Historical information

The following was reported in the Herald newspaper on 17th April 1919. A stock train travelling north crashed head-on with a goods train coming in the opposite direction. The driver thought he had been given the all-clear to proceed into Sunbury and it was only when the train was approaching the Macedon Street bridge that he saw the red light and it was too late. The accident caused damage to rolling stock and disruption on the Bendigo and Maryborough lines. The train coming from Bendigo smashed onto the platform at Sunbury. The driver of the stock train was thrown under the van and suffered a broken arm and facial injuries. The fireman was thrown clear of the tracks. A local Sunbury doctor treated them before they were taken by a casualty train to hospital. A crew from Melbourne came to Sunbury to repair the damage. The track was cleared by that afternoon.

Significance

This was one of a number of train crashes that have occurred in the Sunbury line over the years.

Physical description

A non-digital black and white photograph of a train crash at a station. People are standing on a pedestrian bridge looking at the damage and there are boxes containing rabbits stacked in the foreground of the photograph.