WRECKERS FOILED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 252, 16 June 1932, Page 5

WRECKERS FOILED

(Press Assn.-

SLEEPERS PLACED ON LiNE TO DERAIL AN EXPRESS. obstAcles replaced.

-By Telegraph — Copyrlght).

SYDNEY, Wednesday. , Two delibera.te attempts were made to wreck,trains crowded with passengers, at a lonely spot near Wingham, North Coast. The mail train struck several sleepers placed across the lines, and soon afterwards a patrol linesman found fpur sleepers replaced on the line to dejrail a local passenger train. The police and railway detectives are concerned about a flumber of attempts to derail traihs in the metropolitan .area during tlie last mOnth. The North Coast mail was traveliing fast when the engine struck the sleepers and carried them several hundred yards before the train could be stopped. A serious aceident could easily have happened. The iocality is rugged with deep cuttings. At the beginning of June, on three nights deliberate attempts were made to wreck trains on three different suburban lines (said a cable message from Sydney) . In each case the vigilance of the driver prevented serious accidents. The police were conviriced that a gang of men were responsible for the attempts. Three trucks were derailed at Hurstville, but on the other, two occasions the trains were stopped before they crashed into obstacles on the lines.