Our Ken Magor collection of negatives contains many press photos, a large proportion of which were never used in the newspaper. In the cases where they have been filed in labelled envelopes, it is possible to link them with the events they illustrate by searching the marvellous Trove website. This sample shows some accidents involving trams on the streets of Newcastle.
Henry Russell, 61, of Brunker Road, Adamstown, got a nasty shock on the morning of Friday, August 10, 1935. He was driving his horse-drawn cordial delivery cart in Hunter Street, Newcastle, near Wheeler Place, when he was hit by a tram. A wheel was torn from the cart and broken cordial bottles were strewn across the street. Mr Russell suffered an injured shoulder and shock. His horse broke from its harness and trotted several metres down the street before stopping.
On their way to the movies on the night of July 15, 1941, the Hales family of Mayfield had a lucky escape when their car was jammed between two trams in Hunter Street, near Bank Corner. The car was crushed to half its normal width, but nobody was seriously hurt. Mr and Mrs Hales and two of their three children miraculously climbed unhurt through one of the wrecked car’s windows. Their 13-year-old son Colin was trapped in the front seat, his leg jammed between the gearbox and the door. It took more than an hour for emergency workers to free him, and the accident drew a large crowd of spectactors.
At about 7pm on September 23, 1938, Earle Desmond Robson, 35, of Emerald Street, Hamilton, died when his car smashed into a tram on Maitland Road, near Islington Park. The impact of the head-on smash was severe, and the whole front of the car was forced under the tram. It took some time to free Mr Robson, who died on the way to hospital. Mr Robson was a Great War veteran, having served in the 35th Battalion. He worked for the Greater Newcastle Council, was married, and had a family.
