THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN VICTORIA.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2640, 6 September 1881, Page 2

THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN VICTORIA.

[By Telegraph.] (Per s.p. Te Anau at the Bluff.) Melbourne, Aug. 31. A terrible railway accident happened on the Hobson’s Bay railway on Tuesday morning, the 30th August, attended by loss of life, besides serious injuries to numerous passengers. An express train left Brighton as usual at 9 o’clock, and all went well till within half a mile of Melbourne station, when a bad jolting underneath a carriage, and a marked oscillation warned the passengers that something had gone amiss. Efforts were made to call the attention of the guard and engine driver, but unsuccessfully, [and these officers remained quite unconscious of any danger. The rattling noise grew more marked till a sharp curve at Jolimont was reached, at which the coupling between the third and fourth carriages snapped. The engine and three carriages remained on the metals, and continued on their journey, but the fourth carriage toppled over an embankment about ten feet high into a pool of water beneath, the other carriages behind coming crash above it. The first carriage was completely smashed, those following being also badly damaged. The news of the catastrophe spread rapidly in town, and a crowd quickly gathered round the scene. A body of police kept order, and the officials removed the dead and wounded, the former being Mr Bailliere, publisher ; Mr Jamieson, a law clerk, and the Rev. Mr Garrett, of Brighton. One passenger states he was aware that some accident was imminent from the continued jolting, about 4XDO yards in advance of where it actually happened, but it was impossible to commnnicate with the train officials to give warning. Mr Elsdon, Manager, and Mr Ford, Engineer of Construction, made a tour of the line at the scene of the accident after the event on Tuesday morning, and found that a piece of the line near Jolimont had given way. This flaw no doubt was the cau«e of the accident, and the train dragged on from that point till the carriages parted. The line was cleared and traffic resumed by 11.30 a.ra., but during the day thousands of people visited the scene of the disaster. An enquiry will immediately be held.