Railway Disaster

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 21, 13 June 1914, Page 5

Railway Disaster

GETTING DOWN 1 TO CAUSES. . AX ALTERED SIUXAL APPARATUS. CONTRARY j.O INSTRUCTIONS. By Telegraph-Press Association. . Auckland, Last °, n ' th<v victims of tlle t was continued tins morning, Robert Bell, a railway aerk who took charge of affair at Whangamarino f th<i accident, said that tih-e siwmil worked veiry well on the 27th, aitef Juo told adjusted it. He found on testing that the tenX Zt correct. The arm would not dZ n"o Llv' w r "' oul< V it ' rcturn to (Sanger the «i i'" '''7 tlhe and then the signal worked perfectly. At 1030 the same night he found tno sX wnking well Shortly • a ft« r midnS the porter reported that he could not see the tauk HVht.of tilie .wuth signaL It was found showing full green where 1 f 4 U II have been at danger. He concluded that the contraction of the ■wire by the cold) weather wus auoh that it was impossible to work the signal After the witness Bell had ooSdudied his evidence, William Johnston, tablet s"> was sent to relieve son at Whangamarino, was called? He gave evidence corroborative of that given by tho previous witness. Aftp«r mounting how they imnde several attc™Pfe.when the signal failed after midnight, to ffet it back to position, ihe explained that; the best the light would half red flln<l ta'f green, ff McMaiwiu And wna vour back light obscured the whole time?— Well I could sea a. light there, but I found afterwards that it was not the back light, but wa« just a reflection off the Dinf millsjeyc. Could you see this light from the station no I hud to go about haJf-way down before I saw it? , ..T/ 16 .Coroner: Could you oy any possij mlity have mistaken this reflected liefht for your back light?— No. i Witness proceeded to say thlat on the night of May 28 lie resumed duty at 10 o clock, and between 11 and 11.30 ip.m. I Oie found that the south signal was again working defectively, showing about half Ted and half green. He accordingly sent a telegram ta the manager, got out the fog signaller, ur.u took other precautions. About 2.30 a.m., he received instructions from tne manager to give w!l trains from south the hand signal, and meanwhile not to interfere with the mechanism of the signal. About 3 a.m. a signal adjuster arrived ov the goods train, and he was about to exaanine th\e signal and wire when witness informea him of his instructions. The adjustor replied that those instructions were only for him (Johnston), but/ witness wired again for re-instruction.' and received a reip.y confirming the first, so nothing was done till between 5 and 7 in the morning, when the adjuster and another attended to the signal, putting a few more in the elm in at the piatfovm, and so loosejiiins the wire. After tuns tuie signal worked all right. Tto Mr Majrts: Neit'hter Jlr Bell nor he himetelf had done anything to endanger the public while conducting their tests. Every precaution was taken. To Mr Martin: me had seen occasions when at night time the Wire of signals had had t:> be slackened out, by altering the weights), but hie had never experienced or liea.rd of anything like what had happened at Whanganinrino. Sevprai other witnesses then gave- ■ evidence.

John Oruickslmlik, ?i<mal adjuster, stationed at trawkton Junction, stated that 'he arrived sit Whnngamarinioi «ilb out 11.30 on the Jiiorninpt of Thiuvda'V, May 38, to examine the southi stick. He did not interfere with anything, but examined the _ wire ana signal, and found everything to be correct. He caught the Thames express back to Frankton Junction.

The Chief Detective: You made, then, no alterations or repairs of any kind! —No. I wished everything to be left as it was, untouched. And di<l you return?— Yep, atout 3 o'clock w\t morning. I waited till Mr Cheeseman arrived by the WellingtonAuckland express, and tnen we tested tlie signal.. I cpuiled over the lever while Mr Oheeseman was up at the stick. When I rat the ]«wr Dock 1 I could not see the Ibaok light. Mr Oheeseman tnen came down and to)d mc that the semaphore went back to danger, but not sufficiently to show the tack light, so we put in three links of chain in front of tints platform to loosen the wire. That would give from 3V, to 4 inches mote piay to the wire. We alp-o removed tlie 20lb. weight at the balance lever, and replaced it with a 30lb. weight. It was by this time about breaking day, and I could aoe the semaphore. Upon anotih ir test, she worked well. Mr Oheeseman took the temperature, whichi at 5 o'clock was 30 degrees. Mr McMahon: To your knowledge, were any wheefs replaced nit the signals that day?— No. They were not on that day. About six months prior to' tihe Occident an additional wheel was placed there.

At what point?— Well, two wheels were taken out, and; three put in. Tlhcy were taken out abouit four chains down tho line, and put in about opposite tihe signal. Were Milo wheels put in of the same diameter as those taken out? —rfo. I put in a 12in. flat wheel; and a lOin. vertical wheel, in place of two 12in. flat wheels, and I adued a runtning vertical of an inch and a "htilf in diameter at the top of the bank: where there had previously been no wheel at all, the wire running diroctlv on to the n ost. Witness, continuing,, stated that lie visited Whangamarlno again on Mav 31, and found that w*s IM-in. reel lmd been replaced by an Bin. wheel. Tho reason foir the cftango would ibe to cause less friction. „ Mr .acMiihon: JJto you stiv that the iy 2 in. wheel caufwd too much friction to allow the signal to work «itisf.i"torilv? v-No. I did not. It worked all right for six months, but an Bin. wheel would, certainly cause less friction. Witness detailed certain other alterations since made to Uie signal-uig apparatus. To Mr Mays, lie admitted that instead of reporting tihe alteration made at Whangamarino in the ordinary journal ho should have made a specif report on the matter. He agreed that the friction on the small inch awl n. 'half reel would be considerable in cold weather, but the balsinco on, platform level -would adjust tnat. As Tar as he could tell, the signal worked just as easily after the alteration, whim was in November last, as before it.

Mr Frazer: j-ave you ever seen a one-and-a-half inch reel used permanentlv in such a situation? —iA I havo not, tout it was all I had at tfhe time. Replying to Mr Mays, "witness said; that he examined tho siguil a fortnight before the accident. and received no complaint from tho tablet porters. To Mr Stewart: He consiuered that it was safo to leave the wira comnectine tic semaphore unT>rotecteu. To Mr Martin: lie was a pnrnenter by trade, and flxiept for to instruction iii sigwl-adjuetimf he tod no knowlcdsv of meeJwnic®. lie l«s