Accidents involving loss of life
This locomotive, built in 1855 by Robert Stephenson with three others for the first real railway line in New South Wales, was involved in two fatal accidents. The first occurred as a derailment on 10 July 1858.[1] The locomotive was pulling two open 3rd Class carriages, a 1st and a 2nd Class carriage between Sydney and Parramatta. Near Homebush, the two 3rd Class compartments left the rails and toppled down and embankment. There were thirty people in the two carriages, of which two were killed, one a solicitor and the other a market gardener. In the ensuing investigation, reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, it was suggested that the problem was caused by damage to the hollow-cast rails which were not able to withstand the weight of the locomotive. Rail workers, some of whom witnessed the derailment, claimed that the problem was caused, at least in part, by the habit of loose-coupling the lightweight 3rd Class carriages in the same way as heavy goods trucks. The matter also drew to the attention of the managers the fact that the price of 1st class travel, at 4 shillings, was so exorbitant that even the wealthiest citizens of Sydney chose to travel in the open carriages.
On 6 January 1868 a man was killed when Locomotive No. 1 collided with a passenger train at Newtown Station. The locomotive was severely damaged and retired. It is now on display at the Powerhouse Museum. Newtown Station was at that time located west of the present station, its platform eventually forming part of the foundation of Crago's Flour Mill.
On the night of 30 January 1878 head-on collision between two goods trains. The drivers and firemen of both trains, together with a guard riding in the cab of the up train, were killed.[2]
On 25 January 1885 the Melbourne-Sydney Express passenger train derailed near Bethungra, killing seven and injuring over 20. The cause was a washaway of a culvert during a period of heavy rainfall.[3]
On 25 April 1890 an Up mixed train, after shunting at Kelso, climbed the 1 in 50 grade to Raglan where it again stopped to unload parcels as well as pick and set down passengers. The drawbar between the third and fourth vehicles broke, releasing the bulk of the train which commenced to run back down the hill, there being no continuous air-brake throughout the train. The runaway vehicles ran all the way down the grade, across the Macquarie River bridge and into Bathurst yard where they collided with the following goods train. Four passengers in the rear of the Mixed train were killed and three others injured.[4]