A delightful track, the Samford Cycle Link, is well tarred, line marked, sign posted, and winds through a cutting between Ferny Grove and Camp Mountain. Great for social distancing exercise, the path in a dense bush setting follows the footprint of an old railway line which snaked from Ferny Grove to Samford between the official opening in June 1918 and May 1955. Part way along the track, a plaque pays tribute to passengers and crew, both injured and killed, in a horror train derailment and crash on the section of line in 1947.
Newspaper clipping from the Queensland Times, 6 May 1947, courtesy of Trove.
It was to be a picnic lunch for employees of the Customs Department arranged by their Social Club for the Labour Day public holiday. The Queensland Times described the crash and quick reaction by emergency services in their edition printed on May 6th, 1947:
‘The train left Brisbane at 8.57am, and consisted of seven carriages and a water gin. Its total load was estimated at 500 [people], including 150 children. At Ferny Grove, last stop before the crash, about 100 people alighted, most of them from the two front carriages which bore the brunt of the crash. Passing the crest of Samford Range, the train began to run down a two-mile grade at 9.53am. Within a minute it reached a high speed. Swaying and rocking, with women and children starting to scream in several carriages, it approached a sharp bend. Half-way round the bend, the leading carriage jumped the rails. Between this point and the end of the cutting, the engine rolled over and ploughed into an embankment. A coal tender followed and dug in nose first. The 20-foot water gin was wrenched free from the tender and struck by the leading carriage, the body of the tank being telescoped back through the centre of the carriages sweeping the entire fittings and mangled bodies before it.
Fourteen ambulances and five police wireless cars, police cyclists, and three trucks loaded with police raced to the scene. By nightfall, searchlights had been rigged and the search was being continued for the missing people, a few of whom are believed to be dead.’
The following images are a small selection taken at the Camp Mountain crash scene in 1947. Images are supplied by the State Library of Queensland via Trove.
Police maintain watch as crowds gather. Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland.
Uniformed officers attend to a female survivor. Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland.
Rescuers including a policeman inspect the wreckage. Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland.
Police and rescue workers stretcher a body from a carriage. Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland.
An inquiry commenced, the members on the Board included Brisbane Justice Alan Mansfield, Queensland University Engineering School’s Professor Hawken and Australian Federal Union of Locomotive Employees State President, Mr Trewin, and attended the scene to view the train wreck. The inquiry established excessive speed not accounting for the curve, downhill run and camber of the railway track caused the locomotive and attached carriages to sway alarmingly, derail and crash. The inquiry heard testimony over the ability of a driver to judge speeds as ‘speedometers were extremely sensitive instruments, and if placed on locos were apt to become out of order and register incorrectly. It was obvious that a speedometer not registering correctly would be more of a danger than a safeguard if the driver relied on it’ (Cairns Post, Wednesday 2 July 1947, Pg 5).
The Court heard evidence that the driver, fireman and guard in charge of the locomotive were all competent in their respective duties including judging speeds, and were competent to support one another in the joint operation of the locomotive. The Court heard witness testimony from train passengers who relayed details of the journey, including their observations of the speeds travelled over the terrain covered, the movement of the carriages and the mechanical and impact noises they heard. This evidence was used to examine the actions of the crew, and later to determine the compensation payable to passengers and staff who survived the crash and settle on payments to the estates of the deceased.
The disaster caused the deaths of sixteen passengers and crew, 38 people sustained serious injuries. The deceased train driver, H.C. Hind, fireman A.C. Knight and surviving train guard, G.E.Evans, were found guilty of a lack of care and breach of duty. The section of track outbound from Ferny Grove was decommissioned in 1955.
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This article was written by Georgia Grier of the Queensland Police Museum with resources gathered from TROVE. The museum is currently closed due to COVID19, with staff working remotely by email and phone. When reopened, hours of operation will be 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month, and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact by email: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – A Reflection on the Camp Mountain Derailment Disaster” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode