RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 475, 28 May 1890, Page 6

RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

On Tuesday, the 13th instant, ju3t after midnight, the through mail train to Brisbane ran into the train which was on its way from the capital of the northern colony bo Sydney. The disaster itself, though serious, was nob characterised by any of those sensational incidents which usually surround railway collisions. The train from Sydney left the Redfern station at the usual hour on Monday night, but arrived in Newcastle half-an-hour late. Proceeding northward, it reached West Maitland still half-an hour behind time. The signal to start having been given, the train went at a pretty quick pace along the comparatively level line which runs past the Farley station. Just as it came up to the platform it ran into the up train to Newcastle, which was lying there, and was making ready to let the other pass. The force of the” impact was very great. A horsebox in the train from Sydney, was smashed to pieces, some of the carriages were lifted off the line and a jockey and a horse in the horsebox were killed. Nine passengers were injured, one in the train from Brisbane and the others on the brain from Sydney. The damage to the rolling stock or the permanent way was not serious.

The affair was sudden, and the night was so dark that the excitement was tremendous. Women and children screamed for help, men shouted, and the officials for the moment were almost paralysed. Telegiams were instantly sent to Maitland and Newcastle for medical assistance, and an effort was made in the dark and the thick fog to ascertain what was the nature of the disaster, and how many people were injured. Next to the engine on the train from Sydney was a horsebox in which were two horses, Waif and Sti’eak, which were being taken back to Quirindi from the Mudgee races. In the box with them were a jockey, Bernard McFadden, and the trainer, Thomas Avard. Next to the horsebox was a carriage-truck, with a buggy on the top. The force of the recoil was so great that the horsebox was shattered to splinters. Avard and one horse were thrown down the embankment along which the railway passes in approaching the station, while the other horse and the jockey McFadden were killed in the wreck. How the one escaped so miraculously while the other met with so terrible a death is incomprehensible. Apparently they were both lying asleep at the time, and Avard must have been near the end which shot upward when the collision took place. McFadden was got out as quickly as possible. He was found to be in a most terrible state. His skull was smashed in at the back and the brain was protruding. His face was cut almost beyond recognition and his body was marked all over with large bruises. It was auite evident that death was instantaneous. The drivers of both trains were hurt badly, but the stokers appear to have been very lucky.

Gradually the passengers began to make their wav out of the carriages. The women still screamed and the men rushed from their sleeping berths, and for a time the utmost confusion prevailed. It was almost impossible to see in tlm thick darkness and fog the extent of the disaster, but a closer examination showed that the serious part of the affair was confined to the vehicles which were near the two engines. The Sydney train was the one to suffer the more seriously. When the remains of the disaster began to be cleared away and the passengers to be collected, it was found that neither the damage to the train nor the injuries to the passengers were anything like so serious as was at first anticipated. There were only nine persons who were reported to be hurt, and in some of the cases they do not appear to have suffered very greatly. Drs. Alcorn, Russell and Blackwell arrived at noon from West Maitland to attend to the sufferers. The permanent way was only slightly damaged and a gaug of men was pub on to get the track in running order again.