Railways and Tramways of Australia

Appalling disaster

 

A terrible collision occurred near Murulla in New South Wales on 13 September 1926.

 

Murulla is located 338 km from Sydney on the Main North Line near Murrurundi.

 

On the night of the accident, no. 8 North-west Mail was en route from Moree to Sydney. It was hauled by C32 Class engine 3292. No. 62 goods was also travelling southbound and was hauled by D50 Class engine 5277.

 

As the goods train arrived at Murulla two wagons broke apart from each other. Because train was fitted with Westinghouse brakes, when the air hoses between the wagons were separated the brakes were automatically applied. The separated rear portion of the train consisted of eleven wagons and the brake van.

 

A broken drawhook was found on one of the goods wagons. The separated wagons were re-connected with a single wire rope, and the driver started moving the train further into the loop. This would enable no. 8 North-west Mail to pass.

 

When no. 62 began to move the wire rope connection broke. However, the air hoses had not been re-connected, and the rear of the train began to roll backwards. The wagons gathered speed and collided with the approaching mail train at 11.35 pm.

 

The impact was disastrous. Twenty-seven people died and 46 were seriously injured. The mail train’s first carriage was pushed upwards and landed on the second, while the second and third carriages telescoped. The goods train’s brake van was smashed to matchwood.

 

A coronial inquest committed the driver and guard of the goods train for trial on manslaughter charges. A jury returned a verdict of not guilty in 15 minutes. Nevertheless, they were found negligent by a Departmental inquiry.

 

The appalling Murulla crash was the worst in New South Wales until the Granville Disaster of 1977.

 

Bibliography

‘Appalling disaster: North-west Mail train wrecked near Blandford’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 September 1926, p 15.

D Burke, 30 days on Australia’s railways: a diary of September journeys, Rosenberg, Sydney, 2014.

J Costigan, ‘The Murulla accident’ (letter), Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, no. 710, December 1996, p 376–7.

T Edmonds, ‘The Murulla accident’, Australian Railway History, no. 1063, September 2026, pp 4–19.

K Pearce, Australian railway disasters, 2nd edn, IPL Books, Sydney, 1999.

‘Railway disaster: worst in history of the state’, The Maitland Weekly Mercury, 18 September 1926, p 3.

CC Singleton, ‘The Murulla accident’, Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, no. 296, June 1962, p 89–90.

‘Terrible death toll in railway smash’, The Daily Telegraph, 15 September 1926, p 1.