ENGINE DAMAGED IN COLLISION WITH LORRY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 385, 20 June 1928, Page 16

ENGINE DAMAGED IN COLLISION WITH LORRY

PETROL DRUMS SCATTERED Press Association. HASTINGS, Tuesday. A collision occurred between a train and a motor-lorry at the Frederick Street railway crossing, Hastings, this afternoon. The lorry, carrying a score of 20gallon drums of petrol, and driven by Mr. E. F. Lowry, had its back wheels on the line when a combined train crashed into it. The driver of the lorry fortunately kept his seat and escaped injury. The lorry began to run back down a slope away from the railway line for about 20 yards, and in its course it levelled about 30ft. or 35ft of fence outside a private residence. Its wheels tore out great patches of asphalt from the footpath, and did considerable damage to the lawn inside the fence. The oil drums were scattered in all directions. One was carried about 15 yards along the line until it exploded and fell into a ditch, where the contents of the drum were able to burn themselves out harmlessly, except for slight damage to the hedge. Had it not been for the ditch the house near the line would have been in danger. Another oil-drum caught by the cowcatcher, was tossed on the other side of the line, but did not explode. The cowcatcher of the engine of the train was almost ripped off. A hole a foot in diameter was knocked out of the iron front of the fire-box, and the outer cap of the cylinder on the right of the engine was damaged extensively.