NEARLY A DISASTER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2467, 15 August 1922, Page 4

NEARLY A DISASTER.

EXPRESS STRIKES CATTLE. PASSENGERS'’ NARROW ESCAPE. (Per Prens Association.) AUCKLAND, Aug. 12. Tho south-bound Main Trunk express was derailed near Drury at eight o’clock last night, narrowly escaping serious disaster. It crashed into u group of straying cattle near the curved embankment and tho engine jumped the points on to a siding. Tho tender, two postal vans and one passenger car, which was unoccupied, were thrown on to the side of the line. The engine driver, A. A. Blackwell, on feeling the bump, at once applied the emergency brake and though the engine rocked fearfully, no vehicle overturned, though the tender almost did so. It was badly smashed, the bogey being buried to a depth of about four feet, and the engine was very much, damaged. Tho first postal van, in which there was no occupant, was wrecked underneath, and the Second postal van, in which three men were engaged, had all its windows broken, tho men receiving bad shakes and the mails and loose letters being thrown about. The passenger coach next to the unoccupied one was slightly damaged, the door being splintered. Nobody was injured, and a relief train from Mercer arrived at 11 p.ni. to convey the passengers to Frnnkton, whence another will convey them south.