WCML Accidents in the 1980s

[MarkWi72]

I have been listening to the excellent 'Signals to Danger' podcast this evening, the Linslade Tunnel episode. I had not heard about that accident previously, and it was a tragic set of circumstances which led to it. Late running 1S18, terrible incompetence in Toton (unless someone can enlighten me on that regarding the Bogie Bolster being hump shunted, when it was not supposed to be) and the parcels train occupying the down fast.

RIP William Plummer.

I only recall two other significant ones; Watford 1984 and Stafford 1990.

 

[WL113]

Colwich Junction 19 September 1986.

RIP Driver Eric Goode

 

[Helvellyn]

Carlisle, 1 May 1984, which could have been a very serious accident. A Liverpool-Glasgow Freightliner suffered a broken coupling on the descent from Shap, which saw the rear part become detached - and a runaway. Shows how the WCML descends all the way from Shap to Carlisle. An observant and calm Signaller, Bill Taylor, was aware what happened and set the route up to divert the runaway wagons onto the Carlisle Avoiding Line, where they derailed at 60mph demolishing a bridge over the River Caldew. The damage was so severe that it led to the closure of the Avoiding Line. If the Signaller hadn't been aware and responded as he did the runaway wagons would have been routed into Citadel station where it's likely they'd have derailed on the track layout and the chances of people being injured, or even killed, would have been very high.

 

[MarkWi72]

Colwich Junction 19 September 1986.

RIP Driver Eric Goode

Yes, it was late and I forgot that one. I went to see the memorial garden last year. It is very moving.

 

[Beebman]

Wembley Central 11 October 1984 - a 2 x 310 set SPAD'ed a signal and hit the side of a Freightliner train resulting in 3 fatalities, one of whom was the EMU driver.

 

[Helvellyn]

Colwich Junction 19 September 1986.

RIP Driver Eric Goode

Having seen the aerial shots of the aftermath it's a miracle there was only one death (and that was one too many). Especially as there was a Mark 1 RBR in the consist that was wrecked.

 

[MarkWi72]

Wembley Central 11 October 1984 - a 2 x 310 set SPAD'ed a signal and hit the side of a Freightliner train resulting in 3 fatalities, one of whom was the EMU driver.

Ah, that rings a bell. Am I conflating this with Watford Junction? I think there was a Watford Junction derailment in 1996, too.

 

[Helvellyn]

A

Ah, that rings a bell. Am I conflating this with Watford Junction? I think there was a Watford Junction derailment in 1996, too.

A SPAD with a Class 321/4 in passenger service saw it in a collison with another Class 321/4 (ECS) that was making a crossing move. One passenger unfortunately was killed.

At least two replacement Class 321 driving vehicles were built at Crewe Works due to the severity of the damage to the two units that collided.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Bushey, Feb. 1980. Down Manchester derailed at 96mph due to a broken weld on CWR. Miraculously no one was killed which was a tribute to the strength of the Mk III coaches. It was a tricky operation to retrieve the Cl.87 at the bottom of the embankment.

 

[43096]

Bushey, Feb. 1980. Down Manchester derailed at 96mph due to a broken weld on CWR. Miraculously no one was killed which was a tribute to the strength of the Mk III coaches. It was a tricky operation to retrieve the Cl.87 at the bottom of the embankment.

The 87 was derailed but did not go down an embankment. Are you thinking of the Watford collision in 1975 that deposited 86209 down an embankment?

 

[Helvellyn]

So we have:

• 16 Feb 1980 - Bushey derailment
• 9 Dec 1982 - Linslade Tunnel accident
• 1 May 1984 - Carlisle Avoiding Line freight train derailment (runaway)
• 11 Oct 1984 - Wembley Central collision
• 13 Nov 1984 - freight train derailment on Stockport viaduct
• 19 Sep 1986 - Colwich Junction collision

 

[Skiddaw]

Carlisle, 1 May 1984, which could have been a very serious accident. A Liverpool-Glasgow Freightliner suffered a broken coupling on the descent from Shap, which saw the rear part become detached - and a runaway. Shows how the WCML descends all the way from Shap to Carlisle. An observant and calm Signaller, Bill Taylor, was aware what happened and set the route up to divert the runaway wagons onto the Carlisle Avoiding Line, where they derailed at 60mph demolishing a bridge over the River Caldew. The damage was so severe that it led to the closure of the Avoiding Line. If the Signaller hadn't been aware and responded as he did the runaway wagons would have been routed into Citadel station where it's likely they'd have derailed on the track layout and the chances of people being injured, or even killed, would have been very high.

Goodness! I'd not realised the descent after Shap was as significant is it is. Fair play to the Signaller.

Why didn't the driver notice he'd lost the rear part of his train?

 

[Helvellyn]

Goodness! I'd not realised the descent after Shap was as significant is it is. Fair play to the Signaller.

Why didn't the driver notice he'd lost the rear part of his train?

There's no accident report on the excellent Railways Archive site, probably because there were no fatalities and it involved a fright train. However, is an excellent article at Rail Engineer that explains the causes and also the actions Bill Taylor took.

If you Google "Carlisle Accident 1984" there's a lot of photos online, especially Facebook of the immediate aftermath. Once the clean-up had happened you can understand why reinstating the line never happened.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Goodness! I'd not realised the descent after Shap was as significant is it is. Fair play to the Signaller.

Why didn't the driver notice he'd lost the rear part of his train?

From memory , the train was re-marshalled at Crewe , with a portion detached and a section from Liverpool to Glasgow attached. Unfortunately the "new" section was hooked on , not with a proper Freightliner short green strengthened coupling but a passenger red coupling was used. Train stopped at Preston with a report of sparks noted , those attending isolated the rear section and checked the wheelsets but apparently / allegedly failed to carry out a full functional brake test.

Once over Shap - the rear section , now a "swinger" buffered up to the front fully braked section and the longer red coupling climbed over the drawhook dividing the train - the train powered on towards Carlisle but the rear section followed on the down grade with a gap between the 2 portions. I believe some one trackside rang the PSB reporting the fact , but the latter noted it on the panel and with commendable prescence of mind diverted the rear section onto the freight avoiding line where it traversed some of the curves but eventually piled up. Some of the wrecked wagons carried Octel tanks (highly dangerous) , but the very robust construction survived , but the local bird population no doubt enjoyed the spilt grain from some of the containers. There was a consignment of brand new street signs in one of the boxes destined for Aberdeen - which were jettisoned all over the place. Recovery was a major job which neccesitated both the evacuation of some of the local residents and also the de-watering of the River Caldew.

 

[Skiddaw]

Thanks both.

Just been looking at the FB pics. It really was a near miss wasn't it! Glad to see the on the ball signaller later had an engine named after him.

 

[Falcon1200]

Sunday 15th June 1986: 1M46 1610 Glasgow Central-Euston derailed at Motherwell station due to track distortion. 12 passengers injured, fortunately no fatalities.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Wembley Central 11 October 1984 - a 2 x 310 set SPAD'ed a signal and hit the side of a Freightliner train resulting in 3 fatalities, one of whom was the EMU driver.

A colleague of mine was on that train - his regular commute. Only a minor physical injury to his hand, but the experience probably contributed to his decision to take early retirement a year or so later.

 

[sh24]

It's quite a list. How much quieter was the WCML then? I'm assuming much higher passenger numbers now but less freight.

 

[hexagon789]

It's quite a list. How much quieter was the WCML then? I'm assuming much higher passenger numbers but less freight.

Well in 1986, Liverpool and Manchester had both been downgraded from hourly (Liverpool in 1984, Manchester in 1985) to approximately every 90 mins off-peak.

Glasgow was broadly two-hourly but IIRC only 5 per day since 1985.

Birmingham fast was half-hourly.

Holyhead and Blackpool each had 3 per day from memory.

There were a few odd other workings and bits and pieces.

I presume the Birmingham semi-fasts (using 310s, later 321s) were half-hourly but I'm not sure.

Frequency on the InterCity services were reduced as economy measures throughout the early and mid-80s from a high point introduced in the 1974 timetable.

Most of the off-peak reductions were restored in 1989 and 1990 but not all.

 

[Clarence Yard]

Bushey, Feb. 1980. Down Manchester derailed at 96mph due to a broken weld on CWR. Miraculously no one was killed which was a tribute to the strength of the Mk III coaches. It was a tricky operation to retrieve the Cl.87 at the bottom of the embankment.

87007 didn’t end up down the embankment - you are confusing it with 86209, which did in 1975. 87007 wasn’t even derailed.

A temporary road was built across the water meadow to recover 86209, which was taken on a trailer from Water Lane, round the infamous Watford one way system the wrong way (!) and finally off down the M1 towards Crewe.

 

[Tester]

87007 didn’t end up down the embankment - you are confusing it with 86209, which did in 1975. 87007 wasn’t even derailed.

A temporary road was built across the water meadow to recover 86209, which was taken on a trailer from Water Lane, round the infamous Watford one way system the wrong way (!) and finally off down the M1 towards Crewe.

I was at college then, overlooking 86209 from the classroom window was a bit of a distraction!

 

[SuspectUsual]

I presume the Birmingham semi-fasts (using 310s, later 321s) were half-hourly but I'm not sure.

I think they were hourly to London with a Coventry - Birmingham shuttle making it half-hourly on that section

Birmingham was half-hourly.

xx:18 and xx:48 from New Street, 40 and 10 from Coventry.

 

[hexagon789]

I think they were hourly to London with a Coventry - Birmingham shuttle making it half-hourly on that section

Thanks, I do have the timetable but not to hand to check at the moment, so thanks for confirming the arrangement.

 

[Helvellyn]

It's quite a list. How much quieter was the WCML then? I'm assuming much higher passenger numbers now but less freight.

Overnights were busy, with a lot more Sleepers plus TPOs and Parcels services. Add in freight and somewhere like Carlisle was extremely busy.

Also had the through CrossCountry daytime services that could be load 11 on the Northern WCML due to serving Glasgow and Edinburgh with portions, plus shorter workings to Birmingham/Manchester.

 

[45Fox]

Wembley Central 11 October 1984 - a 2 x 310 set SPAD'ed a signal and hit the side of a Freightliner train resulting in 3 fatalities, one of whom was the EMU driver.

You're correct that there were, regrettably, 3 fatalities but they were all passengers; the driver survived and was subsequently examined by a specially convened board of medical experts as part of the accident investigation, as was his medical history, they concluded that he had most likely experienced a transient episode of a rare but known medical (neurological) condition.

Another WCML accident in the 1980s was at Wigan North Western, in the early hours of 3rd. February, 1984, when a class 6 freight ran into the back of a freightliner train standing at a signal, sadly the driver and guard of the class 6 died. Visibility of the standing train was closely examined in the investigation, it's tail lamp wasn't lit and empty liner flats on the rear made it hard to see in the dark.

 

[WL113]

Another one, Crewe Salop Goods, 7 November 1980. Rear end collision involving two freight trains on a permissive goods line. Sadly resulting in the deaths of a driver and guard.

 

[Taunton]

1986, Preston station, a football charter dmu from Carlisle (unusual) lost its brakes, ran through the station out of control, and hit a Class 47 standing on the main line sufficiently hard that it was written off.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

1986, Preston station, a football charter dmu from Carlisle (unusual) lost its brakes, ran through the station out of control, and hit a Class 47 standing on the main line sufficiently hard that it was written off.

47111 was the victim - the first main line loco I drove (up the headshunt at Canton as a student on a visit - the driver who showed us round fired her up and we all had a go under his keen eye ! - top man that)

 

[Sun Chariot]

I have been listening to the excellent 'Signals to Danger' podcast this evening, the Linslade Tunnel episode.

At that time, my family lived the other side of the hill over the tunnel (Knaves Hill) but, in that pre-digital age, we had no idea of the accident until that evening's BBC News.

 

[Clarence Yard]

I was at college then, overlooking 86209 from the classroom window was a bit of a distraction!

George Stephenson College, built on stilts because Water Lane used to flood regularly. When Watford Borough Council (much later) declined to approve the Hotel in Water Lane because it was a flood plain, a Government Planning Inspector approved it on appeal. Just before it opened it flooded and in its first few weeks of operation it flooded again, the hotel punters having to go out by boat! WBC councillors were highly amused.

Getting back to the accident, the other loco (83003) was written off and its driver came to a particularly nasty end in the collision.