RAILWAY SERVICE DISORGANISED

Shannon News, 26 May 1925, Page 3

RAILWAY SERVICE DISORGANISED

Kara Bridge Swinging Near Shannon CARRIAGES PUSHED ACROSS SINGLY. ALL TRAIN'S HELD DP. As the result of tne subsidence, of a small bridge, across the Kara stream about a mile on the further side of Shannon, railway communication between Palmerston North and W ellington has been broken and the whole oi the Maui Trunk, Napier and New Plymouth services disorganised. Yesterday morning, the surfaceman whose duty it is to patrol the line before the passage of the morning trams, discovered that the rails across the bridge had spread. He at once communicated with the stationinaster at Shannon, and with the Inspector of the Permanent Way, at Palmerston North (Mr McLeod). in the meantime the Field express arrived from Palmerston North and was flagged to stop at the .bridge, investigation was made immediately on the arival of the Inspector of the '.permanent Way, when it was discovered that the two centre piles of the bridge were suspended without support, some ten feet beneath the surface of the water, but whether these had broken off, or the supporting earth had been scoured away by the recent floods was. not ‘ ascertainable at the moment. The end pile on the Palmerston North side of the bridge .was also swinging, the result being that the bridge had subsided about one foot. Surface gangs from Levin, Makerua and Tokomaru were rushed to the spot, and the bridge shored up -with railway sleepers, until it was considered safe to take carriages across empty, but not an engine. Before this work was completed, lb 8 a.m. train from Levin had arrived at the scene of the mishap. Passengers ' were transferred across the bridge between this tram and Field’s express. The “Limited” from Auckland was held up at Tokomaru, the engine being transferred to the rear of the train, which was then shunted downto Hie bridge. Here the passengers walked across and the carriages were pushed across one by one, by hand. These were then linked to the local train waiting on the Shannon side ot the bridge and pulled into Shannon, . where they arrived at 1 p.m., six hours late. The Napier and New Plymouth expresses north had been detained at Shannon, and an engine from one of these was linked on to the Limited to take it on. to the end of its journey. It was fortunate the mishap was discovered before the Limited came along as this train travels very fast over tills stretch and there is the probability With the line out ol plumb she would have jumped the line and would have gone over the bank. An observer counted 166 persons transfer from the Limited. It is thought that the heavy ram, which caused a lot of water to come down the Kara stream on Saturday night, had weakened the piles and the weight of the up Limited passing over the bridge on Sunday night had further strained them. The up Field tram crossed Hie bridge at 10-30 last night, the engine getting over safely. Yesterday uf 1noon a further supply of sleepers came to hand, and these were built up opposite to those already m position. Another break down gang arrived at- the scene last evening, and a crane was also obtained lor the handling of piles and ’ It is intended to. truss the Mg e up sufficiently to allow ;the trains puss over until new piles can be obtained and placed in position. d (>n Saturday night, (be Karas ream at the bridge was nine feet above ito normal level, but this had fallen to iln-ee feet yesterday. The discovery of the weakness n tiie bridge was timely, Had the Limited from Auckland' being running t time and therefore taken precedeuce of “Field’s” a serious smash to the former, of dimensions that are problematical, might easily havei oc- . eurred through the faulty structure.