NIGHT EXPRESS ENDANGERED.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 520, 23 November 1912, Page 5

NIGHT EXPRESS ENDANGERED.

SLEEPER ON LINE. SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. Huntly, Thursday. Aboutl 1.45 o'clock last night the midnight express to Wellington was brought to a stop about 200 yds or 300vds south of the Taupiri station, at the point where the curve commences. When the train came to a stop a railway sleeper was found jambed between the cow-catcher on the engine and th« permanent way. From the appearance of the ballast between the rails the sleeper must have been forced forward some 40 chains. The engine driver noticed the obstruction and pulled up in time to avoid accident. The engine driver noticed the obstruction and pulled up in time to avoid accident. The momentum of the train carried the sleeper forward after the brakes had applied. The police were on the scene in a very short time, and made a thorough investigation. It is said that a man was seen running away from the line eastwards immediately after the train came to a standstill. The whole affair looks suspiciously like a deliberate attempt to wreck the train.

The action of the person who was seen running away and who, it is said, can be identified by several passengers, has attracted the attention of the police, who have the matter in band. AN INQUIRY TO BE HELD. Wellington, Thursday. The general manager of railways stated to-night that the report that there was a sleeper across the rails waa correct, but he added that no one could say how it came there, through accident or design, until an inquiry had been made. Such inquiry would be made. He remarked also that a aleeper was an obstruction which the cow-catcher could remove.