Скачать или смотреть The Spirit (The Spirit of Progress train accident at Barnawartha 1982)

Early on a foggy morning on the 17th of June 1982 (40 years ago) a goods train from Wodonga collided into the rear of the Spirit of Progress passenger train on the standard gauge line at Barnawartha Station. The goods train driver George Sandford and Fireman Mark Wilson (19yo) were killed in the accident. Just how did this accident happen? So many things went wrong. Almost the perfect storm and sadly two good railway men were killed. There were so many things that went wrong that morning.
1) The drivers of the Spirit had taken the wrong engine from the Wodonga railway yard to couple it to the Spirit carriages at Albury for the Victorian leg, Albury to Melbourne. The engine they took was due to be towed to Melbourne for repairs.
2) The Spirit subsequently broke down at Barny Station, but no one informed the guard on the Spirit why they had stopped. It was his job to hop out and lay detonators up to 1.6km every 400m behind the train to make it safe. He sat in his van. It was foggy and cold and as no one had told him why they had stopped he didn’t want to risk being left behind. After 40 years on the railways, it was his 2nd last job. I can understand why he sat there but after 15 minutes he had an uneasy feeling. He leapt to safety when he heard the warning whistle just prior to the collision.
3) My dad Henry Klein was the Stationmaster on duty at Chiltern Station. He was in charge of Barny as well. The station assistant at Barnawartha called him to say the Spirit had broken down and had been sitting there for a while (it was on the standard gauge and operated by train control) Dad told him, “Make sure the guard has made the train safe.” Within minutes he rang dad back at Chiltern and said ‘The Goods has hit the rear of the Spirit, it’s horrible!’ Dad rang the emergency services and immediately drove to Barny. It was so foggy he couldn’t go faster than 30miles p/hr.
4) Just why did the goods hit the rear of the Spirit? Mark the fireman was my flatmate and friend and just the night before I was reading him questions for his study to be a driver. We read the rule, ‘At what stage can you proceed past a red section light?’ The answer (from memory) was you can proceed at a speed slow enough so you can stop safely. Mark and George stopped at the red section light and then proceeded at 43km/hr but they weren’t counting on was a thick swirling fog that appeared near the bend just before the station.
5) They rounded the bend, saw the taillights of the guard’s van of the Spirit shining in the foggy Barnawartha light, they applied the brakes, they did not leave their posts. They could’ve jumped but they blew the whistle and stayed on the engine and were killed. Their actions saved the guard who had just enough time to leap to safety. Only 6 passengers on the Spirit were injured, none seriously. The Spirit was shunted 25 meters.
6) The question that racked my brain 40 years ago is even more crystal clear now. Why was there no two-way radio contact available between driver and guard? Or between driver and driver or driver and train control. Any one of those would’ve averted the crash. A radio fitted to a train in 1982 makes sense. It’s 1982 not 1922! The accident occurred because of system failure.
7) Mark and George should be remembered as heroes, they stayed on their engine, they could’ve jumped and didn’t. They saved the life of the guard and possibly many passengers on the Spirit.

I wrote this song "The Spirit" in the late evening on the 17th of June 1982 and I thought now is the right time to share it with the world in memory of my old mate Mark (Pillsy) Wilson, and for George Sandford, both of them..heroes!