The Oamaru Mail. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 13 September 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1880.

Tiik shocking accident which occurred on tin; Wellington-Featherstone line on Saturday last lias demonstrated the necessity for making such provisions as will render trains proof against high winds. Even in this comparatively calm locality we have occasionally been surprised with a gust that has too nearly wrecked trains. If our memory serves us rightly, on one occasion, when a train was near Malieno, the wind blew with such force that the roofs of some of the carnages were loosened, ami were only held down with great difficulty till a sheltered spot was reached, when they were lashed on by ropes. We are not, liowever, going to advocate that anv safeguards against wind should he adopted on our lines. We do not think that they are necessary, and we have merely mentioned the effectsoi the wind on the trains in this part of the Colony to give some idea of the havoc that the gales of Wellington would be capable of effecting upon the trains that traverse the Alpine railways of that part of the Colony. It is singular that notwithstanding the boisterousness of the weather encountered on the line upon which the lamentable accident has occurred, the railway authorities do not seem to have seen the necessity for the adoption of safeguards until now. A knowledge of the method of working railways gained by long experience in various parts of the world should have ensured the adoption of measures to prevent a casualty such as that of Saturday. We admit that there are train casualties against which humanity, however learned in lnil way matters, cannot guard. But the occurrence of Saturday should not be one of them. There is nothing occult surrounding the circumstances that caused it. It is merely a question of pressure and resistance, and a rudimentary knowledge of how to work railways should be sufficient to enable these two forces to be counterbalanced to a mathematical nicety. A telegram informs us that the Commissioner of the North Island has issued instructions that " if there is any wind at all when trains are going up the incline, engines are to be put before and behind." It appears that the system of pushing trains tip and pulling them down the inclines on the line in question has heretofore been adopted, and it is not improbable that on the occasion of the mishap, while the engine was pushing the train up the incline, the tirsfc carriages were exposed to the full force of the wind as the train approached some exposed spot. "VY e suppose that the Commissioner's expedient of having two engines—one before and the oilier behind —would compass the dreaded danger. But it would increase the expensiveiiess of working a line which is already one of the drags on our railway system. A\ e admit that the railway must be worked now that it is constructed; we are also impressed with the necessity for protecting the lives of those "who trust themselves upou it. But, surely, there is some other aiul more inexpensive method of protecting trains from the force of the wind. Besides, who is to know whether it is blowing or not on the heights over which the train has to pass. It might be perfectly calm below and yet be blowing a gale above. The route of the railway it beset with treacherous spots where heavy gusts unoxpectedly emanate from gullies. This is a contingency against which the railway anthorities are called upon to provide, and the idea propounded by Mr. Lawson does not seem to us, notwithstanding its expensiveness, to meet the difficulty, unless it is intended to make the running of two engines with each train the rule and not the exception.