The locomotive in the cover picture is from https://www.victorianrailways.net/ and is described as a Walschaert A2 in as-built condition in black livery circa the 1920s.
Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1929), Monday 6 February 1922, page 5
As the result of a collision between runaway trucks that had broken away from the "through" Bendigo goods train from Melbourne, and another goods train following on the same line, between Macedon and Woodend, at 1.50 this morning, Guard David Edward Evans, of Melbourne "through" goods train, was killed outright, and Driver G. Kellum and Fireman Chandler were somewhat badly knocked about, sustaining shock and severe abrasions.
Between Macedon and Woodend, the rear portion of the 8.15 "through" goods train to Bendigo, which was in charge of T. Garland and T. Monahan (drivers), T. Lalor and C. Straughan (firemen — two engines) and the late Guard Evans broke away from the rest of the train on a steep incline and commenced a descent down the incline.
The trucks gathered speed as they travelled, and with terrible velocity sped along the down line. Through Macedon station, under the eyes of startled station hands and a few spectators, the runaway vehicles swept, until at a point about a mile and a half on the top side of the station, met and crashed into the goods train following the Bendigo "through" goods from Melbourne.
The guard's van, in which the unfortunate guard Evans was apparently desperately applying the handbrake without effect, was smashed to matchwood, Evans was killed outright. The trucks were thrown from the line with terrific force, several being badly smashed. The first engine of the second goods train, which received the impact of the runaway trucks, was battered, and the firemen and driver badly knocked about.
The repair gang cleared both the down and "up" lines by 2 o'clock. Special arrangements were made by the Department for carrying the various passengers in succeeding trains to their destinations. This entailed in some instances the provision of motor cars where no train service was scheduled to accommodate the late trains delayed by the accident.
There is some doubt as to how Guard Evans met his end — whether from the impact of a collision with the earth when he jumped from the van, or whether he was killed in the van. The first report to hand in Melbourne indicated that Evans, who was approaching the retiring age, was found dead amid the ruins of the van. Later reports, however, indicated that his body was found 150 to 200 yards from the scene of the accident, which suggested that the guard, realising that a collision was inevitable, made a leap for his life. His loud cries as the trucks dashed through Macedon station at a speed approximately 70 miles an hour attracted the attention of Mr E. Pennington, the Macedon stationmaster, who was amazed to see the trucks, to which he had given despatch earlier, returning in such a fashion and at such a speed. It was too late to do anything. The slow goods train had already left the station down the line. Somewhere in the darkness, it was already approaching. Appalled, Mr Pennington watched the rumbling heavy trucks, loaded with bricks and coal, disappear in the darkness at lightning speed. The next moment he heard the awful crash — loud, grinding, and full of awful portent in the night air. Then he ran — ran as fast as his legs could carry him across the sleepers and ballast towards the direction of the collision.
The local "world" for miles around was awakened by the sound of the crash. Such a crash, at such an hour, could portend only one thing, and as men and women hurried on their clothes and sped from all directions, by common instinct, towards the fatal scene, the air was full of startling speculations about the possible extent of the tragedy.
Mr. Pennington, the stationmaster, stumbling and running along the track in the darkness, had gone nearly a mile when he met Chandler, the fireman of the slow train, staggering along in the direction of the station in the hope of attracting assistance. Accounting himself fortunate to be in the land of the living, Chandler, suffering from shock, gave the stationmaster a few of the details whose meaning he had already guessed. Shaking from the effects of shock, Chandler nearly collapsed, and Mr Pennington sped along the track on his errand of help. Chandler followed.
By the time Mr Pennington reached the scene, whoso confused mass of broken and twisted detail was rendered the more hideous by the darkness of the night, a little crowd of partly attired persons had gathered on the spot. They had done nothing — could do nothing. The train, fortunately, was not a passenger train. Tlie bricks, coal) and other goods lay silently scattered in all directions amongst the twisted iron. There were no tortured, suffering humans to extricate. The dead guard lay where death had found him. The driver Kellam, though knocked about and suffering from shock, was coherent.
So fierce was the impact between the runaway goods truck and the slow goods train, after the former had travelled at such break-neck speed down the grade of 1 in 50, that the slow goods train was hurled hack along the line a distance of 800 to 100 feet. The engine was badly damaged, the funnel being carried away and the boiler stove in, and the miracle of it was that its occupants, the driver and firemen, were not more severely injured. Three of the trucks of the slow goods were derailed.
It was, of course, the runaway trucks that got the worst of the deal in the matter of the damage to the respective trains. Six of the thirteen trucks and the van of the runaway were piled up on the side of the high embankment of the line, just at the 42-mile post. The twisted wheels, splintered and torn woodwork, and iron plates were heaped and jumbled together like so much scrap iron placed ready for smelting down in a foundry yard. Coal and bricks were heaped around, and wrenched nuts and bolts were strewn in profusion across the track and, surrounding embankment.
Strangely enough, the permanent way did not suffer very much. This was probably due to the momentum of the runaway trucks, which was so great that when they hit their object they were, figuratively speaking, swept "off their feet" and hurled and somersaulted clear of the track.
** The very last part of this newspaper scan is damaged and illegible.