Railways and Tramways of Australia
15 February
The scene of the accident near Campania on 15 February 1916 showing overturned locomotive and carriages. Photo: Flicker Commons.
Tasmanian tragedy
An express train crashed near Campania in Tasmania on 15 February 1916.
Campania station was located 27½ miles (44.3 km) from Hobart on the Main Line between Hobart and Launceston. An express train hauled by M1, an M Class 4-4-2+2-4-4 Garratt, was heading from Launceston to Hobart. The M Class locomotives were equipped with two engines powered by a single boiler.
The express train consisted of four passenger carriages and a van. Around 200 passengers were on board. At about 4.00 pm the train approached a horseshoe bend located about three miles north of Campania. The train slowed as it approached the bend. Soon there was a sudden jolt as the leading bogies of the Garratt’s rear engine became derailed.
The derailment threw the locomotive off the tracks, and it turned over as it went down an embankment. It was followed by the first passenger carriage. The second carriage veered to the left. Both carriages were smashed to matchwood. The driver was trapped in the locomotive while the fireman was thrown out. Despite being badly scalded, the driver attempted to minimise the risk of explosion by opening the steam valves. He was taken to Hobart General Hospital but died the following day.
Seven people died, including the driver, and 33 were injured. The passengers who died were mostly in the first carriage, which was smashed when the locomotive fell back on it. Among the passengers was a group of soldiers returning to Brighton Camp from leave. Other young men were heading there to enlist. One soldier was killed and ten were injured; others assisted in the rescue work.
A Board of Enquiry was established by Tasmanian Government Railways. The cause of the accident was found to be excessive speed.
The tragedy near Campania was Tasmania’s worst railway accident.
Bibliography
TCT Cooley, Railroading in Tasmania, 1868–1961, Government Printer, Hobart, c. 1963.
L Morley, ‘The 1916 TGR Campania accident’, Australian Railway History, no. 961, November 2017, pp 13–16.
K Pearce, Australian railway disasters, 2nd edn, IPL, Sydney, 1999.
‘Railway disaster’, The Mercury, 16 February 1916, p 5.
Wreckage of the accident near Campania on 15 February 1916. Photo: Kaye, Flickr.
