TERRIBLE EXPLOSION ON THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2471, 12 May 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

TERRIBLE EXPLOSION ON THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Lacks Escape. An alarming explosion occurred late on Thursday night, March Ist, on the High Peak branch of the London and Northwestern Railway. A truck and van, having become detached from a train, started down an incline and dashed into the ma r n line of the Midland, when a large quantity of gunpowder which was in the van exploded, smashing the truck and van and hurling portions of them to a distance of thirty yards, and tearing up rails and breaking several signal wires. Two men who were riding upon the trucks when they started down the incline had jumped from them before the explosion occurred. The five o'clock express from St. Pancras was delayed through the block of the up line, but the traffic was restored by ten o'clock. It appears (according a later telegram) that the van was attached to the truck and was laden with canisters of gunpowder. The two vehicles ran back about three quarters of a mile to a point where the High Peak Railway joins the Midland. The guard and a labourer jumped off in time to save their lives, for when the van reached the bottom the gunpowder exploded, blowing both the van and the truck to atoms. Beyond interrupting traffic for some hours do serious damage was done.