WRECKAGE BLOCKS LINE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 465, 21 September 1928, Page 1

WRECKAGE BLOCKS LINE

Main Trank Dislocated LIMITED EXPRESSES HELD UP Press Association PALMERSTON N., To-day. THROUGH the derailment of 17 wagons of a mixed train * the northern railway services are disorganised, and the Main Trunk expresses have been considerably delayed. Passengers by the Limited spent the night at Palmerston and were transhipped to the South-bound Limited which returned North this morning.

The mixed train left Wanganui at 1J.2 p.m., and was due at Palmerston North at 7.57 p.m. Just after passing the Boundary Road crossing the passengers felt a bumping, evidently the result of a wagon axle breaking and causing the vehicle to jump the rails. A. few seconds before sparks were seen coming from under a truck. About 20 chains further on the train passed a siding, at which a rake of three trucks, loaded with cement pipes, was standing. The derailed wagon caught these and dragged them along, capsizing them, and these in , turn caused the derailment of the rest of the train.

The breaking of the couplings brought the Westinghouse brake immediately into action and this saved the rear portion of the train, including the two passenger coaches, from being involved in the general upheaval. The wreckage of the wagons involved in the smash is complete, and it will be 24 hours before the line is again clear.

Postal hampers of English mail for Wellington and South Island hampers, together with general merchandise, including a consignment of flour, were scattered in all directions. The department sent out motor-cars to convey the passengers to their destinations, and arrangements are being made to transfer Main Trunk passengers at Palmerston North on the south side of the derailment and at Bunnythorpe on the north.

LOOP LINE COMPLETED PASSENGERS TRANSFERRED FAST WORK WITH MAILS Press Association PALMERSTON N., To-day. With the completion of the loop line at the scene of the derailment, the Main Trunk express passed through Palmerston North only half an hour behind scheduled time. .Passengers on the Limited express last evening, who spent the night here, were transhipped to the south-bound Limited at the scene of the mishap. The latter train then left for Auckland. Passengers on the down train were brought to Palmerston North and then joined the night Limited, which returned to Wellington. It is expected that the ordinary schedule will be maintained from now on until the line is repaired. Four vans of mail mater on the train, including English mails from the steamer Devon for Wellington and the South Island, were sent forward by the 7 o’clock train this morning. It is estimated that 196 bags were carried. Although the contents of the vans were scattered in all directions, only a few were badly crushed. A postal gang worked all night checking and sorting the confused mails. The full extent of the damage will not be known until *he mails reach their destination* Some bags were pinned fast and had to be cut open to allow the removal of their contents. The arduous task was completed at 4 a.m., with the exception of two bags, which were Inextricable, but were later released when the wreckage was levered away. Through fast, work in face of these hardships there will be only two or three hours’ delay in the arrival of the mail at its destination. CLEARING THE LINE OPEN TO-MORROW NIGHT Press Association PALMERSTON N., To-day. With the arrival of a crane early this morning the work of removing the derailed trucks commenced. It continued throughout the day, but it is not expected that the main line will be cleared and rebuilt until to-morrow night. All evidence of the accident should be removed by Sunday. The smash is the biggest on the line in this district, and probably in the history of the Railway Department. The cause of the accident has not been

definitely ascertained. A truck came off the line for some unknown reason, and after going some distance struck the points at a siding. The rails spread, and with the derailment of 20 to 22 wagons, the permanent way was very badly damaged, the sleepers being torn into fragments and the rails forced badly out of alignment. Wooden postal vans were reduced to matchwood.

Strangely enough, the guards and passengers felt only a slight jar. Several trucks were remaining on the line between the carriages and the derailed portion of the train. Goods were scattered all along the line near the mishap, including sugar and powdered casein. Five trucks of the latter were among those derailed, the powder and sugar being spilt in profusion. The derailed wagons able to fun will be placed back on the line and brought into Palmerston North, and those badly damaged will be brought in on bogey wagons.

A complete telephone service to the scene of the mishap was erected at 1.30 a.m. giving direct communication between the engineers on the job and the train control office at Wellington, as well as between Palmerston North and Feilding stations. SLEEPER ARRANGEMENTS BERTHS AT FRANKTON Passengers by the Limited are not expected to reach Auckland until between 7.30 and 8 o'clock this evening. .As soon as it was known in Auckland that the Limited would be very late in reaching its destination arrangements were made to ensure that passengers travelling South to-night would be provided with sleepers. The sleeping cars which arrive in the morning always go back on the return trip at night. This evening travellers who have booked sleeping berths will get them at Frankton Junction instead of Auckland.

Arrangements have been made to remove the sleeping cars from the Limited at Frankton Junction, when she arrives there somewhere about five o’clock this afternoon. The cars will bo cleaned and aired as soon as possible after they arrive. Clean bed linen was forwarded from Auckland to-day, and the berths ./ill be made up. Special cars will be provided on the Limited as far as Frankton Junction for those who have booked sleepers for tonight. These will be taken off at Frankton Junction and the sleepers attached. Passengers will then be allotted to their berths. The derailment in the South has not affected the running of any trains from Auckland. Fortunately the Irst express got through before the derailment occurred, and she arrived on time this morning. EFFICIENCY OF BRAKES

'An experienced traveller among the passengers commented that but for the efficiency of the Westinghouse brakes, a serious loss of life would probably have occurred. He paid a tribute to the prompt organisation by the railway and postal staffs, whose enterprise was commendable.