TRAGIC SMASH

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 601, 4 August 1933, Page 7

TRAGIC SMASH

STORIES OF HEROISM FIYE PASSENGERS KILLED IN ENGLISH TRAIN ACCIDENT. MANY OTHERS INJURED. Five passengers were killed and between 10 :and 20 injured when a Southern Railway train from V/aterloo to Alton, Hampshire, left the metals near Baynes Park station on the afternoon of May 25 and collided with a slow train from Southampton to Waterloo. Many stories of heroism were told by the helpers, who ran from houses near the line, and joined th'e rescue work in spite of the peril from four live rails. A mother travelling with her small boy led him to the side of the track and left him there while she went back to help an older woman wh'o had been in the same compartment. 'Two women with babies in their arms were seen staggering along the track to help another passenger more seriously hurt than themselves. One man, badly cut and bleed'ing, jumped from one of the smashed compartments and at once went to the aid of others more seriously injured. Within ■a few minutes doctors, nurses and ambulances were on th'e scene. The accident occurred on a bend of the line about three-quarters of a mile beyond Wimbledon station. According to witnesses, the engine of one train — that from Waterloo to Alton — left the metals at the points at the beginning of the curve. At the same mornent, a slow train from Southampton to Waterloo passed Ithe express, and its engine cut away the sides of its first and third coaches. "The front wheels of the engine of the Alton train seemed to rise up like a prancing horse," said one witness. "After leaving the metals the train seemed to plunge into the side of the Southampton train. The first and third coaches of the Alton train were ripped as though by a giant.knife, the sides being torn away. The noise of the impact was terrific, and the sound of splintering wood echoed down the line." All the passengers injured were S in the Alton train. Owing to the position of the five coaches — th'ey were zig-zagged in the four-foot way between the up and down lines — -three escaped with only slight damage, but the first and third were terribly' smashed. The side of the first coach, which was composed of first and third-class passengers, was completely ripped off. Seats and cushions were ripped and torn to pieces, the doors being splintered into fragments. The handle of one carriage was flung a hundred yards, crashing through the glass roof of a factory which lies alongside the line. The second fourth and fifth coaches were little damaged, save for shattered windows, but the third coach had portions of its side and roof torn away. The Southampton train kept to the track, and was only slightly dam-

aged. The driver of this tra'in was flung against the side of th'e cab by the impact and broke his arm. But in spite of his agony he was able to pull up safely within 200 yards. His fireman, and the driver and fireman of the Alton train — which was pulled up in about 30 yards — were unhurt. Southern Railway officials who investigated the accident on the spot, emphatically discounted the suggestion that the trains were swaying as they passed each other and that they crashed side-on in consequence. Such a collision, they said, was impossible, since th'e space between the two sets of metals was too great for the trains to collide in any circumstances. Roderick Duthie was crushed by the wreckage and terribly injured. The door of the compartment was torn away and his father, although himself badly cut about the head, stood at the gaping side to prevent the other members of his family from being thrown out. When the train came to a standstill, he tenderly lifted out his son, but ■it was evident that there was no hope for him, and the boy died on the way to hospital. Later, as the mother and Tommy, aged 12, were helped out of the hospital into a friend's car it was seen that Mrs. Duthie was in a state of great sorrow, although keeping con" trol of herself . Mr. Duthie said: "It is terrible. We came over here from the United States a month ago. I am British. I was born in Aberdeen. We were going to stop with friends at Aldershot. Roderick wanted to see the British soldiers. It wasi going to be a great thrill. He spoke about it in

the tram .... A dramatic story of the smash was w»s told by Mr. Alfred Downes, the driver of th'e Southampton train. He was lying in hospital with a broken arm. "It was terrible to see from our cabin the train approaching us," he said. "I just caught one moment's glimpse. I saw it suddenly lurch,^ as though it were heaving to one side, and knew nothing could save us. "I made a grab for reverse, for in a single moment I thought I could help things out. It was too late. With a crash which I ean never describe, we had torn into the other train, torn its side away. Next moment it fell on top of us. Pieces of iron, glass and debris streamed like a shower into the cabin. Steam shot up in clouds all round, but I told my mate to damp down the fires at once. I could only stay there with my smashed arm until they came to iget me away."