Mayhem at the Crossings

 A hazard that faced motorists from the early years of local travel was the dreaded railway crossing. The area had numerous level crossings that needed careful negotiating. I thought I would detail some accidents at two of these: the crossing on Camden Road at Campbelltown and to the north at Morgan's Gate at Leumeah.

Train accidents and incidents along both the Great Southern Railway line and the line joining Campbelltown to Camden have been common over the years. One such drama occurred to an unfortunate group of horses on 7 November 1861- a date remembered in Australian history coincidentally as the first meeting of the Melbourne Cup, won by Archer. Five fine horses were hit by the 3.30am train and killed instantly. The local newspapers did not refrain from using descriptive language to describe the state of the horses. I will spare you the gorey details!

However, it was at the level crossings that most local train accidents did the damage. In 1895 tragedy struck Campbelltown when two year old Cecil Mortimer was killed by a south-bound train at the Camden Road level crossing. Cecil was the son of the gatekeeper, George Mortimer. A number of people witnessed the accident, but were powerless to do anything. Cecil had crossed the line and was making his way back when he was struck.

In 1923, there was a lucky escape for a family named Korniovsky. When getting over the level crossing at Morgan's Gate, the off back wheel of the car caught against the gate post. The front of the car projected over sleepers. At the same moment the Melbourne Express came round the corner. The occupants jumped out as the train struck, but miraculously avoided serious injury or death.

It took a shocking accident in 1925 for authorities to start planning action on Morgan's Gate crossing. Eighteen year old Irene Scattergood was waiting at the crossing for a train when suddenly one dashed past without warning. Irene suffered a fractured skull and died soon after reaching hospital. Her sister Mabel was also struck, but survived the accident. The following year the Railway Commission announced that a plan and estimates had been prepared for an overhead bridge in the vicinity of Morgan's Gates. Work on the bridge commenced in 1928 and was completed the following year.

Irene Scattergood's grave in St Peter's Anglican Cemetery

Highlighting the urgency for a solution to the Morgan's Gate problem was another accident in 1927. Despite the frantic signals of gatekeeper Charles Hinton, a car travelling along the southern road swerved at Morgan's Gates just before midnight, crashed through a fence and completely overturned the gatekeeper's hut. The car was driven by a W.H.Tayor with seven passengers inside. The car came to a stop on the railway line, causing all rail traffic to be blocked. Luckily, only one person suffered injuries.

Meanwhile, accidents continued to occur at the Camden Road level crossing. In June 1932 Camden man Herb Scott was killed when a car he was travelling in stalled at the level crossing. Mr Scott and the other occupant attempted to push the car off the line when they were struck by the Picton to Sydney train. He was taken to Camden Hospital but died of his injuries. Another accident at this crossing happened in 1938 when a car crashed into a goods train. A driver mistook the light and realised his mistake before it was too late. There were only slight injuries to the occupants.

The road over the railway on Camden Road was finally closed in 1996 after a replacement overhead bridge was constructed adjacent to the crossing.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Cootamundra Herald, 4 March 1938

Camden News, 7 July 1932

Sydney Morning Herald, 30 November 1895

Evening News, 8 August 1927

Campbelltown News, 15 June 1923

Goulburn Evening Penny Post, 1 December 1925

Sydney Mail, 9 November 1861

 

Who are they?

Can you help us identify these boys? The photograph shows two unidentified cyclists taken at the Minto railway level crossing gates in 1940.

The level crossing at Minto no longer exists. It was located at the southern end of Minto Railway Station platform. The level crossing was originally on the northern side of the station and there is still evidence of this crossing.

In the photograph there can be seen a house behind a paling fence. This was the gatekeeper's cottage. It was a large weatherboard house with three bedrooms, a large loungeroom, big dining room and a large laundry out the back. As you can see from the photo, it was right up against the railway line and would therefore prove extremely noisy for the people living there.

It was once customary for widows and families of railway men to be in charge of opening and closing railway gates at crossings. This was still the case by the time World War Two came around, although railway staff were then available to perform this task between 5am and 11pm. The hours after this were still the responsibility of the family at the gatekeeper's house. My source for this information is Bryan Chrystal whose family lived in the cottage in the years immediately after the war.

According to Bryan the cars would arrive at all hours of the night. "They would arrive at the gates, blow their horn and mum would get dad or myself or John up and we would open the gates winter and summer." He remembers when the big express trains left Ingleburn Station that "we could tell and it would be something like three or so minutes before they came past our place, because one of the lattices on the side verandah just used to rattle and you could hear it rattling".

Bryan went on to explain why the crossing was particularly busy "In those days, all the back roads were dirt and gravel. The only main road was the Campbelltown Highway, the Old Campbelltown Road and there was a tar sealed section from Campbelltown Road down Redfern Road through the railway gates and up to Pembroke Road. So a lot of people if they were in Campbelltown would travel by the tarred road and then down through Redfern Road through the railway gates at Minto and up to Pembroke Road which would save them from travelling all the way on the gravelled road which was Pembroke Road. Of course the cars didn't last as long because of the rutted roads, so to save their cars and the noise they came through the railway gates."

If anyone can identify these boys or provide more information on the level crossing, we would be grateful.

Bryan's interview can be accessed here at http://www.campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/CampbelltownRecollectionsstoriesfromourpast

The introduction to the interview was filmed on the site of the gatekeeper's cottage.

Written by Andrew Allen

Source:

MURPHY, Joan
Minto: Approximately 1925-1935
In Grist Mills, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp50-59