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As a career fireman, transport collector Ken Magor naturally accumulated many photographs of accidents and disasters. Here are some more tales of vehicular tragedy and misadventure from our Ken Magor archive.
August 16, 1944: The photograph above shows the aftermath of an accident between a bus and train at a level-crossing at Carey Street, Toronto. It was the third smash at the same level crossing in six years. There had previously been gates at the crossing, but these were removed – much to the horror of Lake Macquarie Shire Council, which protested regularly against the decision.
Apparently a building near the crossing tended to obscure the view for drivers. Witnesses said the train and bus had both been travelling very slowly at the time of the collision. Despite the high impact there were no fatalities although 14 of the 20 bus passengers were injured and two of those were admitted to Wallsend Hospital.
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March 17, 1939: Car owner Mr Howarth, of Cooks Hill, must have been quite disappointed when he returned to his parked car – left for repairs opposite a garage near the intersection of Parry and Denison Street, Hamilton – to find it under a double-decker bus.
According to a news report in The Newcastle Morning Herald, the front of the car was destroyed and the tread of a tyre burnt off from the friction of being pushed along the road by the bus. The bus was just heading out on its run and only had the driver and conductor aboard.
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September 12, 1950: This double-decker bus rolled over on the Pacific Highway at Cains Hill, a little south of Charlestown, injuring 18 passengers and the conductor. The bus was heading south when it met a truck heading north on a bend. The bus swerved left, one wheel hit a culvert and it tipped over. The 40 passengers found themselves in a struggling heap. Nearby residents rushed to help, and ambulances took the injured to hospital.
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November 20, 1941: This bus went over an embankment on the Redhead-Dudley Road and crashed into a tree. It was just after 3.15pm and the bus, carrying miners, schoolchildren and other passengers, met another double-decker on a curve near the Oakdale Road turnoff. As the vehicles passed, the near-side rear wheel of the Dudley-bound bus skidded into gravel on the roadside and the vehicle started to tilt. The driver had almost righted the bus when the embankment a little further on gave way. Nobody was seriously hurt.
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August 22, 1942: When it struck the back of a car near “The Devil’s Elbow”, a little north of Belmont, this bus tipped over, injuring 24 people.
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October 3, 1951: A power pole at the corner of Crompton and Tudor was snapped when a bus hit it. The conductor, Cedric Moore, was taken to hospital with abrasions and a suspected fracture to his wrist.
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May 19, 1947: Passengers considered themselves fortunate when this embankment stopped a bus from capsizing in Lambton Road, Waratah. Nobody was seriously hurt.
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