TRAIN SMASH.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 August 1922, Page 5

TRAIN SMASH.

"TOUCH AND CO.” MAIN TRUNK ACCIDENT. STATEMENT BY DRIVER. ' THRILLING EXPERIENCE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, August 12. “It was touch and go, and how we got out of it so lightly I do not know,” said Engine-driver A. Blackwell, describ- . ing the derailment of the Main Trunk .express at Drury last night. “I quite thought it was all up with us, and we have had a wonderful escape. (“I was driving at the maximum speed, 45 miles an hour, and suddenly I felt jolts and knew we had run over something. I whipped on the emergency brake at once. We started swaying from side to side, and it seemed as though we were certain to tip over one bank or the other. The engine was hopping about all over the place, and we had to hang on and trust to luck. The tender collapsed and practically broke off, and the fact that it ploughed into the ground as it was pulled along helped to stop the train. From the spot where we struck the cattle to where we pulled up was only about 100 yards. This shows the beauty of the Westinghouse brake. It gripped, the coaches and held them rigid an their place, otherwise there is no knowing what might have happened. It is a wonder the train was not telescoped, but the tender held the first postal van, and the other coaches in turn were gripped tight and remained steady. About 30 yards before the engine came to a stop it took the points and ran on to the siding.” The opinion was expressed by the driver that the cause of the engine running on to the siding must have been that a portion of the carcase of a cow became entangled with the points. Officials of the Traffic Department, on receiving word of the accident at Drury, lost no time in taking steps to transfer the passengers, luggage ami mails to a second train which wa-rf* brought from Mercer. This train left Drury for Wellington about 1.40 o’clock this morning. ROLLING STOCK DAMAGED. A breakdown gang was promptly dispatched from Auckland to clear the track and repair the line in order that there might be as little interruption to traffic as possible. It is expected that a temporary loop will be constructed to carry railway traffic round the scene of the accident, as the twisted rails and debris will take some time to remove. The engine, two postal vans, and a reserved passenger car were the ones which ran on the siding. All are more or less severely damaged underneath. The tender has a pronounced tjlt to the left, and its wheels are completely buried. The track was torn and twisted for about 75 yard-s, while all the under gear of the engine, tender and postal vans was shattered or shorn away. Most of these vehicles were embedded to a depth of about four feet in the formation of the track. One postal van wa* careened toward the right embankment, while the other had a list to the left. That they remained upright at all during the crashing, splintering and upheaval among the tangle of track is bevond explanation. Though the enginemen were shaken badly, they received no bruises. Fireman Miller was slightly scalded by boiling oil from the feed pipe as he stood at his post in the cab, but he made light of the accident. IN THE POSTAL VAN. There were three postal clerks in charge of the mails in the second Van, Messrs. T. D. Robb, J. Deacon and S. H. Dunstan. They had a memorable experience. Their car crashed and splintered. Their story was in the form of some vivid impressions. First of all there Was a succession of bumps; these were followed by violent swaying, which compelled them to take firm hold of the hoppers; then the mailbags, as one clerk graphically phrased it, began to jazz, while all the letters leaped from their pigeonholes and fluttered all over the van. The windows crashed, but, just as the postal officials expected the final smash-up, the train came to a stop. The chaotic confusion of mailbags and letters in the van was indescribable. It looked as if everything had fallen from a wrecked aeroplane. The disorder was quickly set I right, the clerks sorting the letters ns though they had been in a comfortable room at headquarters. Not a letter was defaced. EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE. SEVERAL THOUSAND POUNDS. Auckland, Last Night. The damage caused by the derailment of the Main Trunk express at Drury will run into several thousand pounds. No official estimate has yet been made, but it is stated the repairs to the shattered track and rolling stock will be fairly extensive. §o far activity has been concentrated on the temporary work, and the replacement of the permanent way is now in hand.