THE RAILWAYS—TRAINS STOPPED, LINES UNSAFE.
The railway authorities were kept busily engaged on Tuesday in arranging for the repairs of the lines washed away and getting the trains through on some of the systems. Fortunately the floods did no damage to the southern or overland line, so that all the trains arrived and departed at their appointed times. Things were different on the North, Broken Hill, and Western Systems. The North line was washed away between Mintaro and Farrell’s Flat and the Burra. Workmen were engaged all through the night in repairing the line, and a large number of men who were relaying the road between Hallett and Terowie were brought down to assist. At 4.45 p.m. on Monday the North down train was delayed at Mintaro. The Broken Hill train due in Adelaide at [1.7] on Tuesday afternoon was an hour and a half late. The train was not delayed until reaching the Burra. The washaway was two miles south of Farrell’s Flat, and here the train had to wait forty minutes. At the sixteen-mile post, ‘between Salisbury and Smithfield the line was under water, but no portion washed away. Passengers by the Broken Hill train said that it was raining very heavily all the way down from Riverton. Tuesday morning’s express to Broken Hill went through all right, the way having been sufficiently repaired to allow it to pass. The Broken Hill express leaving Adelaide at 2.30 was delayed an hour and a quarter between Hamley Bridge and Stockport in consequence of the line being under water, and it was not considered safe to allow the train to proceed until the district foreman went along and inspected the line. The up train from Port Augusta, Port Pirie, &c., would under ordinary circumstances have arrived in Adelaide at 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday, but owing to the line being disturbed south of Farrell’s Flat the train was more than two hours late on arriving at Smithfield. Here, owing to the line being damaged south of Smithfield, the train had to remain for several hours. The Resident Engineer left Adelaide on Tuesday morning to superintend the repairing of the washaways on the North line, but the rain was so incessant all day that the progress of repairing was not so satisfactory as it would otherwise have been. With the exception of the Smithfield and Farrell’s Flat interruptions the line from Adelaide to Terowie was clear, and up to last night there was nothing of any serious consequence to delay traffic north of Terowie. The Western System appears to have sustained the most damage. The line was washed away or under water for some distance near what is known as Dunn’s Well between Balaklava and Hoyleton. No train went through to or from Blyth on Tuesday. Since the down train to the Peninsula passed the line between Hamley Bridge and Balaklava has been interrupted. Within two or three miles of Port Wakefield the railway was impassable. Just outside Port Wakefield, on the road to Kadina, another obstruction impeded the traffic, so that no train could run along the line. The passengers who left Adelaide for Wallaroo were transferred over the break this side of Port Wakefield to the sound part of the line. Those proceeding from the Peninsula towards the city were also afforded the means of transfer, but owing to the interruption between Balaklava and Hamley Bridge the train was unable to proceed, and the passengers were compelled to remain at Balaklava over night. Arrangements were made by the authorities for a special train to run to Hamley Bridge to convey the passengers to the city, but on reaching Dry Creek it was found that any further proceeding was inadvisable, as the Wallaroo train was unable to reach the Hamley Bridge Station.
