The death at Appleby crossing

It’s a plain grey gravestone with a simple little memoriam to Lydia Tilbury which doesn’t begin to describe the drama and horror of her death.
Lydia and her sister Susan were enjoying a holiday in Nelson on February 1, 1908. Lydia had come to the region from the Hutt Valley on holiday and they were both taking the Motueka to Nelson coach.
The coach ran regularly and the coachman Charles Brickland, a careful and conscientious worker, was guiding the coach over the train lines near the station.
Other than Lydia and Susan, the only other person in the coach was nine-year-old Margaret Fittall.
They were at the crossing at Appleby when Margaret called out that she could see a train.
Charles did not hear her, but it was already too late. By the time anyone saw the train, it was nearly on top of the coach.
The train hit the front of the coach, crushing it and the horses bolted.
Margaret and Susan were thrown clear, but Lydia - who was only 25 - was dragged under the train and killed immediately. Charles was found in the wreckage of the coach with serious injuries.
Within a couple of months a Coroner’s inquest was held to consider whether Charles had committed negligent manslaughter.
What Charles did not know was that the train timetable had been changed just the day before. He regularly drove that coach route and was used to the train going through about 1pm. He was not expecting a train about 12.30pm - when he was taking the coach over the crossing.
Railway officials gave evidence at the inquest that the timetable had been changed for the holiday - it was Nelson’s anniversary weekend.
There was also some dispute over whether a whistle had been heard from the train as it approached the crossing. Witnesses were divided - some had heard the whistle, some had not.
Charles himself told the inquest he had not seen the train
The jury at the inquest decided Charles should face charges and he was committed for trial at the Supreme Court.
But the jury there did not agree and he was freed after they tossed out the bill or charge.
Meanwhile, Lydia’s husband Albert John Tilbury, a market gardener from Lower Hutt, took her body home, where she is buried in the Old Taita Cemetery.​