Great Western - 21. GW Chap 21

I went to the connection of cars two and three, and unlatched the coupling, and disconnected the hydraulic hoses, before climbing up onto car three pushing the button inside the door of car three, which releases the brakes, and I immediately felt the train slowly roll backwards, as we were on a very slight decline, and I hit the button again, to activate the brakes, once we were about 500 metres from the wreck.

Happy that some of the train was well away from the wreck, I ran forward towards the wreck to try and help as many people as possible, just as emergency services began to arrive, from town. “Mr Ashburton, do you know what happened?” a volunteer fireman asked as his vehicle stopped near to me, at the back of car two, “It appears that the truck failed to give way at the crossing, as we were passing through, we have approximately 46 passengers each in cars one and two.

I have just disconnected and rolled back the rest of the train, so it won’t catch alight” I said, before climbing into the back of car two to see if there are any more passengers inside, and it was getting very smoky and hot when I entered, and I saw Reynold staggering towards me, looking badly injured.

“Sir, all of car two is empty, and I am not sure about car one, I helped about 28 passengers from car one come through to car two and alight the train from there, I am not sure about the rest, here is the passenger list” Reynold said to me.

I helped Reynold off the train, as a fire crew entered with some fire hoses, as headed forward to tackle the fire, from inside and out, and we moved back well away from the fire which seemed to be getting bigger, as more volunteer fire fighters, plus the police and ambulance crews arrived.

With the light industrial area also located in this junction, workers came rushing to assist as best as they could, and soon medical staff from the town hospital also arrived. While the more serious passengers were being treated by the medical staff, I began to check them off, from the list, also establishing which car and seat they were in.

When I had finished checking off everyone that was alive and off the train, I found that we were missing two train drivers, one steward, and just 7 passengers, a lot less than I was expecting, which was a good thing.

The local State Emergency group was activated, to do a search of the area, to make sure that there were no injured passengers that may have just wondered off, and they located just three people, sitting and huddled in a dazed behind one of the sheds in the industrial area.

Ambulances and fire crews from Pingelly, Williams, Wickepin, Boddington, Katanning, Brookton and Wagin were dispatched to the disaster area, with the truck fuel fire explosions setting off small fires in the neighbouring crop paddocks and surrounding bush.

For our family and staff, we were checked by the medical team, and sent to Narrogin leisure centre, to rest and recover from the ordeal, and members of the community had set up the kitchen and was preparing soup and sandwiches for the train people, plus giving them blankets to keep warm.

I was chatting to my brothers, to make sure they were fine; when my mobile rang and I saw the caller ID said it was Mum. “Hello Mum, the family and business staff are fine, but we have two drivers, a steward and 7 passengers missing, we had a collision with a fuel tanker truck just out of Narrogin” I said right away, and after a short chat, I handed my phone over to Dad.

Once Dad had finished with my phone, he handed it back to me, and it soon rang again. “ARG, Vern speaking” I said answering the call, “Oh good, this is Mike Armstrong, Shire President of Narrogin, where can I find you please?” came a response, “We are in the leisure centre, and I am in the small meeting room off the main hall” I responded, “Good, I will be there in a moment, bye” the caller said and ended the call.

A few moments later a man knocked on the partly open door and stepped in, “Mr Ashburton?” the man asked, “Yes that is me, but it was my oldest son, that you just spoken with” Dad answered, “I have just spoken with the police, they agree with my initial assessment.

This was not the fault of the train driver or your company, it appears that the driver of the truck, who is new to the fuel company, and from overseas, ignored the warning lights and bells, and crashed through the boom gates as your train was passing through.

On behalf of our community, please accept my condolences for the staff that you have lost, and I understand that a number of passengers have also perished in this tragic crash, is there any way we can assist you anymore?” Mr Armstrong said to Dad.

“Your community has already done so much with taking care of the passengers as well as dealing with the fire, if you can accommodate all the passengers as best as possible, or arrange transport for them to get to their destinations, I will be happy to cover any costs incurred” Dad replied.

“I have already spoken to all of the accommodation places, there is the motor inn, the two hotels, the motel and a number of B&B accommodations in town, and they are all happy to assist. The local bus service has also rounded up its drivers, and they have 4 buses ready to go” Mr Armstrong said, and Dad asked him to follow him.

In the main hall, where the majority of the 234 train passengers are gathered, apart from those who are injured and are in either Narrogin hospital or on their way to Katanning hospital, a large group of locals were checking that everyone is fed and being well looked after.

“Can I have your attention please” Dad shouted amongst the noise of people talking and groaning, and I let out a loud whistle to get everyone’s attention, and Dad looked at me before clearing his ears, which made some people laugh. “Thankyou son, for that ear bashing. For those who don’t know me, I am Christopher Ashburton, of ARG.

The Police have informed us, that the fuel tanker truck was the cause of the crash, which I expect will be investigated fully. For now, thou! I wish to let you good folk know that we will make sure that you are all well looked after.

The community of Narrogin has a large number of places for accommodation for those who wish to rest for a day or two, before travelling on, and for those who wish to travel back to Albany, we have four buses on standby, ready to take you there, as soon as you are ready.

For those who were in car one or two, I am sorry, we cannot recover any luggage from those cars, as the fire is still active, but for the passengers in the other cars, we will have stewards collect your luggage, and bring it to you, before boarding the buses. Do any passengers have any questions at this point in time?” Dad said to the crowd.

“Yes, do you know who is missing or killed?” one man called out, and I stepped forward to answer this question, “My name is Vern Ashburton, our initial check was we had three train crew and 7 passengers missing, but now… it is only four passengers that are missing, and until the fire is out and… we will know more once the fire crews have finished their work” I said, choking a little as I spoke.

“That is all we have at the moment, we have your contact information from your bookings, so we will do a follow up call soon, to check on everyone, thankyou” Dad added, and we returned to the small meeting room.

Dad and I stayed in Narrogin for three days, well over a day after the last of the passengers had left town, the majority of the injured, including Reynold, were still in hospital, either in Narrogin, Katanning or one of the hospitals in Perth, and as miracles would have it, two passengers were found unconscious and suffering smoke inhalation at the back of car one, so there was just two passengers missing.

It took nearly two days to get the fuel fire under control, plus the bush fires that resulted in the explosions from the crash site, which burnt 190 acres of farmland crops, plus about 420 acres of bush reserves, to the west of town.

Westnet Rail had sent an engine to bring the rest of the train back to Albany, while a clean-up team began work on repairs of the track, with two sections of rail needing to be replaced, having bent from the extreme heat of the fuel fire, and we returned to Albany with the remainder of the train.

When we arrived at the train station in the late afternoon three days after the crash, there was a large group of media waiting for us. “You better do this Dad, I am not up to dealing with this right now” I said as the train came to a stop.

“Mr Ashburton, will there be an enquiry into the cause of the accident?” one reporter asked.

“We are leaving it in the capable hands of the police, to conduct a thorough investigation into why the truck crashed through the boom gate and into our train.

We are saddened with the loss of three of our staff, along with two passengers, and we wish all of those who were injured, a speedy recovery” Dad said as I gave him a slight nudge with my elbow. My signal that I would take the next question. “When will your train services be recommencing, will you wait until the investigation is over?’ a reporter asked.

“Once the tracks that are damaged by the fire are replaced, and the police have given us the all clear, we shall recommence our services on the Great Western, I also want to point out that although we had made a big effort to ensure all major road crossings have sufficient warnings, we will be commencing an upgrade with all public road crossings having signage and boom gate barriers at each level crossing.

We will also have all private road crossings with extra signage installed, as well as signal warnings at each crossing, that is all for now thankyou” I said, as I spotted Mrs Frazier arrive in her own car to collect us, and she drove us to the back gate of the house, and we rushed inside to avoid any nosey reporters from sticking their camera’s over the fence.

Dad made sure that my brothers and I, had a thorough check up by our family doctor, and a psychologist also visited us to assess us from any trauma side effects, of which my two brothers were having some nightmares from the crash, but I was fine.

With one train of the Great Western now being minus two cars, and just one engine, we would have to adapt a little. When the truck and train wreckage was removed from the tracks, part of the truck was fused together with the front side of car one, so it had to be cut before they could be separated, and car one was a total loss, while Car two had minimal damage, most of it just smoke and water damage from the fire-fighting, and it was loaded onto a truck and transported up to Midland to get some repairs done to it.

The new service to Exmouth was changed, so that the train could be used for the Great Western Service from Albany to Geraldton, until a new car one can be sent from Switzerland to replace the damaged one. The trucking company and in particular the driver, were found to be the cause of the crash, and so their insurance company had to pay for the replacement of the train car.

The Exmouth service did eventually begin, but not with any grand parade or anything, because of the crash, and it was reduced down to one weekly journey, until there are enough cars to get the damaged train complete again, which would take about two months.

It was on New Years Eve, when the new train car arrived to replace the damaged one, and I hoped that with it being the start of a new year, that it would be the start of good fortune for the family company Ashburton Rail Group.

A fortnight after the replacement car arrived, I announced that there will be one service each way from Albany to Exmouth per fortnight, with limited stops at Northam, Geraldton, Kalbarri and Hamelin Station at Shark Bay, with the journey taking twelve hours to complete the 1,784 kilometre journey.

This would be the only journey to Exmouth, with the Albany to Geraldton via Midland being the main passenger train service along the west coast.

The End.