RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR ADELAIDE. Miraculous Escape.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 153, 8 May 1886, Page 3

RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR ADELAIDE. Miraculous Escape.

A. serious accident, which might have been attended with terrible results, occurred on the Southern line this evening. The passenger train which left Port Victor at 1 o'clock p m., and was due in Adelaide at 619 p.m., was crowded with passengers from Port Victor and Qnkaparinga, where the races had been held. The train consisted of two engines and about ten carriages, and the passengers numbered altogether 450 Amongst the passengers were His Excellency the Governor, the Commissioner of Police, and the Hon. J. B. Spence. When the train reached the 16£-mile siding on the Adelaide side of the Upper Sturt platform, about two miles from Mount Lofty, the passengers were alarmed by sudden jerks which increased in violence. The train was then stopped. There was a loud roar of steam from the engine, and a terrific crash. All the passengers jumped out of the train in terror. Some of the ladies fainted, and the scene was one of great confusion. It was found that one of the engines had tumbled over the embankment The driver had stuck to his post and had a miraculous escape. The other engine was lying across the track damaged and UBelesB, and the stoker was under the steam-chest, between the sleepers, injured and graaniqg. The mail van, which was next to the engine, was on one side, smashed to atoms. It is a matter of surprise that the whole train was not precipitated off the embankment. The passengers attribute their escape to the action of the Westinghouse brake. The cause of the disaster is not known, but it is supposed that the pointsman turned the train on to the siding, and immediately discovering his mistake tried to correct it. The first engine was on the eiding, and the second engine on the main line at a dangerous part of the gradient, which is 1 in 45. The embankment over which the engine fell is about 15ft. No one was killed, but some of the passengers are shaken and slightly injured. The line is now blocked, one engine being on the siding and the other .on the main line. The 4.15 p.m. train from Adelaide passed through the main line half an-hour previous to the accident to the up train, and the pointsman emphatically atserts that he never shifted the points afterwards. Against this there remains the fact that all the carriages were standing on the siding rails. It will, therefore, be a matter for inquiry how this could have happened if the points had been set for the main line, as alleged. Mr W. J. Peterswald, Commissioner of Police, who was one of the passengers, makes the following statement with regard ta the accident: — Everything went well until about 4 miles beyond- Mount Lofty, when he felt three sharp shocks, and the carriage began to oscillate a good deal; after which the train came to a standstill. On looking out of the window we found one of the engines a long way down the embankment, embedded in gravel. The steam was escaping and making a great noise. The other engine was lying across the track. The post office van, being next the engine, was smashed to pieces. The passengers were struggling out of the carriages in all directions. ; The door of one .carriage, in which was the Governor, was locked, and we had to scramble through the window ; when the great confusion had subsided, search was made to see if any one were hurt. One of. the enginedrivers was cut about the head badly. ,He was moved to a hut, and his wounds were attended to. The stoker was lying across the; line .imprisoned under the engine. . Brigadier-General Owen, who was ,a passenger,-. directed. the work for his; release. The General got under the engine himself. Hia experience was a great advantage. The engine was raised: by. means- of rails used as levers. The; man - was scalded and bruised, but no bones r were broken. The Governor did all he.could to assist the. wounded men." L never saw a more miraculous escape from a frightful accident. Had it not been for one. of jthe engines falling across the line and acting as ft drag against the engine which <ranhead foremost, down the embankment, the train must have been e&tirely ; -wrecked. : The brake assisted to prevent; the catastrophe. At the time, of. the accident^ we -were approaching, a sidings and .the ipoints must nave been somehow diearrangea.Hoktead, the driver, who after the accident was found locked under the engine was the first removed' on a < stretcher. Johnstone, a stoker, was abler tojtwalk about ; bo complained >of /pains in the ribs. The train .immediately returned to bring •downrtbfr passengers, and the first lot of 12 carriages, full, arrived in the ..city, at 12. 30. The: two -drivers: and stokers were not soriomly injured. Albert Ossington, the driver of, the first engine, ropeived. some nasty burns' and a shock to the system. He was under "the' engine for /on: hour. Hugh Nelson^ihe stoker, received a nasty scalp wounds They were pent to the jhospital. James Johnson (driver)' and Thomas, Grossman (stoker) only received slig^ijcon-

tusions, and were allowed to go home. None. of them, have, any idea of the cause of; the mishap, > —•* • * v- *- *j •» v : Adelaide, April 28. ! The estimated damage caused by the Hills railway accident is £3,000. The scene, presented on Tuesday morning/ at the site, of- the; late accident,' was of a, most, striking and ■ impressive character. There can be no doubt that it was the second engine that; went down the embankment. Thisengine was standing on -.the slope leading to the gully. When it got off the rails it plunged to the left, and broke through the fence enclbqing the railway reserve. ■It there remained stationary, at an angle of 45 degrees. The second class carriage that was next to the engine was pulled just to the edge of the slope, and the whole front portion of it was smashed to splinters. How anyone could have been in the first compartment and escape injury is beyond comprehension The sides, floor, ceiling, and seats were reduced to chips, and the ironwork underneath was twisted about in an extraordinary fashion. The other portions of- the train had been removed, hut the force of the accident was testified to by the appearance of the material on the ground. The rails constituting the siding were doubled up like the letter S, and the ballast was dug as deeply as if men had been at work with pick and shovels. The upper portion of the engine that went down the embankment did not appear to have suffered much, bat the framework was considex*ably damaged, and the tender was very much broken. The engine that went across the line was completely wrecked. The main body held together pretty well, but the flue and valve were almost demolished. The framework was bent into fantastic forms, and sheets of iron were folded up almost like paper. The brake pipes were torn out, and altogether the engines were about as much damaged as it was possible for them to be, and to retain any resemblance to their original shape. Where the accident occurred there is a hill on one side, and on the other a slope which runs into a valloy gome 100 yards below.