Train Derailment at Hamley Bridge - 1928

There was a train derailment at Hamley Bridge in December 1928.  The following article is from the edition of the newspaper  "The Advertiser - Saturday 8 December 1928"

THE STATION YARD AT HAMLEY BRIDGE

REPLACING THE DERAILED ENGINE

The scene in the Hamley Bridge station yard shows the work in progress of replacing the derailed engine and van on to the line. —Krischock, photo.

THE EAST-WEST EXPRESS

The engine, tender, mail van, and leading passenger car of the East-West express were derailed at Hamley Bridge shortly before noon yesterday, on its Journey to Perth. No passengers were injured. —Krischock, photo.

THE DERAILED ENGINE

A rear view of the derailment at Hamley Bridge yesterday, showing the wheels of the tender partly buried in the permanent way. --Krischock, photo.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE DERAILMENT

GENERAL VIEW OF THE DERAILMENT, A view looking north, showing the RX engine drawing the mail van away from the Pacific engine, in the middle distance. The Pacific engine should have travelled on the set of rails on the left of this picture.  Instead of that it jumped the rails and came to rest on the up track.

PACIFIC NO.609 MOUNTS THE UPTRACK

PACIFIC No. 609 MOUNTS THE UP TRACK.  Our photograph shows the engine of the East-West express, which was derailed in the Hamley Bridge Station yard on Friday morning, resting on the sleepers. A strange feature of the accident was that the front pair of bogie wheels mounted the rails of the up track. The tender, which is about 3 ft. out of alignment with the engine portion, is seen imbedded deeply in the metal about the sleepers, which were freely splintered. The mail van, which had been coupled to the engine has, been drawn some distance away from the tender. The rails in the foreground are the ones on which the train should have ridden.


"The Border Watch" reports:

The passengers and crew on the East West express had a narrow escape from injury when the train was derailed In the Hamley Bridge station yard about 40 miles from Adelaide yesterday.
The big Pacific engine was only a short distance from the platform when it left the lines. The first intimation of the accident was the sound of tearing rails and splintering woodwork, as  the engine ploughed into the permanent way, which was torn up for a distance of 30 yards.
The passengers in the first coach were thrown across the carriage, while others scrambled down and ran to the front of the train. It was found that the crew had escaped, and none of the passengers were injured.
No one could explain the cause of the derailment, as the points were found to be set correctly. The yard is being remodelled, and about 14 men were working nearby. One of them saw the engine leave the lines, and called a warning to his companions to jump. The coaches did not tip over, but came to rest at a dangerous angle.