RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8558, 17 October 1907, Page 5

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

AN EXPRESS i'RAIN DERAILED. NINETEEN PEOPLE KILLED. FORTY INJURED. Recievecl October IG, 8.30 a.m. LONDON, October 15. A railway accident, involving loss of life and serious injury to several persons, occurred at Shrewsbury, between Crewe and Bristol. A London and North-Western Company's express was running between the places named, when, at a sharp curve, it was derailed. The train, which was carrying mails (the rolling stock being mainly the property of the Great Western Railway Company),, was not travelling at a-5 excessive speed at the time .of the accident. It is said the driver of the ill-fated express overshot the signals. The .derailment occurred on a viaduct. It was 2 cf clock in the morning, and there was total darkness, while a torrent-of rain was falling. The engine was overturned and the corridor carriages heaped upon the locomotive in a great pile. A portion of the wreckage became ignited, adding to the horrors of the disaster. The screams of the wounded aroused from their sleep persons dwelling below the viaduct, and relief parties were soon on the scene. Rescue work proved very difficult, however. As far as can be ascertained, the casualty list is as follows: Killed 19 Injured 40 The killed included three lettersorters travelling with the mails, and the guard of the train. The majority of those killed or injured were residents of Wales. Received October 16, 11.56 p.m. LONDON, October 16. Fifteen coaches were completely destroyed. The signalmen state that the train was travelling at the rate of 50 miles an hour. Several danger signals and injunctions to approach curves at a speed of ten miles were disregarded. The vacuum brake had been applied apparently by the driver, but too late. There'were one hundred passengers on the train. ELECTRIC TRAIN DERAILED. TWO PERSONS KILLED. 'THIRTY-ONE INJURED. Received October 16, 8.42 a.m. LONDON, October 15. An electric train was derailed at Sowerby Bridge, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It smashed into a house, and two persons were killed and thirty-one badly injured.