Ten hour delay on Calder Valley line?

[D6130]

I've just read on another thread that a freight train was stuck somewhere on the Calder Valley line recently for about ten hours due to the locomotive slipping to a standstill. As I am currently in Italy, I have been unable to gain any local information on the incident. Can anyone please tell me where, when, which train and which loco? Many thanks in advance.

 

[Rail Ranger]

It was actually on the Copy Pit line on Thursday 20th October. The Colas train from Lindsey to Preston Dock (6M32) slipped to a stand. No other freight company would help. They had to wait for another Colas class 70 to move the train. The train engine was 70805 and 70803 was the assisting engine. Single line working was put in place around the failed train so that passenger trains could run.

 

[D6130]

It was actually on the Copy Pit line on Thursday 20th October. The Colas train from Lindsey to Preston Dock (6M32) slipped to a stand. No other freight company would help. They had to wait for another Colas class 70 to move the train. The train engine was 70805 and 70803 was the assisting engine. Single line working was put in place around the failed train so that passenger trains could run.

Many thanks for that. An interesting and unusual incident. IIRC, the emergency crossover at Copy Pit Summit has now been removed, so it must have been SLW all the way from Stansfield Hall to Gannow Junction.

 

[_toommm_]

For posterity, here’s the RealTimeTrains link from that for when we next get a ‘What’s the most delayed a train has ever been?’

(The PDF below is for the movements of 6M32 from RealTimeTrains, which shows how it went from 2 early at Hebden Bridge to 630+ late at Burnley Manchester Road).

 

[Dr Hoo]

It was actually on the Copy Pit line on Thursday 20th October. The Colas train from Lindsey to Preston Dock (6M32) slipped to a stand. No other freight company would help. They had to wait for another Colas class 70 to move the train. The train engine was 70805 and 70803 was the assisting engine. Single line working was put in place around the failed train so that passenger trains could run.

Thanks for that additional info, especially about the Single Line Working.

Was any other freight company actually in a realistic position to help? Sending a suitable locomotive from (say) Warrington, Crewe, Doncaster or Carlisle would be quite a job and given the very limited freight via copy Pit I'm not sure how many drivers from those locations might have the requisite route knowledge.

 

[66701GBRF]

It was actually on the Copy Pit line on Thursday 20th October. The Colas train from Lindsey to Preston Dock (6M32) slipped to a stand. No other freight company would help. They had to wait for another Colas class 70 to move the train. The train engine was 70805 and 70803 was the assisting engine. Single line working was put in place around the failed train so that passenger trains could run.

I think you mean no other freight company "COULD" help. FL, DB and GB had no locos available.

 

[CAF397]

I think you mean no other freight company "COULD" help. FL, DB and GB had no locos available.

Indeed, in a failure situation it is Network Rail that will hire the 'thunderbird' and get the line clear. Using any company that has the availability of engines and staff. The finances and fines will be sorted out later.

Not so many months ago a TPE 68/mk 5 set rescued a Colas 56 (I think) in the York area.

 

[D6130]

For posterity, here’s the RealTimeTrains link from that for when we next get a ‘What’s the most delayed a train has ever been?’

(The PDF below is for the movements of 6M32 from RealTimeTrains, which shows how it went from 2 early at Hebden Bridge to 630+ late at Burnley Manchester Road).

Even though the train lost four minutes between Hebden Bridge and Hall Royd Junction - a fairly wooded stretch on a slightly rising gradient - it looks as though the real problems began after leaving the built-up area of Todmorden and hitting the wooded glen before Kitson Wood tunnel, over Lydgate viaduct and on up the sharply-curved 1 in 65 gradient through Cornholme and Portsmouth. I wouldn't mind betting that more than a few local lineside residents will have been rudely-awoken by the screaming of the engine, the screeching of the wheels and the showers of sparks spinning off them. Must have been a wet morning.... glad I wasn't the driver!

 

[alexl92]

Indeed, in a failure situation it is Network Rail that will hire the 'thunderbird' and get the line clear. Using any company that has the availability of engines and staff. The finances and fines will be sorted out later.

Not so many months ago a TPE 68/mk 5 set rescued a Colas 56 (I think) in the York area.

That’s fascinating… did anyone get pics of that?

 

[CAF397]

 

[childwallblues]

Isn't 6M32 the only freight that uses Copy Pit?
I have used the line on a number of occasions in recent times and even some 195s make hard work of it.

 

[D6130]

Isn't 6M32 the only freight that uses Copy Pit?

In normal circumstances, yes....and the 6E32 return empty working.

 

[Dave W]

I wonder how they went on with the exchange at Strand Road, it being so late. Perhaps left overnight for the resident shunter to collect and trip into the yard in the morning?

 

[Tractor37]

Isn't 6M32 the only freight that uses Copy Pit?
I have used the line on a number of occasions in recent times and even some 195s make hard work of it.

Hard work!! The line speed is only 45 mph max between Hall Royd and Burnley - a 195 is hardly flat out more the opposite, needing no more than 50% power.

 

[Stuart-h]

we had something very simlar on the mpv im working on. Lucky enough we were just able to keep going.

 

[Deepgreen]

Hard work!! The line speed is only 45 mph max between Hall Royd and Burnley - a 195 is hardly flat out more the opposite, needing no more than 50% power.

It's not about the power, it's about adhesion.