Accidents, washaways and other incidents

Locomotive T247 with damage caused by a derailment. (Photographer Alexander Billington; courtesy of Stuart Pile)

The Woolshed Flat accident of 1883

It was the evening of Monday 8 October 1883. The weather was reportedly fine and dry with little or no wind blowing. Locomotive drivers John Robinson and James Whiteford, their firemen August Hagedorn and John Murray, and guard John Pedlar had commenced duty at Port Augusta to work a sheep train over to Quorn and beyond. Baldwin-built X47 was rostered to haul it, but as the load was too great for a single locomotive, W32 was placed in front as pilot. Robinson and Hagedorn had been put in charge of the W while Whiteford and Murray had been assigned the X class.

Explosion on Cudmore Hill

On Saturday 28 March 1914, number 14 Up train to Quorn left Port Augusta at 4:05pm. At the head of the train were two South Australian Railways locomotives, Y161 leading and Y103 trailing. The train consisted of 26 fully loaded wagons of coal and a composite brakevan.

Brachina accident, 1911

From the Quorn Mercury, Friday 3 February, 1911

A fatal railway accident happened on the Hergott line on Saturday afternoon last, as a consequence of the recent heavy rains having washed away [a] portion of the line. The scene of the disaster was about a quarter of a mile south of Brachina and 316 miles from Adelaide, at a point where the water nearly covered the line, making it almost impossible for the driver to see the rails.