Queen survived 'train derailment attempt'

Details of an alleged assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip during their 1970 visit to Australia have emerged from a former New South Wales detective.

Crazed conspirators placed a large log across a railway track in an attempt to derail the Royal Train during a trip by the Queen and her husband to the central NSW town of Orange, retired Detective Superintendent Cliff McHardy has told the Lithgow Mercury.

The train struck the log, which was placed on a winding part of the track, on the night of April 29 but the locomotive was not travelling fast enough to spear off the tracks.

The train continued for another 200 metres before coming to a stop at a level crossing at Bowenfels, just outside of Lithgow.

Mr McHardy told the UK's Daily Telegraph that a "catastrophe" didn't occur because the train was being driven slower than normal.

"If the train had reached its normal speed it would have plunged off the tracks and into an embankment," Mr McHardy said.

The 81-year-old, who was a Detective Sergeant at the time of the incident, is certain the log had been put there in an effort to take out the train.

Not only had the log been carefully placed onto the tracks in an uninhabited area, but the timing of the placement meant a "sweeper" locomotive that had gone through just a short time ahead of the Royal Train already passed by.

While the incident caused uproar among official circles, government gag orders were placed on the release of information to the public and no one was ever arrested or charged.

There were numerous suspects, including known IRA sympathisers, but no real clues.

"It was one of the big regrets of my police service," Mr McHardy told the Mercury in regards to not finding the culprits.

He said the secrecy around the case worked against the CIB's investigation.

"We never came up with any decent suspects because if we interviewed people we seemed to be talking in riddles — we couldn't disclose what our inquiries were about," Mr McHardy said.

The rest of the Royal Visit to Orange was incident-free, with thousands from the region making the trip to see Her Majesty.