Re: Salt Clay Rail Distaster nsw

[David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au>]

Malcolm Airs wrote:

> Hi All,
>    Does anyone know anything about The Salt Clay Rail Disaster which
> occurred in Feb. 1884, in the Cootamundra area.  I learnt about it in my
> great grandfather's obituary in The Temora Times.  Apparent he was one
> of the first on the scene after the crash.
> Any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

The following are two similar extracts, one from "Australian Railway Disasters"
by Kenn Pearce, and the other "Broken Journeys II", also by Kenn Pearce.

   Australia's worst accident on its then fledgling railways occurred at
Cootamundra in early 1885, a day before
    Australia Day and a customary horse race meeting at Randwick, Sydney.
    Seven people were killed and more than 20 injured when heavy rains washed
away the culvert over Salt Clay Creek,
    about 5 km on the Wagga side of Cootamundra.
    On the afternoon of 25 January 1885, two divisions of the MelbourneSydney
express had been diagrammed because
    of heavy bookings from people wanting to attend the Randwick races. Among
the party was a large group of
    bookmakers travelling to attend Sydney's big holiday event.
    From Albury most of the train's passengers were travelling to Sydney
   solely to attend the races. At the head of the train its driver, a man named
Smith, was unaware of the 25 cm of rain
    that had recently fallen in south western New South Wales and which had
turned, normally shallow summer
    waterholes and creeks into raging torrents.
    While Smith was peering into the driving rain from the cab of his engine,
'79' class 4-4-0 No.81, trying to pick out
    approaching signals, another railway employee, ganger James Camphore, was
sloshing his way along the track with
    his hurricane lamp, conducting a regular track inspection.
    Camphore suddenly came upon a sight he had been dreading but, given the
recent torrential rain, one that was
    always possible somewhere along the line a large break in the track.
    The normally timid Salt Clay Creek, swollen by the recent heavy rains in the
district, had swept away part of an
    embankment taking with it the main line between Melbourne and Sydney.
    Camphore made repeated efforts to get across the swollen creek, but to no
avail. In the darkness he could make out
    the outline of another person across the creek. He shouted to the shape:
"Get down the line and stop the express."
    That outline turned out to be local resident George Hawke. He heard
Camphore's plea and immediately raced away
    to warn the Cootamundra stationmaster, Mr H.T. Giddy. Giddy promptly
attempted to telegraph a warning to
    Bethungra - the next station up the line - but found to his horror that the
wires between the two stations had been
    brought down. So, the express roared away from Bethungra oblivious to the
approaching danger.
    A short time later Driver Smith, looking out from his cab, saw to his horror
a yawning gap, a few metres ahead,
    where the line should have been crossing the Salt Clay Creek. All that
remained of the culvert and track bed over the
    creek were the rails suspended by their fishplates over the raging torrent
below.
    Sheer momentum carried the locomotive virtually across the gap. It crashed
into the opposite bank of the creek and
    the impact fractured the locomotive's boiler, sending out a roar of steam.
    The carriages behind jacknifed, spilling unsuspecting, screaming passengers
from their seats. A sleeping carriage
    telescoped over a first class carriage. Men, women and children fought to
break free in the darkness from the
    smashed carriages and swirling water.
    Hawke and a party of railwaymen were the first on the scene and stepped up
their efforts to cross the creek. A
    doctor and chemist were sent from Cootamundra as soon as news of the
disaster had reached that town, and a
    Cobb and Co. coach and several other horse drawn vehicles battled for
several hours to get through virgin scrub to
    reach the stricken train.
    Some of the more than 20 injured survivors of the crash were placed aboard a
special train that had been assembled
    and despatched to Goulburn hospital when it became obvious Cootamundra could
not cope with the casualties. The
    Albion Hotel at Cootamundra and a nearby hall took on the role of makeshift
hospitals for the less badly injured.
    The Railways Department was heavily criticised in a subsequent coroner's
inquiry into the disaster. The department
    received blame for constructing a culvert too small to carry water flows of
the volume experienced before the
    tragedy. Witnesses told the inquiry that water crossed the line in tidal
wave proportions. In defence railways officers
    said the culverts had never bee tested for the volume of water that was
current in the lead up to the disaster which
    was described as "greater than in living memory".
    The jury found that "The government has shown negligence in not ordering
that the culvert across Salt Clay Creek be
    on a much larger scale".
    Salt Clay Creek was subsequently spanned by a proper permanent bridge
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Seven people were killed and more than 20 injured in this accident in 1885,
in what to that date was Australia's worst
    rail accident, when a Sydney to Melbourne express carrying racegoers to
Randwick became derailed after a bridge
    washaway near Cootamundra.
    So heavy was demand from racegoers wanting to attend the Australia Day
racemeeting at Randwick on January 26,
    that two divisions of the Melbourne-Sydney express had been organised on the
afternoon of January 25. Among the
    travellers was a large party of bookmakers eager to attend the race meeting
of the year in Sydney
    At Albury many of the passengers alighted, leaving mostly racegoers on the
train for the fast sprint to Sydney The
    train's driver, a man named Smith, knew nothing of the 10 inches of rain
that had recently fallen in south western
    New South Wales and had turned usually placid summer waterholes and creeks
into raging torrents. While Smith
    was keeping an eye out on the line through the pouring rain, miles away
Cootamundra ganger, James Camphore,
    sloshed along the permanent way with his hurricane lamp doing a regular
track check. Suddenly he came across a
    sight he had been dreading - a large break in the line had occurred by an
embankment being swept away by the
    swollen Salt Clay Creek. Camphore, despite repeated efforts, was unable to
cross the swollen waterway but in the
    darkness was able to make out the dim outline of another person on the other
side of the creek. Camphore shouted
    to him: "Get down the line and stop the express.
    The person Camphore had been shouting to, local resident George Hawke, heard
the plea and raced away to warn
    Cootamundra station master, Mr. H. T Giddy. Giddy tried to advise the next
station up the line, Bethungra, of the
    washaway but soon found to his dismay that the telegraph line was down
between the two stations. The express
    sped out of Bethungra oblivious to the approaching danger. A short while
later Smith leant out of his cab to see with
    horror a yawning gap in the line just yards away from the engine.
    Smith immediately applied his brakes, but it was too late and the train
careered into the 50 yard wide raging Salt
    Clay Creek.
    All that had remained of the bridge was the rails swinging from their
fishplates over the water below. The speed of the
    train dragged it across the gap and it crashed into the opposite bank,
fracturing its boiler sending out a roar of
    steam. Carriages jacknifed and passengers were thrown screaming from their
seats. A sleeping carriage telescoped
    over the first class carriage, as men, women and children fought to break
free from the splintered wreckage and
    swirling water.
    Hawke and other railwaymen, sent out by stationmaster Giddy, were among the
first on the scene of the accident
    and increased their efforts to ford the water. News of the smash had also
reached Cootamundra and a doctor and
    chemist were despatched to give whatever help they could in the trying
conditions. A Cobb & Co. coach and several
    other horse drawn vehicles from Cootamundra battled for more than two hours
to reach the crash scene which was
    accessible only through virtually virgin scrub. A special train was
assembled to speed more than 20 injured survivors
    from the crash to Goulburn hospital after the resources at Cootamundra were
strained to the limit. The Albion Hotel
    at Cootamundra and a nearby hall became makeshift hospitals for some of the
less badly injured.
    At a subsequent coroner's inquiry the railways department came in for
criticism for constructing a culvert too small
    to carry water flows of the size experienced prior to the tragedy. Witnesses
claimed that water crossed the line in
    tidal wave proportions, but departmental officers said the culverts had
never been tested for the quantity of water
    leading up to the disaster - which was "greater than in living memory."
    The jury in its finding said: "The Government has shown negligence in not
ordering that the culvert across Salt Clay
    Creek be on a much larger scale." The repaired line over Salt Clay Creek
involved the replacement of the water
    culvert with a proper permanent bridge.


I suggest you purchase one of these books, as there is a photograph of this
accident in both books.  They are available from the ARHS bookshop at Redfern
<http://www.accsoft.com.au/~arhsnsw/>

--
David Johnson
CityRail Guard
trainman@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~trainman/