The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Monday, January 30, 1967 — The Bulawayo-Lourenco Marques line was blocked yesterday morning after 18 goods wagons on a Lourenco Marques-bound train left the track at midnight on Saturday and toppled down a steep embankment between Ghoko and Myrtlecham, about 13 miles from Somabhula.

The cause of the derailment, which occurred on a sharp bend, is not known. A Railways spokesman in Bulawayo said yesterday that an inquiry would be held.

None of the train crew was hurt and the diesel engine was undamaged. Five other trucks left the rails but did not go over the embankment; eight more and the caboose with the spare crew stayed on the track.

The trucks — which crashed over the 20ft embankment — were scattered about at the bottom, some upside down and others on their sides.

One truck, which rolled down the left side of the line, remained coupled to another which, though derailed, stayed on top. This was later levered off the track to clear the line.

Soon after the accident, breakdown trains left Bulawayo and Gwelo and yesterday morning labourers were hard at work relaying the 200 yards of twisted track.

The line was eventually cleared early in the afternoon after a passenger train, which left Lourenco Marques on Saturday night, had been delayed for three hours, said a Railways spokesman.

The derailment, the second on this line in 10 days, has mystified experienced railwaymen who were at the scene yesterday.

The engine and four trucks behind stayed on the rails while the 18 trucks behind shot off the rails.

Yet five empty wagons at the rear of the train continued along the twisted and buckled track and caught up to the engine. “How anything could have kept on those lines, particularly tankers which are noted for being top-heavy, I just don’t know,” said one railwayman.