(New Zealand) A speeding car has crashed off a street and onto a branch line railway in a small town called Whanganui. There are normally no trains on this line on a Sunday, except today...

Steam Incorporated's Ja1271 headed an excursion from Paekakariki to Whanganui on Sunday 17 November 2013. This was part of the country-wide celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of NZ's railways.

Upon arrival at Whanganui, the passengers disembarked to visit local attractions like the town's PS Waimarie. Some passengers remained with their train for the afternoon's side trip.

The locomotive was firstly watered, coaled and turned before hauling it's train tender-first on a short excursion from Whanganui to Castlecliff along the industrial branch. The excursion was dubbed 'The Castlecliff Express'! About 50 Whanganui locals took up the opportunity for a ride on the train through their town's outer suburbs.

The train made the 15 minute trip to the end of the line with ease. The task of running the locomotive around the train at the Gilbert Street container terminal for the return journey was completed quickly.

In this short time, a car had crashed and rolled on to the tracks about 2 kilometres back along the line.
Train-chasing photographers quickly advised the emergency services on site that a train was coming along the tracks soon. The police immediately headed out to find the train and pull it over.
Evidently the crew on board already knew of the blockage via Train Control. The train crept along the tracks up to where the crashed car was laying to await it's removal.

The 'Whanganui Chronicle' reported that the driver of the car was taken to the hospital where he was said to be in a stable condition. Police said the driver failed an initial breath-alcohol screening test taken at the crash site.

It was fortunate that people were not hit by the car while standing trackside. Just a short time beforehand, many people were out and about watching the train roll along the length of the line.