IC Berkshire - United Kingdom / March 8, 2007
Train’s narrow escape at 90mph
HUNDREDS of commuters escaped when a packed Reading-bound express train ploughed into a fallen tree branch across the tracks at 90mph.
Caversham commuter Greg Rees yesterday praised his “ice-cool” fellow passengers for not panicking when the crowded train hit the branch which had been brought down in Monday night’s storm-force gales.
Full story here
Digressing slightly, the recent Virgin Pendolino derailment happened near the site of two earlier accidents which took place in 1947 and 1971.
It’s surprising the media haven’t drawn parallels with the 1971 derailment near Lambrigg, when the front half of a passenger train ended up on its side down the embankment. Then they could discuss three accidents within a mile.
The strange thing is that, although the causes were totally different
(18/5/1947 driver error, 10/9/1971 misunderstanding by those supervising
possession, and 23/2/2007 points out of order - whatever the exact reason
for that), they were all linked to the facing crossover at Lambrigg: the
1947 collision would not have happened if the crossover had been there, i.e
if the layout had been as in 2007; the train which derailed in 1971 had
just crossed from Up to Down via the crossover; and the 2007 derailment
would not have happened if the crossover had NOT been there, i.e if the
layout had been as in 1947.
Another interesting point is that a stretcher bar was replaced in the
points involved just four days before the 1971 derailment and the SIGNALS&TELECOMMS man
who addressed the inquiry said he “had never encountered fractured
stretcher bars of this nature before”.
If anyone wants to read more, the reports of the earlier incidents are at
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_Grayrigg1947.pdf and
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/DoE_Oxenholme1971.pdf.
Discussion on another forum suggest that the point which caused the latest derailment may have been damaged by some contractors running a tamping machine in tamp mode over it!
I have photos of an Austin & Northwestern switch engine with a chain saw on the front porch. They were working their way down a branch line (pun intended) after a storm and clearing tree limbs as they went. That is certainly different that a passenger train at speed. However, my rule book says that after a storm, reduced speed is manditory until the line has been inspected and cleared.
dd
Branch??? Just how big are tree branches in Britain?? enough to stop atrain, are you sure “branch” is the proper term here? Could it have been a TREE ???
From my reading of the description I’d say a fairly large branch got stuck under the train causing a lot of racket but no real damage.