CARRIAGE DERAILED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 October 1938, Page 4

CARRIAGE DERAILED

ACCIDENT ON RIMUTAKA i INCLINE EXCURSION TRAIN DELAYED SEVERAL HOURS. PASSENGERS NOT ENDANGERED. A slight derailment on the Rimutaka Incline last night caused considerable delay to a special passenger train carrying weekend excursionists to the Wairarapa. About a mile and a half from the bottom of the hill the buffer of a carriage broke and two of the four wheels of the front bogey left the rails. The passengers were hardly aware of a mishap having occurred, the train coming to a standstill almost immediately. The train left Wellington at about 7 o’clock and was due to reach Masterton at about 11 o'clock last night. At tne Upped Hutt it was found necessary to attach an additional carriage to the train, making a total of seven carriages and a van and it was this extra carriage that was involved in the accident. There were about 250 passengers aboard the train. It is not certain whether' the buffer broke before the wheels were derailed or whether the derailment was the cause of the buffer breaking. A repair gang proceeded to the scene from Cross Creek, fitted a new buffer to the carriage, and replaced the wheels on the line. The train then proceeded to Cross Creek, where the carriage concerned was detached. The train arrived in Masterton at 2.35 a.m., nearly four hours late. < ANOTHER MISHAP. GUARD'S VAN DERAILED AT‘SUMMIT. A further mishap occurred to the northward bound mail train this morning, the guard’s van being derailed at The Summit station yard. Exactly how the derailment occurred is not known at present, but the van was replaced on the lines, and the train left the Summit 14 hours late. It was expected that it would arrive in Masterton at least about that period behind its schedule.