PETERSFIELD.
Agent—Miss DUPLOCK.
RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday evening last an accident occurred to the up goods train at Buriton, about two miles from Petersfield. Happily, however, no one sustained the slightest injury, and the damage done was very trifling; but owing to the line being at present only ‟single,” the delay occasioned to the passenger trains both up and down was something serious, and made every body feel more strongly than ever the desirableness of a second line of rails being laid as speedily as possible. The accident occurred soon after the train had emerged from the tunnel at Buriton, and was occasioned by the breaking of a ‟chair” at one of the joints of the rails, which threw three trucks off the line; two of these were filled with lambs, and the other with manure; the two former retained their erect position and the lambs escaped unhurt, but the latter was overturned and considerably smashed. As soon as the driver found what had happened, he immediately detached the engine, ran into Petersfield for assistance, and quickly returned with a number of workmen, accompanied by Mr. Manley (station master), under whose active and judicious superintendence the rails were re-laid and the line restored to working order in little more than abhor, when the whole goods train excepting the broken truck was brought into the Petersfield station. Soon after the accident occurred, the passenger down train arrived (6.9) If there had been a double line, of course the up line might have been made available for getting over the difficulty, but as the case was there was no alternative but to wait till the line was cleared. While the passengers by this train were impatiently waiting on the platform, in dashed the ‟express” (6.52), and as people usually travel ‟express” just because they are in a hurry, it is not to be supposed that these new arrivals were a wit less impatient at the delay than those who had come by the ordinary train, and to render the vexation greater several of them were bound for the Isle of Wight, and there was every probability of these missing the boat. Eventually one of the engines, whose steam was kept up ready to start at any moment, was shunted from the line, and the two trains were formed into one. About half-past seven the goods train ran in from Buriton, as we have stated above, and announced that the line was cleared and ‟all right,” whereupon the bell was rung and the passengers were requested to take their seats; but now arose another difficulty, a passenger train leaves Portsmouth at 7.30, and if these two trains should start at once, they would be sure to meet her somewhere between this and Rowland’s Castle, which, on a single line, would have been anything but pleasant; so Mr. Manly determined to telegraph to Rowland’s Castle to detain the up train there until the arrival of the down trains (which, of course, was the best thing he could do under the circumstances). But, strangely enough, the telegraph now turned sulky, and for a considerable time no intelligible answer could be got from Rowland’s Castle. At length, however, this difficulty also was overcome, and at 8.45 the united trains started, one being 2½ hours and the other about an hour and a half behind, their usual time. The next event of the evening was the late arrival of the last down train, which is due at 8.59, but from some cause it did not arrive until 9.30, and then had to wait for the up train, which had been detained at Rowland’s Castle, so that it was past ten o’clock before this series of contretemps was brought to a close. The goods train, which should have left here about 6.30, did not leave until 10.15. The affair excited great interest, and all the more so from its being so exceptional, as the trains are usually remarkably regular both in their arrival and departure, and have been so from the opening of the line, nearly a year and a half ago.