TRAIN WRECKS CAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 706, 4 July 1929, Page 16

TRAIN WRECKS CAR

MOTORIST’S MIRACULOUS ESCAPE LEVEL-CROSSING SMASH (From Our Own Correspondent) WHANGAREI, Today. The seven o’clock mixed train from the North completely wrecked a fiveseater car driven by Mr. Oliver J. Leatherby at the Kamo Road levelcrossing at 7.20 last evening. When released from the wreckage the driver was found to have only a few cuts on the head and face from broken glass. He was admitted to the hospital suffering from slight shock. The train, which was an extra long one, stopped in its own length. The car had reached the centre of the rails when the engine struck it, crushing it beyond recognition and throwing the remains twenty feet to the cattle-stop. The driver had a miraculous escape from death. The crash was heard half a mile away. The train was running late, and the car’s being of a closed-in type accounted for the driver not hearing the whistle. Although there is a clear view of the line for a distance of 300 or 400 yards, it is a dangerous crossing, as no bells indicate an approaching train. A man was killed at the same spot about two years ago.

The car was not insured, being purchased second-hand only two hours previously.