DRIVER’S GRAPHIC STORY.
“IT WAS TOUCH AND GO.” AUCKLAND, Aug. 12. “It was touch and go, and how we got out of it so lightly I do not know,” said Enginedriver A. Blackwell. “I quite thought it was alt up with us, and wo have had a wonderful escape. I was driving at. the maximum speed of 45 miles an hour, when suddenly 1 felt jolts and knew we had run oxer something. 1 whipped on the emergency brake at once. “Wo started swaying from side to side, and it seemed as though wo were certain to tip over one hank or the other. “The engine was hopping about all over the place and we had to liang on and trust to luck. The tender collapsed and practically broke oil', and the fact that it ploughed into the ground as it was pulled along helped to stop the train. “From the spot where we struck the cattle to where we pulled up was only about 100 yards. This shows the beauty of the Westinghouse brake. It gripped tho coaches and held them rigid in their place; otherwise there is no knowing what might have happened. “It is a wonder tho train was not telescoped, but the tender held the first postal van, and the other coaches in turn were gripped tight and remained steady. “About 30 yards before the engine carne to a stop it took the points and ran on to the siding.” The opinion was expressed by the driver that the cause of the engine running to the siding must have been portion of the carcase of a cow becoming entangled with tho points. An official of the Traffic Department, on receiving word of the accident, losi no time in taking steps to transfer tbe passengers’ luggage and mails to a second train which was brought from Mercer. This train left Drury for Wellington about 1.40 o’clock this morning. A breakdown gang was promptly despatched from Auckland to clear the track and repair the line in order that there be ns little interruption to traffic as possible. It is expected that a temporary loop will be constructed to carry the railway traffic round the scene of the accident as the twisted rails and debris will take some time to remove. The engine, two postal vans and a reserved passenger car were the ones which ran on to the siding, and all are more or less severely damaged underneath. The tender has n pronounced tilt to the left. Its xvheols are completely buried. The track was torn and twisted for about 75 ynrite, while all the under gear of the engine, tender and postal vans was shattered or shorn away. Most ot these vehicles were embedded to a depth of about four feet in the formation of the track. One pastel van was careened toward the right embankment, while the other bad a list to the left. That they mini hied upright at all during the crashing and splintering upheaval among the tangle of the track is beyond explanation. Though the enginemen were shaken badly, they received no bruises. Fireman Millar was slightly scalded by boiling oil from the feedpipe as he stood at his post in the cab. He made light of the accident.
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2467, 15 August 1922, Page 1
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546DRIVER’S GRAPHIC STORY. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2467, 15 August 1922, Page 1
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