Adelaide Bus History C MCMANUS SUPPLIED IMAGES Parts 18-24

leyland4ever · Post by **leyland4ever** » Sun Jun 11, 2017 10:12 pm

: 412 154 Ford A-1 store Hackney Sth 1953

: 502 AEC Regal lll 202 Draper crash 1955

: 512 230 Ansair off side 1958 MTT

: 522 609 AEC lV Hackney 15-12-1954

system improver · Post by **system improver** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 9:34 am

From The Advertiser:

BUS HIT BY EXPRESS AT CROSSING (Friday 17th December 1954)
Four people, including a woman and a child, were killed and 15 others injured when an express train struck an MTT bus at Draper railway station level crossing on the Old Outer Harbor road at 4.50 p.m. yesterday (Friday 17th December 1954). The train carried the bus for 150 yards before it stopped, after having ripped up 150 yards of double-deck planking on the platform of the station. About 250 workmen, who were on the train, rushed to nearby homes and obtained axes, crowbars, hacksaws and other implements to release the victims. Later acetylene torches were used to rescue passengers crushed in the wreckage of the bus. Eleven of the injured were admitted to hospital.
Those killed were: —RUPERT PASH, of Hanson road, Woodville, driver of the bus. O'RITA OKKES, 33, married of Harbor road, Draper. CHRISTOPHER RYNASON, 6, of Seaborne road, Draper. A man believed to be CHARLES FLAXMAN, of Outer Harbor road, Osborne. The injured admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital are:—
Mrs. Laura Stevenson, 39, of Seaborne road, Draper, fractured arm, fractured legs, condition serious. Janice Stevenson, about 10, of the same address, fractured skull, fractured jaw, concussion, condition serious. Stephen Rogers, 69, of Claire street, Largs North, fractured ankles, fractured collarbone, condition serious. Albert Hughes, 32, of Mamora terrace, Osborne, fractured thighs, fractured arm, fractured collarbone, condition serious. Victor Moritz, 63,
of Mamora terrace, Oshorne, fractured legs, concussion, condition fair. Evelyn Matz, 32, of Norma street, Taperoo, injured leg, condition satisfactory.Graham Le Cerf, 26, of Mercy road, Draper, lacerated scalp, condition satisfactory. James Martin, 63, of Seaborne road, Draper, concussion, fractured ribs, condition satisfactory. Lois Thompson, 37, of Tecoma street, Draper, concussion, condition satisfactory. Ursula Evele, 26, of Ascot avenue, Dulwich, lacerated foot, condition satisfactory. Paul Stroge, 59, of Hutt street, city, fractured jaw, condition satisfacfactory. Carried Bus The locomotive — carrying the bus in front of it —did the following damage before it stopped:— Knocked over a bell and flashing light warning signal. Ripped up 150 yards of station platform. Pushed a wood and iron ticketbox off the platform and damaged an unoccupied waiting room. Tore up yards of sleepers on the permanent way. Threw wreckage in all directions. The bus was travelling from Port Adelaide to Osborne. One of the injured. Mr. Graham Le Cere, said at the hospital. "I was seated about the middle of the bus. 'I can remember the warning lights were flashing and then the bus moved forward. 'I don't remember any thing after that until I regained consciousness. Men, women and children were screaming. "My legs were pinned and I could not move. I lay in the wreckage for about 10 minutes until somebody freed me." One of Mr. Pash's legs, which had been almost severed, was amputated by doctors at the scene of the crash. "FELL IN HEAP" Mrs. Dorothy May Morton, 51, who was accompanied by her daughter Rayleen Morton, 23, and her grandchild, Gail Morton, five, all of Pembroke street, Draper,said:—"We were preparing to alight at the next stop when we heard the terrifying screams coming from the front of the bus. 'Then there was an un-
earthly bang. "We were thrown in all directions and landed in a heap on the floor. I got a nasty bump on the back of my head. "I looked for my daughter, saw her trying to get up from the floor, and I tried to open the back door of the bus, but it was jammed." Mrs Morton added 'Men were coming from everywhere and they managed to get us out through a back window 'I told them that a man was crammed in the back of the bus and moaning, and they got him out.' Miss Mary McKenna, 23, of Hurtle square, city, ticket collector on the train, was the first to go to the aid of the injured. Using the train's first aid kit she made the passengers as comfortable as possible before police and ambulances arrived. She tended the less serious cases and dragged some to the bus windows where the men who had been on the train pulled them clear. She said she had about reached the rear of the train punching tickets when she felt a terrific impact. Mrs. Angela Antonia, a New Australian who lives nearby, said "the noise was terrible. "I heard a terrific crash and a bumping sound as the bus was pushed along the line." Emergency aid teams from the ICI plant at Osborne brought blankets and medical kits and set up a casualty station at the side of the train. Acetylene torches were brought from nearby factories. A few minutes after the accident seven ambulances, police squad cars, four doctors from surrounding districts and two fire appliances, were on the way to the scene of the crash. The doctors gave a number of victims morphia to relieve their pain. The husband of one of the injured women arrived within five minutes. She told him: — "Be calm. Don't worry. Have a good Christmas" — then lost consciousness. There were pathetic scenes in Port Adelaide police station last night as officers recorded scores of articles, ranging from a women's gold wristlet watch to Christmas presents found strewn inside the wrecked bus. A pile of new shoes, dresses and toys in Christmas wrappings
were stacked alongside battered hats, children's shoes and women's cardigans. The articles will be kept at the station until identified and claimed by relatives.
Mrs. Jean Clarke, who occupies a railway home near where the crash occurred,said she thought that smoke from a train which had just passed in the opposite
direction must have obscured the bus driver's vision. The noise of the crash had been followed by a cloud of dust. Mrs. Benton, of Broken Hill, an early arrival
to the BHP holiday camp, saw the crash. "I had just crossed the line on my way back to the camp when the bells began to ring," she said. "It was then that I saw the bus coming straight for the crossing. "He was not speeding, but seemed to be going too fast to stop at the crossing." "I turned and watched, and suddenly realised that the would not get across the line in time. A 14-year-old boy, James Niemann, also from Broken Hill, was near the crossing at the time. He heard the train coming, and ran out of the camp to see its number. "I heard the train give along whistle," he said, "but the bus kept on going. He did not seem to slow down. "The bells were ringing and the lights working. Fire appliances stood by during the rescue work, but were not required. It was feared that the oil in the diesel bus might burst into flames. The Railways Commissioner (Mr. J. A. Fargher) said last night that there would be an immediate enquiry into the cause of the crash .

Bus 202 was a write off. All of the other Hope bodied AEC Regal Mark III buses saw service after the MTT, most in NSW.