The tram derailment

Eliza and Thomas Bell were on holiday - passing through Wellington on their way home to Nelson.
They had been persuaded to stay one extra day by friends they had visited.
At 5.30pm on May 3, 1907, they got on one of the iconic Wellington trams heading from Brooklyn into town. There were only a few onboard and driver John Reay had reached a steep portion at Nairn Street.
As they reached the top the tram began to go backwards, out of control.
The front of the troller, where the overhead lines were connected snapped off, leaving the tram running down the hill and derailing, toppling over on its side.
Nearly everyone was injured, but Eliza was crushed beneath the tram.
In the still evening it made a huge noise.
"A roaring noise, a rumbling and finally a tremor of earth made house-holders near the tramway line on the Brooklyn Heights fear that an earthquake had visited them last evening . . . the cause of the disturbance was a large electric car . . . which left the rails while it was whirling down at terrific speed and plunged over a bank." was reported by the Evening Post.
People rushed to help and other injured passengers helped free Eliza who was pinned under the tram. It took more than an hour in darkness for equipment to be brought that let a group of men lift the tram enough to get Eliza out.. But she was too injured to survive.
Her husband Thomas had managed to hold on and not be thrown from the car.
An inquest was held a few days later. It appeared the tram had started rolling down the hill after backing into a passing loop, possibly because the driver had left the reversing lever in the wrong position.
It was a steep section of line - often thought to be too steep - and the tram's brakes had failed.
Thomas told the inquest the driver had stuck with the car until it fell but he was only able to be there a short time. He spent nearly three weeks in hospital recovering.
It was his third bereavement in his family, he and Eliza had lost two children.
Eliza was born on October 6, 1862, to John and Eliza Sheat in Nelson. She had married Thomas, a sheep farmer, in 1886. They had eight children but two had not survived to adulthood.
Thomas was a member of the Inangahua County Council and a successful farmer on the Four Eiver Plain, near Murchison, but has lost a considerable amount of money in gold dredging.
He has made a study of ambulance work, and there being no medical man within 70 miles of the township, had set many a broken limb and relieved the suffering of the injured and sick in the wild bush district where they lived.
Eliza is buried in the Richmond Cemetery.
Photo from Te Papa’s collection.​