MAIN TRUNK LINE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 November 1940, Page 7

MAIN TRUNK LINE

AGAIN CLEAR FOR TRAFFIC. STRICT PRECAUTIONS TAKEN. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. After being blocked for nearly three days by a huge boulder which came down on the permanent way at a point just south of Hihitahi, 16 miles north of Taihape. the Main Trunk line was cleared for all traffic yesterday afternoon. A freight train, running through a snowstorm, crashed into the boulder on Friday night, the locomotive and several wagons being derailed.

The derailment caused a serious dislocation of Main Trunk expresses running between Wellington and Auckland. and necessitated traffic being diverted to the Stratford-Okahukura line. The boulder was of phenomenal size and had to be blasted to pieces by charges of gelignite. When inquiries were made at the head office of the Railways Department in Wellington yesterday afternoon. it was stated that a large quantity of overhanging rock and rubble had had to be cleared before trains could be permitted to pass through the locality. The actual task of clearing the line was accomplished with a minimum of delay, but before the department's engineers could authorise trains to pass they had to be satisfied that no further landslides would occur. During Saturday night another boulder, partially I embedded in the hillside above the track, started to move and caused fresh anxiety.

No chances were taken by the engineers. and it was again emphasised yesterday that every precaution was being taken for the safety of trains. All four expresses between Wellington and Auckland were authorised to use the normal Main Trunk route last night, but the scene of Friday’s derailment was under constant observation. In addition, speed restrictions, which reduced the running of all trains to a little more than a walking pace, were imposed in the locality. The engine which was derailed has not yet. been hoisted back to the track. A breakdown gang is still at work on this somewhat difficult job.