TRAIN WRECKED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20103, 24 November 1939, Page 11

TRAIN WRECKED

DRIVER KILLED

ENGINE HITS WASH-OUT

CAPSIZE OVER BANK

75FT OF RAILS COLLAPSE PASSENGERS’ -ESCAPE (Per Pross Association.) GREYMOUTH. this day. The engine of the ChristchurchGreymouth goods train ran into a wash-out one and a half miles from Aratiki at 4 o’clock this morning and capsized over a 10ft. bank.

The body of the engine-driver, Samuel Milton Horne, aged 44, is partly visible inside the cab. Death was instantaneous.

The fireman, M. Creighton, suffered slight cuts and shock.

Five passengers suffered shock and bruises. The tender lying at right angles over the track prevented the carriage from capsizing over the bank. Mr. Horne, who is a married man with two children, was transferred to Greymouth from Taumarunui a year ago.

A wash-out 75ft. wide was caused by heavy rain. The rails collapsed and the engine was thrown down the bank. The passengers in the carriage immediately following had a miraculous escape, the carriage coming to rest at an angle of 45 degrees, partly supported by a telegraph pole on the inside of the track. On the other side there is a 30ft. bank into the Arnold River. Traffic is suspended until 200 ft of new track have been built. The work will probably be completed tomorrow. Meantime, road services are being used between Greymouth and Moana.