SPECTACULAR SMASH
HEAVILY-LADEN TRAIN Sydney, Jan. 1. A train and bridge were wrecked in the biggest rail smash experienced by the Silverton Tramway Company, of Broken Hill, for the past 20 years. No one was killed. The smash occurred at 3 a.m. at a bridge over a dry creek bed about two miles from the city. The train was carrying 800 tons gross weight of coal and ore concentrates. When crossing the bridge a truck in the centre of the train became derailed and cut through the bridge sleepers like a buzz-saw. The following truck spread the rails and came down on the concrete pillars, snapping them at the base and reducing the bridge >to a heap of rubble. The 12 trucks, most of which were 23-tonners. were piled up in a fantastic pattern of destruction 100 yards long. , Coal was heaped high, and the trucks smashed and thrown at crazy angles. The creek bed was choked with wreckage. One big truck was twisted like screwed-up paper and draped across the middle concrete pillar in a big letter “S.” Repair gangs were soon at work building a deviation line for express traffic.
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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 5 January 1945, Page 5
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192SPECTACULAR SMASH Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 5 January 1945, Page 5
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