty ones, and a breakvan. Near the Burnside station, and •when travelling at the rate of from 12 to 14 miles per hour, the engine and loaded waggons suddenly jumped on the branch line, while the lighter carriages kept on the main line. Before the engine could be stopped the waggons next the break- van were torn off the main line, and crashed into 'the morth 'end of the platform, causing great damage both to the platform and the cariages. The engine was stopped after running about twenty yards off the main line, and six of the 'carriages were found to be more or less damaged. The engine driver, John Stewart, the fireman and the guard went to the junction of the lines, and soon discovered how the casualty had been brought about. The "points" had been unlocked, and a piece of rail, 15 inches long, had been tightly wedged in between the switch and the plate points. This had caused the engine to be thrown ofl the line, and the wonder is that a capsize was not the result, in which case the consequence must have been fatal. There can be little doubt that the dastardly act had been wrought by some one acquainted with the working of this line. The 7.80 p.m. passenger train passed in safety, and thepointman asserts most positively that hethen and previous to going off duty locked the points securely. Thisstatementisalsocorroboraued by two men wh ose d uty it was to examine t'le points. The final examination for the day takes place before the last passenger train passes, and this exceedingly criminal 'act must have been clone after the -7.20 passenger train passed down, and with the view of throwing the goods train off the -line. Some 'time ago a similar attempt was made by blocking up the points, ! but this was discovered by 'the engine-driver. The police were busy yesterday making enquiries into tbe matter, and it-is 'to be hoped they will succeed in discovering the scoundrel who tampered -with the line. Had it been a passenger train instead of a goods train that met with the casualty, many lives must have been lost. Several of the iron waggons were extensively damaged, and had there been wooden passenger carriages in 'the train they would have been broken to pieces. ANOTHER ATTEMPT. A similar but less successful attempt to thr^w the train off the line was made on the afternoon of Thursday, near the Mosgiel Station. The. North Taieri siding had beeu locked, and , a five-inch spike was found driven firmly between the points. The 3 p.m. train from the Taieri ran over the obstruction in safety ; but the object for which it had been placed there was evidently to throw the train off the line. In passing the points the engine-driver noticed from the jump msde by the engine, that something was wrong, and on finding out the cause drew the spiko and forwarded it, with a report, to the head of the Railway Depai'tment at Dunedin.