TWO BROKEN RODS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 135, 12 June 1929, Page 11

TWO BROKEN RODS

CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS

SEVEN HOURS LATE

(By-Telegraph.— Press Association 1) . This Day. The .south express, due at Christehureh'at 7.18 .p.m. was delayed by a series of accidents, and the passengers arrived in Christchureh nearly seven hours late.' '-\ :' ■ . ■

Engine trouble' delayed the train at Hook, near Studholme. Another engine was sent from Timaru, but it was too light for the heavy train, and progress was slow. The relief engine in turn broke, down when the train was between .Norwood and.Burnham, and another engine was sent from ■ Christchurch. -".'.. ■ The ferry steamer Maori waited for Jthe passengers and mails. Extra boilers were • put ■- into • commission and the jsteamer was' expected to' make a fast ■passage to Wellington. ' ;' ; When the accident occurred at Nor,wood, twenty-two miles south of ChristjChurch, the ; train was .already nearly ;two hours behind'schedule, owing to the Jengine breaking down at Hook, south ;cf .Timaru, and having to be replaced. •At Norwood the train suddenly pulled |up again, and it was found that on the ileft hand side,of the engine the broken jrod was bent double and hung outwards, land one on the.opposite sido had sriap|iped ofiV , The remainder of this rod had jploughe'd up the' permanent way,- and Jbut for .the depth of the gravel would iprpbably, by. striking the sleepers, have , derailed the train. "As it was, it struck :one sleeper, reducing the end to matchwood. ■■■„ ■ ■•-..- ; ■ . '. .'.....

| One report states that but for the ipresence of mind of Driver Tombs the express would almost certainly have jbeen. derailed near Norwood. When the [train : waß travelling ;at-over. 40 miles {ah'.liour two of the r, big connecting rro3s of::theengine;broke; One furrowed up the permanent way, but the driver applied the brakes in such a.manner that only the passengers in the first carriages realised it was an emergency stop. A relief train brought seventy passengers to Christehurch, arriving I about 2 a.m. .;..'. .'. -...;.

Official statements confirm the view that; the express had a narrow escape from .derailment,..with the consequent telescoping of carriages ; and probable loss of life. The speed was forty miles per hour, and the engine wa3 rocking perilously when the driver skilfully pulled it up.\