Wallumbilla,
Queensland. 1 December 1956.
From
Great Australian Railway Disasters
Five
passengers aboard a Mail train were killed and 10 others
admitted to hospital
when the Westlander crashed into the Western Mail
which was stationary at Wallumbilla, 467 km west of
Brisbane.
The accident occurred at 6.14am on Sat 1 December 1956
at the station
where the two trains were intended to cross. Tragically, among
those killed was
12 year old Roma High School student, Mary Sewell, and her
grandmother, Rebecca
Smith, aged 72. Mary’s mother, Mrs. Olive Sewell told the Courier
Mail
newspaper:
“I
was standing by the window of the Western Mail looking out. I
heard the
Westlander whistle, then there was a terrific crash. I can’t
seem to remember
anything else until I woke up on Wallumbilla platform.”
Another passenger injured in the collision, Lyal Grant,
22, recounted
from hospital the events as he remembered them:
“There
was a smash and I felt myself crashing through a wall. A water
tank feel on me
and burst. Seats were flying everywhere. I tried to get clear
of the wreckage
and there was a burning sensation in my left leg. I knew it
was broken. Somehow
or other I finished up on a pile of wreckage with the other
injured people
trapped under me.”
One of those seriously injured in the smash, Reginald
Oehlmann, was
rushed 306 km by ambulance to Toowoomba after being crushed
from the waist down.
A railway engineer would later give evidence before a
board of inquiry
that the 200 tonnes Western Mail had been rammed back 46
metres from the point
of impact by the force of the 345 tonne Westlander. A five
member departmental
board of inquiry, open to the public and media, began hearing
evidence at Roma
on 4 December into the cause of the crash. The board was
headed by the railway
general manager, Mr. G. T. Foord.
Separate from that inquiry, police conducted their own
investigations
into the smash, questioning “dozens of eyewitnesses.” The two
crashed
locomotives were still blocking the main line late on 2
December with breakdown
gangs working all day to cut the two engines apart. Railway
officials had hoped
to clear the main line by noon on 3 December; however, heavy
thunderstorms
hampered their work and the main line was not reinstated until
4 December. A
loop line around the crash site was used in the interim.
The all-steel construction of the Westlander train was
given as one of
the reasons there had not been more fatalities in the
accident. There were 150
passengers aboard the Westlander, and only slight injuries
were received by a
few of the passengers. At the departmental inquiry, the
Wallumbilla Hospital
matron, Alma May Reiken, told of meeting a man who introduced
himself as
“McDougall, the driver of the Westlander.”
Reiken told the inquiry that [William George] McDougall
had told her:
“It’s all my fault. I was not well when I was at Yuleba [24km
east of
Wallumbilla] and should have got off the train there.”
Also the inquiry heard evidence from the Roma district
superintendent,
Alfred Buchanan, who said that he had been told by the
Wallumbilla stationmaster
that both signals were at “danger,” when the Westlander passed
through them.
Buchanan also told the inquiry that he was aware that it was
difficult for
guards to observe signals from lookouts in vans of the type
used on the
Westlander on the day of the tragedy.
Following the luncheon adjournment on 4 December, the
board of inquiry
travelled to Wallumbilla by special train to make a one hour
inspection of the
crash scene. It later took evidence in the town’s public hall
from local
witnesses. Local grazier and stock agent, David
Bassingthwaighte, said he saw
the Westlander approach the station faster than he had ever
seen it do so
before. There were no warning blasts on the whistle, and a
signal was
“straight out” against the Westlander, Bassingthwaighte said.
On 5 December, the guard of the Western Mail, Aubrey
Vincent Albert
Connor, told the inquiry that following the crash, he had
asked the driver of
the Westlander, McDougall, whether the signal was off.
McDougall had replied:
“I don’t know.” Connor said that the guard of the Westlander,
James
Phillips, had told him that the signal was at danger when he
saw it- and that he
had pulled on the brakes when he realised that the train was
not going to take
the loop.
Connor estimated that the Westlander’s speed was
between 32 and 40
km/h.
Bevin Ronald Scott, assistant maintenance engineer at
Roma (40km east of
Wallumbilla), told the inquiry that the signal levers at
Wallumbilla were in the
open and it would be possible for any person to pull them
without the
stationmaster’s knowledge. Wallumbilla’s stationmaster, Walter
May, told the
inquiry he had run to the engine hauling the Westlander
immediately after the
smash. May had said to its driver, McDougall:
“Bill,
what are you doing here? You have passed signals at the stop
position.”
May
said that McDougall had replied: “Wal, I must have dozed off.”
May had been
amazed by that statement. [Later in the inquiry, English
Electric Company
engineer, William Young Wood, gave evidence that the cab of
his company’s
locomotives were “very comfortable” and that the occupants
might have a
tendency to “drop their heads.”]
Queensland Railways’ South West Division general
manager, William James
McCormack said that when he had earlier been stationed at
Roma, in a
superintendent’s position, he had held McDougall in “very high
esteem,”
and he placed the guard, Phillips, in the same category.
The board of inquiry subsequently found, by a majority
decision, that the
primary cause of the disaster was that Driver McDougall, while
working the Up
“Westlander,” on 1 December 1956, had passed the Up home
signal at
Wallumbilla in the “stop” position while the No. 19 Down mail
train existed
on the main line, and before McDougall had received the
necessary caution hand
signal at the loop points for his train to be admitted to the
loop.
The inquiry found that McDougall had failed to observe
the obstruction
ahead in sufficient time to avoid a collision. It also gave as
contributing
causes:
·
the
failure of guard
“Phillips,” when working the Up “Westlander” on 1 December
1956, to take
prompt action to have his train brought to a stand after the
engine had passed
the Up home signal in the “stop” position when it could be
seen that his
train was not being admitted to the loop by caution hand
signal;
·
the
failure of Fireman
Andrews, when working the “Up” Westlander on 1 December 1956,
to pay
immediate attention to and obey all signals at Wallumbilla and
advise the driver
of an obstruction (the No 19 Down mail) on the main line at
the station. In a
dissenting opinion, the two employee representatives on the
board of inquiry,
found that:
“…it
is our considered opinion that this Railway Inquiry Board, as
constituted under
Section 127 of the Railways Acts, and functioning under the
provisions of
Section 143 of such Acts, has no power to find any person or
persons guilty of
any offence which has been either directly, or indirectly, the
cause of, or has
contributed to, the death of any person or persons, and any
finding which in any
manner convicts any person or persons of any offence, which
may become the
subject matter of a subsequent criminal charge is contrary to
law, and a
complete violation of the principals of justice.”
“Having
regard to the aforementioned, we therefore find the Cause of
Accident was due to
train No 8S Up passing the Up home signal in the “Stop”
position, although
there is no evidence to suggest any hand signal was exhibited
to admit 8S Up
into Wallumbilla either to the platform or the loop.”
“Regarding
the circumstances surrounding the accident, we are satisfied
that something
abnormal occurred in the cab of diesel electric locomotive No
1200 just prior to
8S arriving at Wallumbilla.”
15
Witnesses will appear to probe into rail disaster
Roma-
At least 15 witnesses will be called when a Departmental
inquiry into
Saturday’s Wallumbilla rail disaster opens here on Tuesday.
Five passengers in
a mail train were killed, 10 admitted to hospital, and many
more received minor
injuries when the Westlander crashed into the stationary mail
train at
Wallumbilla, 25 miles east of Roma, at 6.14am on Saturday,
December 1, 1956.
The
inquiry, the first of its kind to be open to the Press and
public, is expected
to last three or four days. Railway officials in Roma said
last night that the
crews of both trains involved would be called, in addition to
the District
Superintendent (Mr. A. Buchanan), the South Western Division
General Manager
(Mr. W. J. McCormack), eyewitnesses and engineers. It was
officially announced
last night that a board of five would conduct the inquiry. A
police probe into
the smash continued around the clock during the weekend. The
two crashed
locomotives were still blocking the main line last night.
Breakdown gangs worked
all day to cut the locomotives apart, and will resume work at
daylight this
morning, to clear the main line. Railway officials said the
line should be
cleared by midday. Rail traffic ran to normal schedules on a
loop line through
Wallumbilla yesterday.
Roma-
Roma High School girls yesterday sobbed quietly at the double
funeral of their
class mate and her grandmother. The two died in Saturday’s
Wallumbilla rail
smash. Dead are Mary Sewell, 12, and her grandmother, Rebecca
Smith, 72.
Mary’s parents did not see the two buried side by side in the
Roma cemetery.
They lay seriously ill in the Roma Hospital. Women wept as the
Rev. W. Scott
McPheat spoke the words of the brief but deeply moving
service. The sight was
the saddest the new 20 month old Roma Presbyterian Church had
seen. The railways
southwest division general manager (Mr. W. J. McCormack) and
Roma district
railway superintendent (Mr. A. Buchanan) were among the pall
bearers. The
funeral of a third victim, Carol Bowden, of Summer Hope,
Muckadilla, will leave
the Roma Presbyterian Church at 4.00pm today.
The
bodies of the two other dead left Roma by rail last night.
They were George
Ratz, a grazier, of Injune, whose body was sent to Taroom for
burial, and Roland
Ortwell Fehlberg, a Toowoomba photographer, whose body was
sent to Toowoomba.
Roma
ambulance yesterday made a 60mph dash 190 miles to Toowoomba,
with Reginald
Charles Oehlman, who was injured in the smash. A nursing
sister rode in the
ambulance to give the man morphine and oxygen. Oehlman, a
Chinchilla railway
worker, was crushed from the waist down and had one of his
eyes badly cut. He
will receive special treatment at Toowoomba Hospital.
Roma
District General Hospital Superintendent (Dr. W. W. Feather)
said last night
most of the ten casualties from the smash still in hospital,
had shown slight
improvement during the day. Edward Lewis Andrews, 31, of Lewis
Street, Roma,
fireman of the Westlander, was in Roma hospital last night,
with severe shock.
Police said last night that the driver of the Westlander,
William George
McDougall, 35, was at his Crystal Street home receiving
treatment for shock and
could not be interviewed.
Roma- Fifty Roma High School girls stood coatless in the rain at the funeral yesterday of train crash victim, Carol Bowden 15, of Summer Hope, Muckadilla. Carol was one of two Roma High School girls killed in the crash. Her schoolmates formed a guard of honour from the doors of Roma Presbyterian Church to the hearse. Many of the girls wept. The other High School girl killed, Mary Sewell, 12, was buried on Sunday from the same church.
Carol,
whose home was 30 miles west of Roma, boarded at the Methodist
Girls’ Hostel.
She was in the sub-junior class at school. Men rushed forward
with coats and
umbrellas as Carol’s mother left the church. Business houses
closed their
doors and shop girls stood outside bareheaded as the cortege
moved down Roma’s
main street. The Railway’s southwest division general manager
(Mr. W. J.
McCormack) and the Roam railway district superintendent (Mr.
A. Buchanan) were
two of the pall bearers. Mr. A. Dohring, MLA, represented the
Government at the
funeral. In Toowoomba, Mr. D. J. Kearney SM was Government
representative at the
funeral of Rowland Fehlberg, 41, who was also killed in the
crash. The Premier,
Mr. Gair, has sent messages of condolence to relatives of
those killed. He also
sent messages of sympathy to those injured.
Roma- Injured victims of Saturday’s smash told their stories in hospital yesterday. Lyal Edwin Grant, 22, Roma railway cleaner, said: “I thought I was dreaming. There was a smash and I felt myself crashing through a wall. A water tank burst on me. Seats were flying everywhere. I tried to get clear of the wreckage and there was a burning sensation in my left leg. I knew it was broken. Somehow or other I finished up on a pile of wreckage with the other injured people trapped under me.
Mrs.
Olive May Sewell, 40, Roma housewife, said: “I still feel that
it must have
been a nightmare. I was standing by the window of the Western
Mail looking out.
I heard the Westlander whistle, then there was a terrific
crash.”
“I can’t seem to remember anything else until I woke up on Wallumbilla platform.”
Mrs.
Sewell is still recovering from severe shock. Her daughter,
Mary, 12, and
mother, Mrs. Rebecca Smith, 72, were killed in the disaster.
Her husband was
severely injured.
The steel construction of the airconditioned Westlander train saved many lives at Saturday’s Wallumbilla crash, experts said last night. The Westlander, like all other Queensland airconditioned trains, is of all steel construction. It was equipped with an anti telescopic device designed to prevent the carriages becoming uncoupled and lifting in collision. This device worked and the Westlander’s coaches did not rear up. Steel trains are built so that the coupling of one coach engages in the other, and the joint cannot be released without a manual operation. Conventional non steel trains have buffers, and coaches are coupled by screwing tight draw bars and hooks. The Westlander was carrying 150 passengers. A railway official said injuries received by the Westlander’s passengers were only slight. “None of the Westlander’s passengers were taken to hospital,” he said. “Had the Westlander been of wooden construction, the death toll last Saturday could have been much greater than it was.”
Westlander
Driver Told me He Dozed
Matron
Tells Inquiry
Evidence
of Grim Scenes
Roma-
Matron of the Wallumbilla Hospital yesterday told the open
railway inquiry that
the driver of the Westlander had told her he “must have dozed”
before a
crash which killed five people last Saturday. The matron, Alma
May Reiken, told
the inquiry board she talked to the train crew after tending
injured in the
wreckage of the Western Mail. A man introduced himself as
“McDougall, the
driver of the Westlander,” Matron Reiken said. He had said,
“It’s all my
fault. I was not well when I was at Yuleba (15 miles east of
Wallumbilla) and
should have got off the train there.”
Matron
Reiken was giving evidence when the inquiry moved to
Wallumbilla yesterday.
During an adjournment the five board members made an hour long
inspection of the
crash scene and its surroundings. More than 50 people listened
to the hearing at
Wallumbilla Public Hall. The board will resume hearing
evidence at Roma today.
Matron Reiken said she was driven to the scene of the smash a
few minutes after
it happened on Saturday morning.
“When I saw the dreadful mess, I said a quick prayer for the people terribly injured, and asked God to give me strength to carry on,” she told the board.
The
matron said she ran from one to the other of the injured,
giving injections to
ease their suffering. One injured man named Courtney, kept
saying: “My
Mate’s in there; my mate’s in there.” Matron Reiken said she
looked, and
there was a terrible mess, with just the legs showing.” She
said she then
looked around for the train crew and someone said they were in
the office. She
said she saw two men and was surprised at how slightly injured
they were. One of
the men told her he was “McDougall the driver of the
Westlander.” Matron
Reiken said McDougall told her, “It’s my fault, I was not well
when I was at
Yuleba, and I should have got off the train there. I think I
must have dozed.”
The matron said it was on the tip of her tongue to ask the
driver why he was not
well, when someone said there was a woman and a man in the
final carriage in
grievous condition. She said that nobody in the Westlander had
been seriously
injured.
Up to that time, there were three dead, and one woman “we could not do anything for,” Matron Reiken said. She was shockingly injured around the head and died just after the doctor arrived. A man named Oehlman was terribly crushed and moaning frightfully. Matron Reiken said that the doctor (Dr. W. W. Feather) (Superintendent at Roma Hospital) told the people there that they had done a marvelous job.
Earlier at the inquiry at Roma, the railway district superintendent at Roma, Alfred Alec Buchanan, said that the Wallumbilla station-master had told him that both signals were “at danger” when they were passed by the Westlander on Saturday. The shift operator on duty at Roma railway station on Saturday, Eric Kevin Thomas, told the board that Wallumbilla station-master, Walter May, reported the collision by telephone at 6.15am. Thomas said May told him that the Westlander had overshot the signals. He (May) said that both the home and distant signals were at danger, and this could be verified by a lad named Lewis who was on the platform seeing some people off. Giving evidence at Wallumbilla, David Bassingthwaighte, grazier, said he saw a signal “straight out” against the Westlander.
He said there were no waning whistles as the Westlander approached the station. When the inquiry opened, Roma solicitor, Mr. R. B. Taylor, sought permission to represent Westlander driver William George McDougall, 35, of Crystal Street, Roma, on behalf of the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Engineers.
Inquiry
chairman (Mr. G. T. Foord) ruled that this was not
permissible. Mr. T. H. Gould,
board member representing the locomotive running men,
protested strongly. He
said that there was nothing in the Railway Act to prevent Mr.
Taylor’s
appearance as it was a public inquiry.
Mr.
Gould demanded that there should be an adjournment while
advice was sought from
the Crown Law Office, Brisbane.
After
a short adjournment, Mr. Foord announced that a ruling was
being sought in
Brisbane. Just before the luncheon adjournment, Mr. Foord read
a telegram
advising that Mr. Taylor was entitled to appear, and directly
cross-examine
witnesses. Board members are Chairman Mr. G. T. Foord
(Railways General
Manager), Mr. W. A. Castley (chief mechanical engineer,
Ipswich), Mr. H. Walker
(chief engineer, Brisbane) and employees representatives Mr.
T. H. Gould and Mr.
A. F. Carroll.
It was very difficult for guards to see signals through the lookouts on the type of van used on the Westlander, the open railway enquiry into last Saturday’s railway disaster at Wallumbilla was told yesterday. The witness, Alfred Alec Buchanan, Roma district railway superintendent, said guards opened doors to view signals. The lookouts in the Westlander vans worked on a mirror arrangement. Five people died when the Westlander (known as 8S) crashed into the Western Mail (known as 19 Down).
Eric
Kevin Thomas, the first witness, said he was shift operator on
duty at Roma
station last Saturday from 12.30pm to 7.45a. At 6.15am he
received a call from
Wallumbilla. He thought it was driver Ibell, who first spoke
and told him that
there had been a smash at Wallumbilla. Ibell feared that many
people had been
injured, and said to get the ambulance and doctors down
straight away. Thomas
said that Mr. May, assistant station-master at Wallumbilla,
then came to the
phone and verified the statement. He told him that the
Westlander had collided
with the Western Mail at the platform.
Thomas said that after telephoning the ambulance and doctor and the district superintendent, he spoke to Wallumbilla again. He said that May told him, 8S had overshot a signal and collided with 19 Down standing on the main line. May told him that both the home and distant signals were at danger, and that this could be verified by a lad porter, Lewis, who was on the platform seeing some people off.
In reply to Mr. Gould, Thomas said that as shift operator, he recorded the running times of the Westlander between Chinchilla and Roma, and actually had compiled a complete record of times of the Westlander from Chinchilla to Yuleba. He said that the Westlander left Chinchilla at 3.20am on Saturday, 12 minutes late. It was into Miles 8 late, out 9 minutes late, and through Yuleba eight minutes late at 5.54am.
Thomas
said that the Western Mail left Roma on time at 5.15am and
arrived at
Wallumbilla at 6.8am on time; one minute was allowed for the
crossing of the
trains at Wallumbilla. On scheduled times the Westlander was
due through
Wallumbilla at 6.9am and the Western Mail was due out at
6.10am.Thomas told Mr.
Gould that he knew that the Wallumbilla railway yard was not
interlocked, and
the station-master had to run from one end of the yard to the
other to set the
points. Thomas said that had the Westlander been very late, it
would have been
his (Thomas’) responsibility to arrange the crossing of the
Westlander and the
Western Mail at Yuleba. He knew the crew of the Western Mail
personally, and
considered Guard Phillips one of the best guards in the
district.
Arthur Edward Mason who was relieving station-master at Roma last Saturday morning, said he knew the driver of the Westlander, McDougall, very well. He had always found him very capable, sober and helpful in every way possible. Alfred Alec Buchanan, Roma district railway superintendent, said he interviewed the crews of the two trains in the collision when he arrived at Wallumbilla on Sat. Apart from suffering from severe shock, there seemed nothing else unusual about their condition.
Questioned
by board members Buchanan said there was no indication that
any of the men had
been drinking.
Buchanan said that the station-master May at Wallumbilla, told him that both the signals were “at danger” when they were passed by the Westlander.
Buchanan
said he had known driver McDougall for four years, and had
found him a very
efficient and capable officer when he
asked McDougall what had happened . McDougall shook his head
and said he did not
know what had occurred.
To
Mr. Gould, Buchanan said that the time allowed for the
crossing of the
Westlander and the Western Mail at Wallumbilla, was one
minute.
Mr.
Gould: Would you consider this sufficient time? The
station-master has to walk a
considerable distance to the eastern end of the loop to let
the Westlander
through. You would have to get John Landy out there for that.
Buchanan
said that the time factor would be no excuse for the driver
passing the home
signal set at danger.
Mr.
Gould: It is encouraging employers to try to work to a
timetable they cannot
possibly comply with.
Buchanan
said that he could not agree with this.
Mr.
Gould: You encourage them to break rules and then flog them
when they do it.
Mr.
Gould told Buchanan that the staff at Wallumbilla could not
possibly carry out
the safe crossing of the Westlander and the Western Mail in
the time set down.
Buchanan:
It does not mean that they have to violate the rules of
safety. The signals are
there for that purpose.
Mr.
Walker (chief engineer in Brisbane): It would take five or six
minutes to do the
whole of the work there, is that what you mean?
Buchanan:
That is my estimate. I have not worked it myself.
He
said that there was insufficient time allowed to cross trains
at Wallumbilla.
Trains were frequently late and it had to come out in reports
on late running.
Mr. M. Prideaux (for the Guards’, Shunters’ and Conductors’ Association) asked Buchanan if he had received complaints from guards about observing signals through the lookouts on the type of vans used on the Westlander. Buchanan said he had received no actual complaints, but he knew it was very difficult to see through these lookouts, and that guards opened doors to view signals. He agreed that the lookouts in the Westlander van worked on a mirror arrangement. Buchanan said it was very rare when either the Westlander or the Western Mail left Wallumbilla on time. He told Mr. Prideaux he would not agree that Wallumbilla was a difficult station at which to cross trains, but it would take more time than was allowed because of the situation.
Buchanan
agreed with Mr. Gould that a regulation which required a
driver to accept the
“staff” from the station-master and no one else was often
broken.
After
the luncheon adjournment, the board travelled to Wallumbilla
by special train.
After an hour long inspection of the scene of the smash, the
board reassembled
in Wallumbilla public hall to take evidence from local
residents.
Michael
Joseph Cuddihy, licensee of the Federal Hotel, Wallumbilla,
said he saw the
trains collide. The driver of the Western Mail was standing on
the platform
beside the engine at the time of the collision. He did not
know what he was
doing, Cuddihy said. He saw the Westlander approaching the
station but could not
estimate how fast it was going. After the collision, he
offered the driver of
the Westlander a drink of brandy, but he refused it. The
driver seemed to be
very stunned.
David
Bassingthwaighte, grazier and stock and station agent, of
Wallumbilla, said he
saw the collision. He said he saw the Westlander approaching
the station. When
it passed the points to the loop, it appeared to be travelling
faster than he
had ever seen it before when it was going through Wallumbilla.
He had seen the
Westlander going through on quite a few occasions. There was
no warning blasts
on the whistle. A signal was “straight out” against the
Westlander,
Bassingthwaighte said. To Mr. Foord, he said he was certain
the signal was
straight out. He could not see a second signal.
Miss
Mona Mary Redmond, of the Federal Hotel, Wallumbilla, said she
heard the smash
from the hotel. She was a trained nurse. She ran over to the
station, and
climbed in through the windows of the Western Mail carriages.
The carriages were
on a slope. “I heard moaning from under the debris,” Miss
Redmond said.
She
said she pulled seats and a luggage rack away to release some
women. She then
broke a window on the far side of the carriage, and helped the
women through. On
the platform she used sticks and boards to make splints, and
ripped up sheets to
make bandages.
Courier
Mail Thursday 6 December 1956
Roma-
The driver of the Westlander express had replied “I don’t
know” when asked
if the Wallumbilla signal was off, a witness told the railway
inquiry here
yesterday. The witness was Aubrey Vincent Albert Connor, guard
of the Western
Mail. He said he asked the Westlander driver, William George
McDougall, if the
signal was off and McDougall replied: “I don’t know.” Connor
said he asked
the Westlander fireman, Edward Andrews, if the signal was
against him, and the
fireman made no reply. Connor continued that the Westlander
guard, James
Phillips, told him that the signal was at danger when he saw
it. Phillips had
said that he looked out and pulled on the brakes when he
realised that the
express was not taking the loop. Connor
told the board chairman (Mr. G. T. Foord), he estimated that
the Westlander’s
speed was between 20 and 25 miles per hour. A Railway engineer
gave evidence
that the 197 tons Western Mail had been pushed back 152 feet
from the point of
impact by the 340 ton Westlander.
A 17 year old porter at Wallumbilla Garth Lewis, told
the board that he
had seen the Westlander approaching between the home signal
and the station. He
had yelled “Get out” when he saw that there was going to be a
collision.
Roma hospital superintendent Walter Watson Feather,
said that the
Westlander driver McDougall told him that he had pains in the
stomach “back
down the line and should have pulled up.”
Bevin Ronald Scott, assistant maintenance engineer at
Roma, said that the
line was straight for four miles 48 chains approaching
Wallumbilla from the
east. When a locomotive was at the distant signal there would
be a clear view to
the home signal, but the view to Walluil Road would be
obscured by a rising
grade. The home signal was at the crest of the grade.
Scott told Mr. Gould (locomotive running men’s
representative on the
board) that the levers controlling the signals at Wallumbilla
were in the open
at the eastern end of the platform. It would be possible for
any person to pull
the levers without the station master’s knowledge.
To Mr. M. Prideaux (for the Guards’, Shunters and
Conductors
Association) Scott said that the handle of the air brakes had
been fully applied
when he entered the Westlander’s guard’s van. He agreed that
the guard did
not have a first class view of signals through the lookouts in
the Westlander
van. The guard should have a clear view of the home signal
from 40 chains away,
he said.
Walter May, Wallumbilla station master said that before
last Saturday’s
collision, he had found out from Roma that the Western Mail
was on time, and
that the Westlander was eight minutes late. In view of this he
prepared to admit
the Western Mail to the station. He said that it was normal
practice to admit
the first train to the platform, and the other train would
take the loop. Often
the Western Mail arrived, he went to the guard’s van. He
arranged with the
guard, Connor, to open the points at the Roma end of the
station, and hand up
the staff and staff workings to the driver of the Westlander.
The reason for
this was that it was a physical impossibility to hand the
staff to the
Westlander driver because of the height of the diesel. This
was customary
practice at Wallumbilla.
May said that he told Connor that he would admit the
Westlander to the
loop. He could hear the Westlander “rolling down the line.” He
could not see
the Westlander approaching because of the curve of the
platform, and several
buildings which obscured his view. He had just left Connor
when there was a
terrific crash. “I was amazed to see a huge cloud of duct and
two carriages of
the Western Mail go right up in the air,” he said, “this was
associated with
a splintering sound.” May said that he ran to the engine,
which by this time
had stopped by the ramp. He said to driver McDougall, “Bill,
what are you
doing here? You have passed signals at the stop position.”
Mays aid that
McDougall replied: “Well I must have dozed off.” May said that
he was amazed
at this statement.
May said that McDougall asked him if there were any
people injured, and
he replied that he feared there were people killed. He then
drew McDougall’s
attention to the position of the signals which were at the
stop position.
He asked McDougall if he had an official watch as he
(May) did not have
one himself. McDougall was in a dazed condition and did not
seem to understand
what he said. He took the watch from McDougall’s pocket and
saw that the time
was 6.13am. May said that he then ran to the office and rang
Roma station, and
advised shift operator Thomas of the accident, and requested
ambulances,
doctors, police, and breakdown gangs. May said he then
arranged for assistant
station master Richards to be called on duty immediately as he
was a first aid
man and could give valuable assistance to the injured. He also
asked Lad Porter
Lewis, who was at the station, to start duties. May said he
instructed Connor
and the Westlander guard Phillips to get ambulance kits and
breakdown equipment
from their vans. He then went around the injured to see what
assistance he could
give.
To the board chairman (Mr. G. T. Foord) May said that
McDougall was
getting out of his cabin when he told him that he had passed
the signals. The
fireman was behind McDougall when he told him. Fireman Andrews
seemed to be very
dazed.
May said that he had not drawn the attention of any
other people to the
position of the signals at that time. He did tell Lewis of
their position. May
said that the procedure at Wallumbilla was to admit whichever
train was coming
first to the platform. May said that he did not hear any
whistle sound as the
Westlander approached. There was a whistle sound at the time
of the collision.
This was caused by the impact and the breaking of pipes. It
was a fine morning
and visibility was generally fair. There were a few light
clouds but it was not
raining.
May said that he had set the signals at danger about
5.32am. To his
knowledge no one had interfered with the signals. It would be
possible for an
unauthorized person to interfere with the signals. May said
that a number of
people gave first aid to the injured after the accident. He
thought everything
possible was done to assist the injured. After the arrival of
Dr. feather from
Roma, arrangements were made to take the inured people to
hospital as quickly as
possible. May said that he pressed private transport into use
to take the
injured.
Dr. Walter Watson Feather, of Roma, said he arrived at
the scene about
three quarters of an hour after the accident. He contacted
Matron Reiken and the
ambulance superintendent and found that they apparently had
“everything under
control.” Nothing more could be done for the relief of the
injured.
Feather said that he spoke to driver McDougall of the
Westlander, who was
suffering from shock. He would say that McDougall “was
definitely not affected
by alcoholic liquor.”
Feather said that McDougall told him that he did not
know what had
happened. McDougall said that “back down the line” he had pain
in the
stomach. Feather said that McDougall told him that there were
no hygienic
conveniences on the engine for the driver and fireman. He
asked McDougall why he
did not pull up. He said that McDougall said he thought he
should have stopped
further down the line.
Walter May, Wallumbilla station-master, recalled, said
he could see the
signals from the station half a mile away. He told a board
member, Mr. Castley,
that he could also hear the Westlander up to half a mile away,
depending on
conditions. The time elapsed between the first time he heard
it to the moment of
the crash would be about three or four minutes. He said that
he left guard
Connor to go up and admit the Westlander to the loop, and had
just passed the
first coach from the guard’s van of the Western Mail when the
crash occurred.
When the trains came to rest the first two carriages of the
Western Mail were
about opposite him.
May told Mr. Gould that there was nothing in the
regulations which
permitted him to designate someone else to take the staff and
hand it to the
driver of the Westlander. However it was done for safety
reasons. A man sitting
on the points and trying to hold up the staff to the high
cabin of the
Westlander would be in danger of falling over. He admitted
that the rules
clearly stated that the officer in charge and no one else
should hand the staff
to the driver.
May told Mr. Gould that there had been a change in the
timetable for the
crossing of the Westlander, and the Western Mail at
Wallumbilla, during his 2½
years there. Under the old timetable the Westlander was timed
for a seven minute
stop at Wallumbilla from 6.4am to 6.11am. The Western Mail was
timed to leave
Wallumbilla at 6.10am but there was no arrival time mentioned.
The Westlander
was now timed through Wallumbilla at 6.9am.
If both trains were running on time, the Western Mail
would be admitted
to the platform and he would then admit the Westlander through
the loop with a
green flag. It could take him five or six minutes to walk to
the loop points.
May told Mr. Prideaux that there had been many occasions on
which the Westlander
had been admitted to the Wallumbilla platform.
Mr. Prideaux: What would give you the impression that
the Westlander was
coming into the loop?
May: It could have been admitted by some other person.
You mean by some unauthorized person could have been
fiddling. It could
have been that way. I did not know it was not that way until
the crash. May said
that he had checked the position of the signals with guard
Phillips.
Aubrey Vincent Albert Connor, Roma depot guard, said
that he took the
Western Mail out of Roma on time at 5.15am last Saturday. When
he pulled into
Wallumbilla, station master May told him that the Westlander
was late. He
replied that he could hear it coming. He looked towards the
east, and said
“There it is now.”
Connor said that May replied: “It is in the loop.” He
asked May who
had let it in, but then the crash occurred.
Roma:
All three members of the Westlander crew declined to give
evidence yesterday at
the inquiry into the Wallumbilla rail disaster.
Their action brought the inquiry, being conducted in
Roma by the Railways
Department, to a sudden adjournment. The Westlander driver,
fireman and guard,
claimed privilege under the Railways Act, telling the board
that they objected
to answering questions on the grounds that they might tend to
incriminate
themselves.
Driver William George McDougall, Fireman Edward William
Andrews, and
Guard James Otto Phillips.
The fireman of the Western Mail last Saturday told the
inquiry that
before the crash he ran towards the Westlander, waving his
arms, and calling
out. The witness, Thomas John Gordon, acting fireman attached
to the Roma depot
said that the Westlander “kept coming.”
Donald Ibell of Roma Depot, said that he was the driver
of the Western
Mail last Saturday. Ibell said that he checked and oiled his
engine when he
arrived at Wallumbilla. Other members of the train crew were
Fireman Jack Gordon
and Guard Bert Connor.
Ibell said that his attention was drawn to the
Westlander by a remark by
Gordon. He said that he was oiling a piston cup on the left
hand side of his
engine at the time of the collision. Ibell said that he had
run across the line
in front of his engine and was standing on the ground on the
driver’s side
when the actual collision took place. He thought that he might
have been able to
release his engine brakes but did not have time. He thought
that he might have
been able to get his engine moving backwards. He did not see
the signals. He had
placed his trust in the station-master on duty.
Thomas John Gordon, fireman of the Western Mail, said
that he noticed
that the signal at the eastern end was at “danger.” After
trimming the fire
he glanced up at the signal again, and saw that it was “at
danger,” and that
there was nothing underneath it.
Gordon said that he climbed down to inspect the left
cylinder cocks of
his engine. When he straightened up he saw the Westlander
coming in just
approaching the loop points. He called to the driver who was
inspecting a left
side piston “here it comes, it’s coming in on our track.”
Gordon said that because of the closeness of the
Westlander and its
speed- he estimated 20 miles an hour- he did not have time to
get into the cabin
and reverse the train. Instead he ran towards the Westlander,
waving his arms
and calling out. The Westlander kept coming. When the movement
after the
collision had stopped, he climbed up into the cabin of the
Western Mail engine
through the window and began quenching the fire. Ibell came on
to the engine,
then went away and came back with a jug which was used to bail
water into the
fire.
Gordon said that after he was satisfied that the fire
was safe, he helped
the driver to get jacks and pinch bars to work on the wrecked
carriages.
John Hainsworth, Roma locomotive foreman, said that he
was in charge of
the Roma breakdown gang which went to the scene of the
collision last Saturday.
When the gang reached Wallumbilla, the leading coach of the
Western Mail was
found to have penetrated 16ft into car two. The second coach
had been telescoped
by car one and was leaning at a 45 degrees angle. The fronts
of the engines of
both the Western Mail and the Westlander were badly damaged.
The power car of
the Westlander was derailed and the front portion was badly
damaged.
Hainsworth said that he spoke to station-master May at
Wallumbilla, who
told him that both the signals were at “danger” against the
Westlander. May
said that lad porter Lewis could verify this. Hainsworth said
that he had also
spoken to McDougall, who appeared to be dazed, and could give
him no reason how
the collision occurred. Fireman Andrews, of the Westlander,
was in a worse
condition, and could give him no information.
Hainsworth said that he looked into the cabin of the Westlander and saw that the independent brake was on but the automatic brake was off. (The automatic brake controls the brakes right through the train. The independent brake is a brake on the engine only. Both are operated manually.
Courier
Mail Wednesday 6 March 1957
No
criminal neglect by Westlander Crew, says Coroner.
Insufficient
evidence to lay charges
No criminal charges will be laid against the crew of the Westlander involved in the Wallumbilla rail crash on 1 December. The Coroner (Mr. V. G. Kitt SM) who held the inquest into the crash, has made a finding of negligence by the Westlander train crew, but has not made a finding of criminal negligence. The Westlander crew was suspended soon after the accident but has since been reinstated.
The collision was so violent that a buffer of the Westlander diesel locomotive was hurled over the roof of the station 150 yards along the road.
[McDougall and Andrews were later reinstated as cleaners on a temporary basis and Phillips as a guard, also as temporary employee].
Courier
Mail Saturday 9 March 1957
Majority finding of the Railway Department board of inquiry into the Wallumbilla rail disaster on Dec1, places blame on the Westlander train crew. The board’s majority finding were that the Westlander driver William George McDougall was involved in the primary cause of the accident, and that guard James Otto Phillips, fireman Edward William Andrews were involved in contributing causes.
Summary
The inquiry found that McDougall had failed to observe
the obstruction
ahead in sufficient time to avoid a collision. It also gave as
contributing
causes:
·
the
failure of guard
“Phillips,” when working the Up “Westlander” on 1 December
1956, to take
prompt action to have his train brought to a stand after the
engine had passed
the Up home signal in the “stop” position when it could be
seen that his
train was not being admitted to the loop by caution hand
signal;
·
the
failure of Fireman
Andrews, when working the “Up” Westlander on 1 December 1956,
to pay
immediate attention to and obey all signals at Wallumbilla and
advise the driver
of an obstruction (the No 19 Down mail) on the main line at
the station. In a
dissenting opinion, the two employee representatives on the
board of inquiry,
found that:
“…it
is our considered opinion that this Railway Inquiry Board, as
constituted under
Section 127 of the Railways Acts, and functioning under the
provisions of
Section 143 of such Acts, has no power to find any person or
persons guilty of
any offence which has been either directly, or indirectly, the
cause of, or has
contributed to, the death of any person or persons, and any
finding which in any
manner convicts any person or persons of any offence, which
may become the
subject matter of a subsequent criminal charge is contrary to
law, and a
complete violation of the principals of justice.”
“Having
regard to the aforementioned, we therefore find the Cause of
Accident was due to
train No 8S Up passing the Up home signal in the “Stop”
position, although
there is no evidence to suggest any hand signal was exhibited
to admit 8S Up
into Wallumbilla either to the platform or the loop.”
“Regarding
the circumstances surrounding the accident, we are satisfied
that something
abnormal occurred in the cab of diesel electric locomotive No
1200 just prior to
8S arriving at Wallumbilla.”