How do they tow a damaged train off the line?

[Violette]

Moderator note: split from

Derailment at Wickford - Friday 14th August 2026

Been hearing apparently there's been another derailment this time at Wickford according to internals

www.railforums.co.uk

Hi everyone, I have been following the discussion. Now I was wondering, seeing that scary train accident on youtube: how do they tow a damaged train off the line? I know how it works with cars.

 

[zwk500]

Hi everyone, I have been following the discussion. Now I was wondering, seeing that scary train accident on youtube. How do they tow a damaged train off the line? I know how it works with cars.

It depends on the level of damage -
if the damage is light enough it may be able to just be hauled like a normal stock movement, albeit with speed restrictions. (this happened with the unit that was involved but didn't derail at Lewes).
If only a small number of wheelsets are damaged they may be able to fit 'Wheel Skates' which are frames that fit around the damaged axle to lift it clear of the rail. Use of the wheelskate restricts the speed significantly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelskate
If the damage is heavy, cranes can be brought in to lift the train along the line to a suitable place where it can be transferred to a road trailer.

 

[Violette]

It depends on the level of damage -
if the damage is light enough it may be able to just be hauled like a normal stock movement, albeit with speed restrictions. (this happened with the unit that was involved but didn't derail at Lewes).
If only a small number of wheelsets are damaged they may be able to fit 'Wheel Skates' which are frames that fit around the damaged axle to lift it clear of the rail. Use of the wheelskate restricts the speed significantly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelskate
If the damage is heavy, cranes can be brought in to lift the train along the line to a suitable place where it can be transferred to a road trailer (this happened with the carriages that derailed at Lewes).

Thank you for the explanation. I always wondered how they get the train moving again. Does a job like that get done overnight?

 

[hwl]

It depends on the level of damage -
if the damage is light enough it may be able to just be hauled like a normal stock movement, albeit with speed restrictions. (this happened with the unit that was involved but didn't derail at Lewes).
If only a small number of wheelsets are damaged they may be able to fit 'Wheel Skates' which are frames that fit around the damaged axle to lift it clear of the rail. Use of the wheelskate restricts the speed significantly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelskate
If the damage is heavy, cranes can be brought in to lift the train along the line to a suitable place where it can be transferred to a road trailer (this happened with the carriages that derailed at Lewes).

At Lewes using the lifting chains were the easiest way to get around coupler incompatibility issues, the EMU cars weren't being lifted, this is the only drag geometry available with the cranes with the vehicles being towed don't have the standard locomotive / freight screwlink couplers. Otherwise they would have had to bring one of the small mini shunters from one of the depots that can couple to both the end of unit Dellner couplers (for 1 vehicle) and the special internal ones (3 vehicles).

 

[zwk500]

Thank you for the explanation. I always wondered how they get the train moving again. Does a job like that get done overnight?

If the line is blocked, they won't wait. However, once it's clear of the line then yes generally they will wait until services have stopped for the night because of the very low speed. However, depending on things like planned overnight maintenance works, what speed the unit is able to be moved at, and where things like yards are available to let other trains overtake, the moves can happen during day time.

At Lewes using the lifting chains were the easiest way to get around coupler incompatibility issues, the EMU cars weren't being lifted, this is the only drag geometry available with the cranes with the vehicles being towed don't have the standard locomotive / freight screwlink couplers. Otherwise they would have had to bring one of the small mini shunters from one of the depots that can couple to both the end of unit Dellner couplers (for 1 vehicle) and the special internal ones (3 vehicles).

Ah, thanks for the correction - the videos on the Lewes thread suggested the cars weren't putting the full weight on the wheels but that does make sense that the internal unit couplings wouldn't be usable.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

On say a 4 car unit there are probably fixed car couplings on intermediate vehicles, so in clearing the line, various tactics can be used depending on the breakdown gangs and what they have to hand.

For example, after the Watford collision in 1996, temporary hawsers were used to move a couple of intermediate vehicles at dead slow speed (with a class 31!), shall we say it was "interesting" - especially when they became uncoupled at one point........!

 

[Tetragon213]

Since they're out in the open, cranes can be used to lift the wreckage clear; usually onto low-loaders before transport, usually to a laboratory where every inch of the wreckage can be examined, then either to a depot for repairs or (more likely) to a scrapyard.

Thankfully, the accidents recently didn't take place in a tunnel. In that particular case, there's no real option, but one: brute force. Sheer, unadulterated brute force. See what happened at Salisbury in 2021.

 

[CW2]

There was an interesting retailing job at Bellgrove in 1985. A pair of class 20s worked a p.way train from Calder Yard, consisting of a mobile crane and some track panels. The intention was to run via Queen Street Low Level to the worksite on the North Clyde.

After passing Springburn the driver realised the train was running away. (No brake test had been carried out at Calder before departure, so the entire train was unbraked apart from the class 20s). Passing signals at danger, the runaway train was diverted into the dead end at Bellgrove. There it smashed through the buffers at some speed, and continued into the north (disused) tunnel, eventually coming to a halt with the class 20s and mobile crane embedded in the ballast.

On that occasion, the only option to rescue the crane and locomotives was brute force.

Once the remaining train had been removed, 37297+37300 were attached to the crane, and spent a very long time creating a massive amount of noise to move the crane an inch or two at a time.

The whole performance took several days, but thankfully didn't interfere with the continued running of trains.