01/11/23 - 2Q08 derailed at Coombe Jn - Looe branch closed

[Townsend Hook]

The Network Rail Track Recording Unit (950001) has derailed at Coombe Junction this morning working 2Q08 Laira-Par. Described on National Rail as a ‘points failure’, with buses replacing trains on the Looe Branch all day.

2Q08 0352 Laira T.& R.S.M.D. to Par


Buses replace trains between Liskeard and Looe today

 

[dk1]

Not what you need just before Ciarán hits the West Country.

 

[uglymonkey]

Be funny ( not) if they were recording bad track conditions at the time.

 

[Townsend Hook]

Be funny ( not) if they were recording bad track conditions at the time.

The irony is that if it was a track defect which derailed it (I honestly have no idea of the cause) the on train technicians wouldn’t have been able to report it because the recording kit doesn’t present faults until the train is a few hundred yards farther along.

 

[AM9]

The irony is that if it was a track defect which derailed it (I honestly have no idea of the cause) the on train technicians wouldn’t have been able to report it because the recording kit doesn’t present faults until the train is a few hundred yards farther along.

Well at least they can pinpoint the fault's location for the maintenance gang.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Well at least they can pinpoint the fault's location for the maintenance gang.

They'll have a rather longer length to fix now won't they?

 

[AM9]

They'll have a rather longer length to fix now won't they?

Well, they can also lunch at Coombe Junction station.

 

[D Williams]

From an inside source;

Confirmed to be Category A SPAD and derailment as Liskeard signaller received no request from driver of 2Q08 to pass stop board at Coombe Junction. RAIB are happy with information supplied and no need to send investigators down. S&T have said they cannot attend until the unit is removed from the points and thus the Looe branch is suspended until the end of service today. For reference, the driver has derailed against No. 2 catch points, beyond the station, which are facing in the opposite direction to the train. No. 1 is the points for the switchback to Looe.

 

[VP185]

I'm surprised they need to close the branch considering it's No. 2 catch points beyond Coombe station. Surely a red light and some dets with the signaller advising drivers of the protection arrangements would allow the branch unit to reverse?

 

[Gloster]

I'm surprised they need to close the branch considering it's No. 2 catch points beyond Coombe station. Surely a red light and some dets with the signaller advising drivers of the protection arrangements would allow the branch unit to reverse?

Presumably the train was derailed when heading towards Moorswater. Therefore the rear of the train is still in the section from the junction points, so a train can’t enter into it to reverse. Additionally, it is only three chains from the platform to the traps (possibly less), so if you are going to protect the derailed train and the people around it from an overrunning unit, you haven’t got much room. If the train derailed when coming from Moorswater, then it is still in the section and the rest still applies.

N.b, It is thirty-five years since I was a signalman down there and my recollection of rules is of the same age. And sometimes you can mix up what the rules said and what we actually did.