The item in my source similarly said that the signalperson at the
Wollongong Control Centre switched the train to a particular siding at
Unanderra and stopped all other trains clear. The train was safely stopped
and then proceeded on its way. ATSB was investigating.

The Mountain was always a difficult operating environment. There was a
place on the up (downhill) that if your speed exceeded a certain figure
then the best course of action was to bail out.

Bob T

On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 11:46 AM,prescottt@... [TramsDownUnder] < TramsDownUnder@...> wrote:

>

>

> I can't see any recently installed uphill-graded runaway sidings on Google

> maps, although a lot of the line is shaded by trees. Perhaps they're

> getting confused with similar facilities for trucks on the Illawarra

> escaprment roads.

>

> There was a spectacular runaway in 1963 where loco 4528 lost 17 wagons on

> a derailment coming down the mountain, then took the remaining 17 wagons on

> a wild ride out of control down to Unanderra where the signalman switched

> it onto a dead end siding (perhaps this is the same one?) where it shed the

> remaining wagons at the station then vaulted a creek before coming to rest

> in the soil. There was later a grade-separation of the level crossing at

> Princes Highway in conjunction with the aborted project to Maldon. A few

> loco crew have been killed on the mountain since the 1960s, from collisions

> and landslide.

>

> And yes the 1993 bridge at Woolcott St Lavendar Bay is from Dombarton. One

> of the delights of the old Tin Hare service from Wollongong to Moss Vale

> was that the guard would let you out at the stop at Summit tank to look at

> the spectacular view of the Illawarra coast from the nearby lookout.

>

> Tony P

>

>

>