Accidents
The EO class has only ever been involved in one accident. On 21 May 1980, EO's 45, 51, and 74 were hauling a coal train from Otira to Arthur's Pass at around 4pm after the decision was made to suspend operations due to heavy rain earlier that day. As the train approached the Goat Creek bridge, it derailed into the swollen Otira River which had washed away 50 metres of track. Locomotive driver Owen Fitzgerald was trapped in the cab of leading locomotive EO 45 and subsequently drowned. His assistant was able to escape through one of the front windows which had broken in the derailment.
The three EO class locomotives were badly damaged, while the Midland LIne was closed until the locomotives could be recovered and the trackbed rebuilt. As a result, 1,800hp electric locomotive EW 159 was sent down from Wellington to replace the three EO's while they were rebuilt at Addington Workshops. This required two locomotive drivers to run the EW in conjuction with the two remaining EO's (EO 39 and EO 68) as the EW did not have multiple unit equipment. This combination produced a total of 3,000hp in comparison to the 1,800hp produced by three EO's.
Read more about this topic: NZR EA Class
Famous quotes containing the word accidents:
“Some accidents there are in life that a little folly is necessary to help us out of.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“Depression moods lead, almost invariably, to accidents. But, when they occur, our mood changes again, since the accident shows we can draw the world in our wake, and that we still retain some degree of power even when our spirits are low. A series of accidents creates a positively light-hearted state, out of consideration for this strange power.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“I can forgive even that wrong of wrongs,
Those undreamt accidents that have made me
Seeing that Fame has perished this long while,
Being but a part of ancient ceremony
Notorious, till all my priceless things
Are but a post the passing dogs defile.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)