THE VICTORIAN FLOODS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2600, 7 September 1909, Page 3

THE VICTORIAN FLOODS.

> MIXED TRAIN WRECKED.

ENGINE’S FLYING LEAP.

Further particulars of the railway accident, caused through the flooded state of the rivers in Victoria arp to hand:—

BALLARAT, Aug. 20. Daylight this morning vividly revealed the providential escape from awful death of the| passengers and those in charge of the ill-fated. train from Ballarat- to Maryborough last night, which crashed through the bridge spanning AFCallum’s Creek at Dunach. The train left Ballarat shortly after 8 o’clock for Maryborough, the driver having been cautioned to drive carefully, as it was feared that the heavy rains might have made the permanentway dangerous in several places where the country is flat. Water was lying right up to the track, but steady progress was made until Cluncs had been 1 passed. The bridge was some seven miles away from ..Clunes. It is -at its highest point 38ft. from the ground There were six bluestone piers, each eight yards apart, and above them rise steel supports to carry the decking. The creek makes a turn, at the bridge, and' the volume of water concentrated on the pier on the Talbot side caused it to subside. The gulch through which the creek flows is probably 150 to 200 yards wide, the opening having been reduced by the throwing up of,, an embankment on the Talbot- side.

The engineman, Driver J. Wright and Fireman MTnerney, both of whom are‘Maryborough residents, are famih iar with the road, and as they approached the creek, towards which on one side there is a fair declivity, they kept a vigilant watch. The night was intensely dark, and rain was falling in drifting showers. The wind whistled through the stunted trees in the vicinity, and splintered them with its violence. Added to this was the roar of the swollen stream, which all day long had been surging about the bases of the pillars which carried the structure. The foundations were of bluestone, set in concrete, deep in the creek bed, which normally contains little water, but. which in winter is usually a fairly rapid stream. The far side of the bridge was nearly reached when, to the horror of the men on ■ the locomotive, they realised that they were falling. Next moment there was a grinding, crushing noise of trucks telescoping, and dropping into the gap beneath. Then came the cries of horrified passengers. The guard, Harry Walsh, who lives at Maryborough, applied the Westinghouse brake as soon as he realised that an accident bad "occurred.

The cars dashed into the heaped-up trucks. WaLsh quickly alighted, and was followed by some of the startled passengers, who were in the second car The bandlamp revealed a pile of broken trucks and what in the darkness looked like a yawning gulf on either side of them. Wright and M'lnerney soon appeared out of the gloom. They had been saved because of the momentum of the engine, which jumped the gap and buried its front in the embankment ahead. Four of the six trucks on the train were full of merchandise of various descriptions. The first car had run partly over the trucks, and part was still standing on the end of the bridge, quite two spans of which had collapsed. The second car was on the bridge and the van was on the rails. The cars are what are known as long bogies, and the engine is of the R standard. It was the length of the car that saved it from falling. When, daylight came the wonderful nature of the escape from a wholesale loss of life could be realised. Of the six trucks there was scarcely a big piece of timber unsplintered. Some of the splintered timber was seen a mile down the stream, and when repairs have to be effected probably onlv the wheels and portion of the ironwork will be serviceable. The mechanism of the engine is shattered. Wheels are damaged and cranks bent. , The lifting of the locomotive on to the track again will be a serious task. THRILLING EXPERIENCES.

Most of the passengers had a nervewracking experience before they were released from the carriages, which were in such a position that to step out of the doorways meant a plunge into the water below. It was impossible for the train crew to release them, and for about three*- hours they had to sit in suspense waiting for the arrival of a casualty train from Maryborough. Inspector Pettit then worked his way cautiously across the wreckage, and gave directions for the ends of the carriages to be cut through. It was necessary to make this opening for the- passengers to get from carriage to carriage, and then into the van, the end of which also were chopped and sawn through. In this way a release was effected, after an ordeal which must have tried the most courageous. The anxiety of Mrs Matthews, who was in the carriage overhanging the gap, must have; been of the most intense nature, for the carriage was swinging in the 'raging storm. Inspector Pettit’s scramble was perilous in the extreme, for he had to clamber along the footboards, which were flush with the side of the bridge.

The passengers included C. E. Canning (25), St. Hilda street, Elsternwick; Norman - M‘Donald, Camp Hill, Clunes; E. S. Herring, Maryborough; Mrs It. Matthews, Mount Lyell, Tasmania; W. H. Elsey, Nolan-6treet, Maryborough. An accident befell Hendy, the fireman of the casualty train from Ballarat. He had helped to get Canning out of the carriage, and had placed an, ambulance in position to receive •'•be injured man, but Hendy himself was destined to use the stretcher. Inspector Pettit had just warningly said, “Be careful, boys; remember you are on a bridge,” when Hendy disappeared from sight. He fell into shallow water. His comrades hastened down the embankment, and helped him to higher ground. He was carried on the stretcher to the Ciunes Hospital. In addition to a broken arm he sustained cuts on the mouth. . , ■ One of the loaded trucks contained hardwood; the second included a quantity of hams, and cases of oranges and other fruits. Hams and oranges lay strewn about the side of the creek this afternoon. The tender of the locomotive suffered severely, huge pieces' of iron lying about in all directions. The accident happened at five minutes past 10.