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Gilgandra Weekly and Castlereagh (NSW : 1929 - 1942), Thursday 5 January 1939, page 5
TRAIN CRASH
ORANGE SENSATION
Coonamble Man Severely Injured
Hurtled from a stationary guardsvan, where he was sitting, on to the top of the engine of another train, a drover in charge of the freight in a stock train was severely injured in one of the worst train collisions to have occurred in the Orange district for many years. The collision, which occurred at 3.45 o'clock on Wednesday morning, between two trains in the new 45,000 pound shunting yard at East Fork, caused main damage to the guardsvan, most of which was smashed to matchwood.
The injured drover is Kenneth John Bowman, 26, of Coonamble, who received a fracture of the left leg and was badly burned by escaping steam from the engine on to which he was thrown. He was conveyed to the Base Hospital by the Orange District Ambulance.
The only other occupant of the guardsvan, W. Gee, the guard, jumped clear a few moments before the crash.
The fireman of the oncoming train W. Kemp, of Dubbo, was thrown from his feet by the impact, and received bruises and shock, but the driver was unharmed.
None of the sheep were injured. The collision occurred when a stock train, which was being shunted in the depot, was momentarily stationary and was about to proceed to Sydney. The other stock train at that moment rounded a curve and crashed into the guardsvan, the collision occurring so suddenly that there was practically no warning for the crew.
Bowman, who had been sitting in the guardsvan, was caught unawares as the engine, its brakes screaming, crashed its way into the van, throwing splinters of wood wide from the track. The van, lifted by the cow-catcher, partially telescoped above the engine and Bowman was hurtled through the air to the top of the engine, where he was badly scalded on the legs and arms by the escaping steam. Momentarily unconscious his inert body was lodged between the headlight and the funnel. He was quickly rescued by the crew.
Guard Kemp, of Dubbo, the guard injured in the smash, has been unlucky during the past twelve months. It was his fourth railway accident in that period.
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Wellington Times (NSW : 1899 - 1954), Thursday 5 January 1939, page 3
TRAINS IN COLLISION
SENSATION AT ORANGE
An amazing escape from death was experienced by Kenneth John Bowman, a drover, of Tooloon Street, Coonamble, about 3.45 yesterday morning, when two stock trains were involved in a serious collision at East Fork, near Orange. Bowman, who was asleep in the brake-van of one of the trains, which was stationary, was badly injured. Both trains were coming from the same direction, on the Molong line, and the one on which Bowman was travelling, with stock, had pulled in at East Fork to take on a supply of water. The second stock train suddenly appeared and before anything could be done, its engine crashed into the van of the stationary train, tearing its way through the whole length of the van, the roof of which covered the engine. The guard on the stationary train, Will Gee, noticed the oncoming train, a few seconds before the crash, and managed to jump clear just in time. Bowman, however, was unaware of the approaching danger, and was rudely awakened by the terrific impact. The engine hurled him to the extreme end of the van, and it was amazing how he escaped instant death. He sustained fractured left leg and shock, and was severely burnt about the body by escaping steam. He remained conscious throughout. The Orange ambulance was called, and with a local doctor, it hurried to East Fork, where Bowman was attended to, before being taken to the Base Hospital. Bowman was married only a short time ago, and was accompanying a consignment of stock to Flemington. When attempting to clear the wreckage, a member of the railway breakdown gang was slightly injured when the van roof fell from the top of the engine, on which it rested following the smash.
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The Ryerson Index
BOWMAN
Kenneth John
Death notice
22APR1994
Death
81
late of Westmead
Sydney Morning Herald
23APR1994
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