It’s still remarkable that they can predict a fault 24 hours beforehand…
My bad, misread the date!
They have reported it fixed now, no doubt the usual knock on effects for most of the evening…
Train services on the South West main line are being disrupted following a line-side fire.
South Western Railway said the fire near Christchurch, in Dorset, had blocked the tracks between Brockenhurst and Bournemouth.
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS) said firefighters arrived to find three separate areas of fire involving an electrical cable.
Damping down is continuing and disruption to rail services is likely to remain until the end of Wednesday.
IMAGE SOURCE,NETWORK RAIL
Image caption,
The fire involved an electric cable by the railway line
DWFRS said crews were called to deal with the fire on a stretch of line near near Ambury Lane in Christchurch shortly before 14:00 BST.
Trains were halted and power was switched off to allow firefighters to work safely on the lines.
SWR said rail tickets were being accepted on bus services.
Due to the level of disruption, it said passengers travelling between Basingstoke and Weymouth could source their own taxis and claim them back through its website
Train services in the New Forest were already being delayed following an earlier track circuit failure.
On the Isle of Wight a fire on property near the railway between Sandown and Shanklin also caused disruption to Island Line services on Wednesday morning.
www.bbc.co.uk
video footage hereAccording to the BBC, it was an electrical fire.
Bournemouth: Brockenhurst trains hit by line-side fire
Firefighters find three separate areas of fire involving an electrical cable beside the rail line.
But what was the cause of the fire? The kettle seems an obvious source of ignition, especially as it was causing chaos more widely.According to the BBC, it was an electrical fire.
Bournemouth: Brockenhurst trains hit by line-side fire
Firefighters find three separate areas of fire involving an electrical cable beside the rail line.
The steam loco (as they are called) does appear to have caused the fires and it's somewhat pointless of the BBC to describe the cables as "electrical" (and to describe three separate fires as a fire!). This was a terrible day for the steam tour, and NR seem to have failed quite badly with their fire risk assessment here. The first fire was near Fleet and thereafter the steam loco crew were instructed to take it easy with the tailing diesel to do most of the work. Notwithstanding that, more fires occurred (not proven to be from the loco but very likely). It remains debatable why NR allowed the steam to run, or at least be heavily assisted throughout. The steam loco was therefore left at Swanage and the train returned diesel-hauled, and taking a more direct route, meaning that a 106 minute late departure from Bournemouth ended up with a 4 minute late arrival at Clapham Junction, where it was terminated!
Probably, but it was also initially reporting on a track circuit fault on the 25/06. But track circuit faults occur all over the country, every day, every week. If a new thread started every time there’d be hundreds of them..