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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 8 (December 1, 1927)

The Runaway

page 31

The Runaway.

The recent press announcement of the death of Mr. James Sherbrook Hansen, formerly proprietor of the New Zealand Tribune, calls to mind some incidents in his career as a railway man in New Zealand; but none is likely to stir old memories more than that which occurred during the period between 1882 and 1885 when he was Stationmaster at Auckland.

The little “C” shunting engine was standing at the water tanks on the main line, when the locomotive intended to run the Waikato train came out of the siding with all cocks blowing. The steam from the cylinders obscured the view of the driver on the Waikato engine, and, not seeing the little “C” ahead of him, he bumped into it rather hard. At the time there was only the enginedriver (Mr. Bennett) on the “C” and the sudden jerk threw him out of the cab on to ground.

In falling he reached out suddenly for something to save him, and his hand fell on the regulator which although he failed to hold, he pulled over sufficiently to throw open. The result was that the “C” started off at a good pace towards Newmarket, with no one on board.

Mr. Hansen, who spied the incident from afar off, was nothing if not a man of action. He was interested in racehorse and had done some good riding in his time. He rushed out to the back of the station, seized a saddle-horse that was tethered there, and set off full tilt along the main line, chasing the run-away shunting engine.

The steed showed good mettle; the rider was keen, and, riding like Tod Sloan, it looked as if this novel method of dealing with the emergency might meet with due reward, when their course was suddenly held up by the Parnell overhead bridge which, not being planked, it was beyond the skill of man and horse to negotiate. The result was that, in spite of his resource, the rider was left at one end of the bridge while the run-away locomotive passed over beyond the other. Consternation existed, as the Onehunga train was due to come in on the same track.

Fortunately, although the two engines certainly came together in the Parnell tunnel, there had not been much steam up on the “C” and the work of climbing the hill had rather exhausted it, so that when the collision occurred the impact was not serious.

It is, of course, unthinkable that such an incident should recur. But if by any mischance an engine should break away nowadays on the same section of line, the automatic signalling would warn the driver of any oncoming train and he could take the necessary precautions to prevent anything serious happening. In that respect, present day working conditions, although perhaps less thrillingly romantic, are infinitely safer than in the days gone by, which, after all, is the main objective in transportation.