MAIL TRAIN SMASH

Evening Star, Issue 20132, 23 March 1929, Page 8

MAIL TRAIN SMASH

FOUR CARRIAGES DERAILED 1 ‘ NO SERIOUS INJURIES ' ■—- i : j [Pts. United Pekss Association.] I■■ WELLINGTON, March 22. As the Palmerston North-Wcllington mail train was approaching Pnkerua Bay at about 6.10 p.m. to-day, the tyro of a wheel of one of the carriages broke, and four carriages and the guard’s van left the rails. Two ladies and a man, all bound from Levin to Paremata, were severely cut and. bruised, but all the other passengers escaped with nothing worse, than minor bruises and a shaking. Those injured were Mrs S. Wallace, Miss Margaret Wallace, and Air N. S. Wallace. The part of the train remaining mi the. rails continued its journey, the postal van being used to carry the injured. It arrived at Plimmcrton, __ the next stop past Pukcrua Bay, at 8.50. The Limited, bound from Wellington to Auckland, was delayed at Hiorndon, but the hub was clear at 9 p.m., and it then proceeded. The guard slates that the passenger car with the damaged wheel was second in front of the guard’s van, and it and the ears on either side, and the van, were pulled oil. The derailed .section ran 40ft down the slope to the beach, the guard’s van becoming detached and turning upside down. Jbe train came to a standstill with some of the derailed carriages on their sides, and the last one resting on the beach below. There was a surprising absence of panic and, only a tew doors had to be forced to release the passen‘‘The passengers took the mishap in a merry spirit, lit bon fires on tlio beach, and turned the whole affair into a jollv picnic,” said the guard. Officials slate that the tram was running to time, nnd nt tho usual speed. It was carrying thirty passengers. An official explained that such an accident as the rim leaving a wheel was rare.