Lewes derailment - Thursday 13th August

[king_walnut]

Do you know if it's possible if there is/was a TSR/ESR in operation? I can see no services have called at Cooksbridge OT today (with services generally picking up 4+ mins in this area), so it's possible it might've/should've been going even slower?

Nope, no speed restrictions there today.

The mainline had a blanket speed restriction of 70mph between Quarry Tunnel and Balcombe Tunnel so that'll be where those slight delays were coming from.

 

[Mcv378]

Not really sure that rough rides are within the BTPs remit?

If it was as severe as his post suggested it was, it could have potentially avoided catastrophe

 

[CalderRail]

We still don't know the nature of the injuries. Given the primary risk in this crash is a passenger ejection from a broken window - which does not always result in a fatality - I don't think we should jump to any conclusions about the stock yet. People saying it's "held up well"...in what context? We don't know the speed of the incident. The carriages being structurally intact is entirely expected in a rollover, the major risk is with the side of the train that cannot be seen.

I don't think that is the primary risk here, TBH; the windows should be multiply glazed and laminated with a binding plastic, so even if (when) they shatter they stay in the frames and in one mass. They are very different to most tram windows.

I'd be more worried about passengers being hit by flying luggage & each other. The way that the gangways parted is dangerous as well.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Aug 2026 ==

From some pictures I have seen (which I will not be posting here), it does seem to have held up decently well and the interiors are intact. I'm surprised there weren't more injuries as anything in the luggage racks would've well and truly landed on passengers on the opposite side of the carriages which I expect could've/would've caused a lot of injury. It doesn't appear that the train was heavily loaded but I do not know the average loadings on these trains.

~150 passengers on an 8-carriage train, so 15 to 20 people in each carriage. Which is few enough that luggage and bodies would be far enough apart to limit injuries from flying luggage for the most part, so the main concern would be bodies hitting fixed fittings.

"Serious injuries" can simply mean broken limbs. Nasty, but not that nasty in the long run, as long as you're otherwise healthy.

 

[Mattplans]

Images by @brightonsnapper on Twitter.

eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) on X

I had the smallest of windows that I was allowed to use my drone, after last Helo left and No fly zone was being enforced, watched over by Sussex Police, flight less than 1 minute.

x.com

eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) on X

Head count? I guess 100+ emergency services personnel, many unseen heroes also awaiting in the wings, some humour in play, and a very very young baby in her mothers arms. Services should all be very pleased about the role they all played today, members of the public stepping up

x.com

Some great photos on this account, I have not added them all.

 

[styles]

Images by @brightonsnapper on Twitter.

eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) on X

I had the smallest of windows that I was allowed to use my drone, after last Helo left and No fly zone was being enforced, watched over by Sussex Police, flight less than 1 minute.

x.com

eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) on X

Head count? I guess 100+ emergency services personnel, many unseen heroes also awaiting in the wings, some humour in play, and a very very young baby in her mothers arms. Services should all be very pleased about the role they all played today, members of the public stepping up

x.com

Some great photos on this account, I have not added them all.

I don't know why but I find the police tape mildly amusing in the first photo. Anyone approaching the scene would already be committing criminal trespass but they definitely mustn't go behind the tape!

(Yes I'm aware why it's actually there)

 

[Peterperfect]

Looks like a big dip in the track beyond the obvious buckle.

 

[Belperpete]

Images by @brightonsnapper on Twitter.

In the second of those photos, bottom right, on the other track, there is what looks like an orange line across the track with a bag next to it. Is that a gauging bar, a track-circuit operating clip, or what?

 

[Tester]

In the second of those photos, bottom right, on the other track, there is what looks like an orange line across the track with a bag next to it. Is that a gauging bar, a track-circuit operating clip, or what?

Looks like a short circuiting bar to me.

 

[hwl]

Looks like a short circuiting bar to me.

Agreed it is a short circuiting bar for the 3rd rail (an alien concept for most of the network).

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Yes, not sure I see the dip referred to above but as a low embankment on/near a river, the question of the behaviour of the material in the structure and the ground beneath it may well be a contributory factor ie. drying out (especially if either/both contains clay). This is the root cause of the embankment problems West of Salisbury it seems, for example..

 

[357]

BBC News have posted a video from inside one of the overturned coaches, where the On Board Supervisor makes an announcement saying he's aware two carriages are derailed but asks people to not leave the train

9.4K views · 55 reactions | Footage filmed inside one of the three flipped carriages shows the moments after the train derailment near Lewes. More here: https://bbc.in/4xALAJL | BBC Sussex

Footage filmed inside one of the three flipped carriages shows the moments after the train derailment near Lewes. More here: https://bbc.in/4xALAJL

www.facebook.com

 

[Lammy4forest89]

Post removed

 

[MrJeeves]

Does any one know if this is the exact same part of track where the train sadly derailed?

Given that the derailed train was travelling south, and the tweet you have screenshotted says northbound services are affected...

 

[BRX]

The scotrail

Images by @brightonsnapper on Twitter.

eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) on X

I had the smallest of windows that I was allowed to use my drone, after last Helo left and No fly zone was being enforced, watched over by Sussex Police, flight less than 1 minute.

x.com

eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) on X

Head count? I guess 100+ emergency services personnel, many unseen heroes also awaiting in the wings, some humour in play, and a very very young baby in her mothers arms. Services should all be very pleased about the role they all played today, members of the public stepping up

x.com

Some great photos on this account, I have not added them all.

I wonder if the trackside vegetation actually helped quite a lot in breaking the fall of the overturned carriages.

 

[david1212]

Images by @brightonsnapper on Twitter.

eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) on X

I had the smallest of windows that I was allowed to use my drone, after last Helo left and No fly zone was being enforced, watched over by Sussex Police, flight less than 1 minute.

x.com

eddie mitchell (@brightonsnapper) on X

Head count? I guess 100+ emergency services personnel, many unseen heroes also awaiting in the wings, some humour in play, and a very very young baby in her mothers arms. Services should all be very pleased about the role they all played today, members of the public stepping up

x.com

Some great photos on this account, I have not added them all.

Maybe I have missed this in 7 pages of posts but did the 3 rear coaches seen on their side stay nominally upright until the train came to a halt? If so that would have helped mitigate injuries.
Looking at the first picture the trackside trees etc. behind the train appear not to have major damage.

 

[styles]

The scotrail

I wonder if the trackside vegetation actually helped quite a lot in breaking the fall of the overturned carriages.

Quite possibly yes.

Bizarrely I was having this very conversation just yesterday. I've felled a tree at the end of our driveway, and this elderly woman came up to me to compliment me on my chainsaw work. Bit strange, but appreciated. She then also remarked though that had I kept the tree, it would've protected our house in case a driver tried to ram over out garden.

It was a bit of a surreal conversation because you'd have to put the effort in to pick up pace approaching our house given the layout.

And I was only outside because I was going to chat to the lad who had climbed onto our shed roof from our next door neighbour's garden to trim a tree on her side.

Between that and trying to tell Transport for Wales that seat B36 on a Pendolino isn't wheelchair accessible, I finished my work day wondering if I was asleep having a series of nightmares.

 

[Haywain]

I wonder if the trackside vegetation actually helped quite a lot in breaking the fall of the overturned carriages.

I don't think that's the case - in the photos posted early in the thread it is possible to get a good iead of where thet vehicles went after leaving the rails and, to me, it looks like they simply managed to avoid most of that vegetation.

 

[ac6000cw]

Maybe I have missed this in 7 pages of posts but did the 3 rear coaches seen on their side stay nominally upright until the train came to a halt?

Based on listening to the interviews on the BBC with people who were travelling in the derailed carriages, basically they rolled over onto their sides/down the embankment as the train stopped.

 

[zwk500]

I don't think that's the case - in the photos posted early in the thread it is possible to get a good iead of where thet vehicles went after leaving the rails and, to me, it looks like they simply managed to avoid most of that vegetation.

There was obviously enough energy in the collision for the large tree to be flattened by the rearmost carriage.

 

[Regeff]

Surprised RTT shows the train as having arrived at Lewes 25 late (as the news broke yesterday it was showing it showing as leaving Lewes 27 late, which made me think initially yesterday that the derailment was after Lewes).

 

[stephen rp]

There was obviously enough energy in the collision for the large tree to be flattened by the rearmost carriage.

Possibly with the roots taking a chunk of embankment with it.

Maybe wider issues with trees allowed to grow trackside.

 

[father_jack]

I have found information about a Safety inspection of the train that took place between Haywards Heath and Lewes on Wednesday 12th August. Does any one know if this is the exact same part of track where the train sadly derailed?

That was at a crossing near Plumpton.

 

[hwl]

Yes, not sure I see the dip referred to above but as a low embankment on/near a river, the question of the behaviour of the material in the structure and the ground beneath it may well be a contributory factor ie. drying out (especially if either/both contains clay). This is the root cause of the embankment problems West of Salisbury it seems, for example..

Indeed, the LBSCR were renowned for using what would now (or at any time in the last 90-100 years) be regarded as unsuitable material for embankment construction resulting in regular slips on embankment on certain routes* - usually related to wet weather though!
The water companies in the South East are currently struggling with an increased number of burst mains in clay soil areas in the last fortnight due to the ground drying out.

*e.g. multiple slips on Dorking - Horsham and Redhill - Tonbridge routes in the last few years alone (and all with threads on the forum).

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Based on listening to the interviews on the BBC with people who were travelling in the derailed carriages, basically they rolled over onto their sides/down the embankment as the train stopped.

Also reported on Radio Sussex interview with CEO of GTR that there was a spare driver on the train as well as a spare OBS who were able to assist in the situation. Other passengers reported how quickly the emergency services arrived at the site.

 

[cheekybifta]

Surprised RTT shows the train as having arrived at Lewes 25 late (as the news broke yesterday it was showing it showing as leaving Lewes 27 late, which made me think initially yesterday that the derailment was after Lewes).

Imagine its the same as the Prestatyn-Abergele stretch where a train might appear as having arrived at say, Abergele at 1433, when the current time is only 1430. I think estimates go into TRUST when they pass certain sections. The RTT time often updates after arrival if the estimate was out.

 

[Toby3875]

Imagine its the same as the Prestatyn-Abergele stretch where a train might appear as having arrived at say, Abergele at 1433, when the current time is only 1430. I think estimates go into TRUST when they pass certain sections. The RTT time often updates after arrival if the estimate was out.

It’s the same with the Appledore to Ham Street And Ham Street to Ashford On the Marshlink.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Aug 2026 ==

How close to the River Ouse did it end up?

 

[cats_five]

Strike me injuries could have been far worse had any of the carriages rolled right over e.g. ending up with wheels pointing away from the track.

And the number of posts is very restrained compared to another forum I follow which would have been up to 30-40 pages by now!

 

[aaronspence]

How close to the River Ouse did it end up?

Pretty far from this view from the Helicopter, Water visible top left.

 

[marshlinker]

Indeed, the LBSCR were renowned for using what would now (or at any time in the last 90-100 years) be regarded as unsuitable material for embankment construction resulting in regular slips on embankment on certain routes* - usually related to wet weather though!
The water companies in the South East are currently struggling with an increased number of burst mains in clay soil areas in the last fortnight due to the ground drying out.

*e.g. multiple slips on Dorking - Horsham and Redhill - Tonbridge routes in the last few years alone (and all with threads on the forum).

I don't think it was particularly the LBSCR indeed one of the examples you cite was South Eastern Railway.

 

[Rescars]

Indeed, the LBSCR were renowned for using what would now (or at any time in the last 90-100 years) be regarded as unsuitable material for embankment construction resulting in regular slips on embankment on certain routes* - usually related to wet weather though!
The water companies in the South East are currently struggling with an increased number of burst mains in clay soil areas in the last fortnight due to the ground drying out.

*e.g. multiple slips on Dorking - Horsham and Redhill - Tonbridge routes in the last few years alone (and all with threads on the forum).

If you include Redhill - Tonbridge that suggests that the SER were doing the same sort of thing as the LBSC.