Lewes derailment - Thursday 13th August

[NaZzAtAzEr]

Seeing early reports of a derailment in the Lewes area.

1F36 hasn't moved in some time

Edited to comply with rules
Sources:
Company log
Traksy

 

[Class73Electro]

Seeing early reports of a derailment in the Lewes area.

1F36 hasn't moved in some time

Looking at the OpenTrain Times map, it has "****" showing for the signals around the London Mainline (Signals 3 (towards Seaford/E'Bourne) and 92 (Towards London). 92 just the other side of the Level crossing judging from the map

 

[dan2611_]

Can confirm there has been a derailment - Several Images Circulating On Social media at the moment. Situation does not look good

 

[Trainguy34]

Southern X/Twitter saying an problem under investigation with all trains at a stand in the area.

A problem is currently under investigation in the Lewes area.

We are awaiting more information, but at this time, all lines are at a stand in the Lewes area and alterations and delays are to be expected.

More info to follow...

1F43 is being diverted via Brighton towards London Victoria.

Unsure if it's just my traksy but nothing has moved roughly in the past hour at a guess?

Edit: Never mind, I forgot I switched timezones...

Link for clarity

 

[NaZzAtAzEr]

1F34 is incident train. 1F36 is going to make wrong direction move back to keymer junction

 

[sh24]

That does not look good. Cars on their side and potentially partly down an embankment.

 

[Royal351]

Yep really not good

 

[Farigiraf]

Any idea of where exactly it's happened? Is it towards Brighton, Wivelsfield, Seaford or Eastbourne? Would be helpful to see it on a map.

 

[dan2611_]

BTP Statement

‘Officers are currently on scene close to Lewes railway station following reports of a derailed train at 3.54pm today (13 August).

We’re responding alongside paramedics and the fire service and will provide more information as soon as we can.’

 

[Trainguy34]

Assuming it to be 1F34, appears to be 387172 (The GBR Livery) and 387304 (Ex-Great Northern)

 

[josh-j]

Obvious speculation but, heat related buckling? The track doesn't look great there. I hope nobody is injured, that looks pretty serious.

 

[Farigiraf]

Assuming it to be 1F34, appears to be 387172 (The GBR Livery) and 387304 (Ex-Great Northern)

Well that's GBR's public image fully down the drain then. It's a shame as it doesn't even fully exist yet!

 

[Class73Electro]

Any idea of where exactly it's happened? Is it towards Brighton, Wivelsfield, Seaford or Eastbourne? Would be helpful to see it on a map.

Looks to be on the London line north of the station

 

[NaZzAtAzEr]

Assuming it to be 1F34, appears to be 387172 (The GBR Livery) and 387304 (Ex-Great Northern)

Last look at the incident logs before going home said that 3 carriages derailed and 1 on its side so looks like GBR train is still railed

 

[AlterEgo]

Well that's GBR's public image fully down the drain then. It's a shame as it doesn't even fully exist yet!

The GBR unit is on the rails.

 

[ENC Rail]

Last look at the incident logs before going home said that 3 carriages derailed and 1 on its side so looks like GBR train is still railed

Looks like 2 cars on their side on the photos

 

[Bletchleyite]

Last look at the incident logs before going home said that 3 carriages derailed and 1 on its side so looks like GBR train is still railed

The above picture appears to show two vehicles on their sides.

 

[Trainguy34]

Appears trains are on the move now between Brighton and Seaford/Eastbourne.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Looks bad in the sense of vehicles being on their sides, but it also looks like it was low speed with no visible distortion of the vehicles pictured, so I hope that means it's just cuts and bruises.

Not a great couple of months for the railway nonetheless

 

[Farigiraf]

Looks to be on the London line north of the station

What's the reason behind Coastway services to/from Lewes behind held then? Standard procedure? I recognise that it's sensible to stop everything when you have a derailment but this does appear to be a one-off event so stopping all the Seaford/Brighton trains when there's no actual barrier for a prolonged period is counterintuitive.
Edit: noticed Trainguy34's post. Well done to everyone involved!

The GBR unit is on the rails.

That'll at least save GBR from some awkward pictures being circulated, but nonetheless the GBR livery train being one half of a service that derailed isn't too lucky for the PR team. Obviously what livery a train is in doesn't affect how well it functions so it's certainly a coincidence.

 

[MrJeeves]

Assuming it to be 1F34, appears to be 387172 (The GBR Livery) and 387304 (Ex-Great Northern)

These are the affected units. The trailing 3 coaches (of 387304) have derailed, with two entirely on their side. Hopefully not too bad compared to some other incidents in the recent past.

I have seen some images of the track it would have passed over, and there is quite significant kinking to the running rails. I imagine the signalling maps showing ****, etc, are down to signalling cable damage caused by the derailment.

 

[Trainguy34]

Looks to be on the London line north of the station

The train was apparently heading southbound towards Eastbourne from what I heard?

 

[AlterEgo]

These are the affected units. The trailing 3 coaches (of 387304) have derailed, with two entirely on their side. Hopefully not too bad compared to some other incidents in the recent past.

I have seen some images of the track it would have passed over, and there is quite significant kinking to the running rails. I imagine the signalling maps showing ****, etc, are down to signalling cable damage caused by the derailment.

It may well be that the kinks are caused by the actual impact of derailment and not the proximal cause. But we will have to see. Heat buckling will be on everyone's mind on this very hot day.

 

[Intercity_225]

Looks horrific, my thoughts are with everyone affected.

 

[dan2611_]

The train was apparently heading southbound towards Eastbourne from what I heard?

Correct 1F34 VIC to ORE service

 

[NaZzAtAzEr]

I've seen regular reports online about poor ride quality in this area. I wonder if the forces experienced in the cab would be different to forces experienced at the rear of the train.

 

[Class73Electro]

The train was apparently heading southbound towards Eastbourne from what I heard?

I was judging from the signalling map only, so stand to be corrected

 

[brad465]

Now breaking news on the BBC News:

Train derails near Lewes in East Sussex, British Transport Police say

Paramedics and the fire service are responding to the incident near Lewes train station.

www.bbc.co.uk

British Transport Police statement in full

Here's the full statement from the British Transport Police on the train derailment near Lewes:

"Officers are currently on scene close to Lewes railway station following reports of a derailed train at 3.54pm today (13 August).

"We’re responding alongside paramedics and the fire service and will provide more information as soon as we can."

 

[CalderRail]

Yep really not good

Second image here the rail is certainly not right, but no way to know if that's primary or secondary to the incident at the present time.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Aug 2026 ==

Correct 1F34 VIC to ORE service

How fast will it have been going at this location, do you know?

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Obvious speculation but, heat related buckling? The track doesn't look great there. I hope nobody is injured, that looks pretty serious.

Zoom into the second picture and you can see distorted track further back. On a curve it would be at more risk of buckling.