2. RAILWAYS
  3. OFF THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW

OFF THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW

This gallery is a sort of compendium of all the bent and the broken, the crashed and the bashed, both steam age and modern, loco and stock, both British and foreign. Most are duplicates of pictures to be found in other galleries, some taken by me and some very obviously not. These pictures are displayed for recreational/information/research purposes only and are not for sale under any circumstances. Every effort has been made to verify the information in the captions but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
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WELLINGBOROUGH - On September 2nd, 1898. at Wellingborough <br /> Station, a postman brought a mailcart to the station with mail which he was to see onto a train due at 2022. The mail should then have been brought to the down platform through a passageway (normally closed by a gate kept locked from the inside) between the station yard and the platform. The postman went into the station collected a luggage trolley and took it along the platform to the platform side of the gate. Whilst the platform itself sloped towards the railway tracks quite noticeably, the passageway did not. The postman put down the handle by which he was drawing the trolley and unlocked the gate. He then reached round for the trolley handle only to see the trolley running off the edge of the platform and onto the down main line. He and the station foreman tried frantically to clear the trolley off the line as the signals were already set for the 1915 London St Pancras to Manchester express, hauled by Class 2P 4-4-0 No.1743, to pass through the station non-stop. A train at the up platform prevented them simply moving the trolley onto the up-line, and it was not possible to lift the 4.5 hundredweight trolley the two feet to get it back onto the platform. They attempted to get the trolley on its side in the "six-foot" between the two lines, but did not succeed and had to jump for their lives as the express neared. The leading bogie of the locomotive derailed on hitting the trolley, but the driving wheels did not; the engine continued onwards until it hit a diamond crossover at the north end of the station when it became completely derailed, detached from its tender and ended up facing backwards. The second passenger coach was completely wrecked. Both enginemen and five passengers were killed.<br /> The subsequent Board of Trade accident investigation showed that the down platform sloped unnecessarily steeply (1 in 24) towards the track, and that whilst the passageway was not so fiercely graded it still sloped at about 1 in 80 to the track. Practical experiment showed that this was quite sufficient to allow a luggage trolley to roll away unless the greatest care was taken.<br /> Here we see the crane about to lift the backwards facing engine back onto the rails.
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WELLINGBOROUGH - On September 2nd, 1898. at Wellingborough
Station, a postman brought a mailcart to the station with mail which he was to see onto a train due at 2022. The mail should then have been brought to the down platform through a passageway (normally closed by a gate kept locked from the inside) between the station yard and the platform. The postman went into the station collected a luggage trolley and took it along the platform to the platform side of the gate. Whilst the platform itself sloped towards the railway tracks quite noticeably, the passageway did not. The postman put down the handle by which he was drawing the trolley and unlocked the gate. He then reached round for the trolley handle only to see the trolley running off the edge of the platform and onto the down main line. He and the station foreman tried frantically to clear the trolley off the line as the signals were already set for the 1915 London St Pancras to Manchester express, hauled by Class 2P 4-4-0 No.1743, to pass through the station non-stop. A train at the up platform prevented them simply moving the trolley onto the up-line, and it was not possible to lift the 4.5 hundredweight trolley the two feet to get it back onto the platform. They attempted to get the trolley on its side in the "six-foot" between the two lines, but did not succeed and had to jump for their lives as the express neared. The leading bogie of the locomotive derailed on hitting the trolley, but the driving wheels did not; the engine continued onwards until it hit a diamond crossover at the north end of the station when it became completely derailed, detached from its tender and ended up facing backwards. The second passenger coach was completely wrecked. Both enginemen and five passengers were killed.
The subsequent Board of Trade accident investigation showed that the down platform sloped unnecessarily steeply (1 in 24) towards the track, and that whilst the passageway was not so fiercely graded it still sloped at about 1 in 80 to the track. Practical experiment showed that this was quite sufficient to allow a luggage trolley to roll away unless the greatest care was taken.
Here we see the crane about to lift the backwards facing engine back onto the rails.

  • THORNABY - 1067 - Worsdell NER Class P3 LNER Class J27 0-6-0 - built 09/09 by Robert Stephenson & Co. - 03/46 to LNER No.5839, 11/48 to BR No.65839 - 04/66 withdrawn from 52F North Blyth - seen here in July 1912 in the River Tees after running through catch points at Tees Bridge, Thornaby.
  • TINSLEY LOCOMOTIVE DEPOT - Not a very good picture (from a newspaper I think) and I have no details at all but someone has done a good job of parking 20022! Sometime in the '80's I think looking at the car on the left.
  • TINSLEY LOCOMOTIVE DEPOT - This Class 45 and 08223, presumably coupled together 'on shed' have run away and ended up on the Sheffield Parkway in 1978. 08223 appears quite extensively damaged, perhaps leading to it's withdrawal in June 1979. Tinsley Depot was built atop an embankment and runaways were not uncommon.
  • TOTON - 25 205 had just come off a train in the Down Yard at Toton and en route for Depot, passing the much mangled 25 151 in the Training Compound. 05/85.
  • TUNBRIDGE WELLS WEST - On March 11th, 1905, LBSCR Cass C1 0-6-0 No.423 fell into the turntable pit. This was not an uncommon occurrence. 423 does not look badly damaged but it was scrapped only 3 years later. Note the 2-2-2 trapped on the turntable.
  • ULLESKELF - On November 24th, 1906, while an up empty coal train from York to Gascoigne Wood, consisting of an engine, tender, 60 wagons and a brake van, was standing at Ulleskelf Station, its rear end was run into by the 7 pm up express train from York to Leeds, consisting of engine, tender, and four vehicles. The speed of the passenger train at the time of the collision was probably about 40 miles an hour, and the shock was a severe one. The engine was thrown over on to its side, and both it and the tender were severely damaged; the two leading vehicles of the train were derailed but were only slightly damaged; the two rear vehicles were not derailed and were not injured at all. The brake van and four wagons of the coal train were completely destroyed, whilst three others were seriously damaged. The driver and fireman of the passenger train were both killed instantaneously, whilst the guard and seven passengers were slightly injured. The guard of the coal train was fortunately not in his brake van at the time, so neither he nor any other of the staff of that train were injured. The accident was caused when the driver and fireman of the express passed a danger signal in thick fog.
  • UNKNOWN LOCATION - Perhaps on the GWR but some loco depot somewhere was going to short of coal!
  • WARWICK - Ex-LMS 4-6-0 Royal Scot Class No.46123 ROYAL IRISH FUSILIER at the end of the up platform after failing to stop in the up goods loop with a loose coupled coal train in June 1962. At Warwick, the Up Goods Refuge siding was converted into a loop during the Second World War (11th June 1944). The facing connection to the loop was too far to operate using conventional point rodding, so was electrically operated from Warwick Signal Box. The Up loop Home signals were 758 yards from the Signal Box and were preceded by two distant signals at 1267 yards and 1862 yards to give adequate warning because of its location at the foot of Hatton bank. Unfitted trains in wet conditions were at particular risk of running away. At the platform end of up refuge loop was a short spur to prevent runaway wagons reaching the main line. No.46123 has run over a raised pile of ashes and demolished the buffer end-stop at the end of this spur before coming to rest at the end of the platform ramp. The loco was not badly damaged but was nevertheless withdrawn in November 1962. Just what a Royal Scot was doing on a loose coupled coal train I can't imagine!
  • WATERLOO - On the August 15th, 2017, Class 456 No. 456015, working with two South West Trains Class 455 EMU's, was leaving platform 13 at London Waterloo at slow speed with the 0540 to Guildford train when it collided with a works train. The works train was occupying part of platform 12 and the approach line in connection with the lengthening of Waterloo’s platforms 1 to 8 in order to handle 10-carriage trains. Fortunately no one was injured. The cause of the collision was attributed to the poor state of the point blades in the crossover on which the EMU stands.
  • WATFORD - Just before 07:00 hrs on Friday September 16th, 2016, Class 350 264 on a London-bound passenger train operated by London Midland struck a landslip at the entrance to Watford slow lines tunnel. The leading coach of the 8-car train derailed to the right. The train came to a halt in the tunnel about 28 seconds later with the leading coach partly obstructing the opposite track. About nine seconds later, the derailed train was struck by a passenger train travelling in the opposite direction. The driver of the second train had already received a radio warning and had applied the brake, reducing the speed of impact. Both trains were damaged, but there were no serious injuries to passengers or crew. However, had the first train been derailed only a short distance further to the right the consequences would have been much more severe. The landslip occurred during a period of exceptionally wet weather. Water from adjacent land flowed into the cutting close to the tunnel portal and caused soil and rock to wash onto the track. The site had not been identified by Network Rail as being at risk of a flooding-induced landslip. Both trains were crewed by a driver and a guard. The drivers each contacted the signaller to inform him of the accident and request the evacuation of passengers. The guards checked on their passengers to confirm that there were no casualties, and made regular announcements to keep passengers informed.
  • WATFORD - The train that was derailed at Watford on January 23rd, 1975, was the 1910 from Manchester to Euston, comprising Class AL3 No.83003 and 12 vehicles, running on the Up Fast line. It was just pulling away from a booked stop at Watford Junction when it ran into 2 heavy steel beams which had fallen from a freight train that had passed a few minutes earlier on the adjacent Down Slow line, causing the leading bogie of the locomotive to become derailed towards and foul of the Down Fast line. Within a few seconds of coming to a stand it was run into by the 2215 sleeping car train from Euston to Glasgow comprising Class 86 No.86209 and 14 vehicles. The impact caused the locomotive of the sleeping car train to be derailed and deflected towards the cess so that it ran down the embankment, about 50 feet high at this point, and came to rest in soft ground at the foot, followed by a bogie brake van which ended up with its leading end at the foot of the embankment and its trailing end at the top. The remainder of the train continued forward, more or less upright and in line, each successive vehicle sustaining damage from the derailed locomotive of the Up train on one side and the brake van on the other. Although the Slow lines were not obstructed by the trains, an electrification structure was demolished and the overhead line equipment was brought down over all four running lines. The driver of the Up express who was occupying the secondman's seat of the leading locomotive at the time of the accident, lost his life in the collision and three others sustained injuries which required hospital treatment. Eight passengers were also injured and taken to hospital but all were released by 30th January.
  • WATH ON DEARNE - On August 27th, 1887, although the man in Wath cabin had given to the Manvers signalman 'coal train out of section', he did not accept the 'Is the line clear' signal for the express, when it was given to him from Manvers cabin, and the signalman in that cabin kept both his down home and distant signals at danger, but the engine-driver of the express, who was engaged in putting on coal, ran past these signals without seeing them, and he did not become aware of his danger, until he passed the Manvers cabin, where the signalman shouted to him, but before he could apply the brakes his engine was close to the brake-van of the coal train hauled by MR Johnson Class 1357 2F 0-6-0 No.1366, seen here post-accident, which it ran into, at a speed of 40 or 45 miles an hour. The driver of the express put his brakes on and reversed his engine, just before the collision. The brake-van of the coal train and the wagon next to it were broken to pieces, the next wagon was damaged and had the two hind wheels knocked off the rails, the next two wagons were also damaged, but remained on the rails, and the next two were damaged and knocked off the rails. The engine and tender of the coal train were also slightly damaged. The engine of the express, after smashing through the two last vehicles of the coal train, appears to have mounted and run over the two next wagons and across the up line, and then to have fallen over on its right side on to the embankment, at the off side of the line. The tender followed, and fell across the up line. The leading coach came to rest on the top of two coal waggons, with its leading end high above the line. The next coach was also off the rails, and the rest of the passenger train remained on the rails.
  • WELLINGBOROUGH - On September 2nd, 1898. at Wellingborough <br /> Station, a postman brought a mailcart to the station with mail which he was to see onto a train due at 2022. The mail should then have been brought to the down platform through a passageway (normally closed by a gate kept locked from the inside) between the station yard and the platform. The postman went into the station collected a luggage trolley and took it along the platform to the platform side of the gate. Whilst the platform itself sloped towards the railway tracks quite noticeably, the passageway did not. The postman put down the handle by which he was drawing the trolley and unlocked the gate. He then reached round for the trolley handle only to see the trolley running off the edge of the platform and onto the down main line. He and the station foreman tried frantically to clear the trolley off the line as the signals were already set for the 1915 London St Pancras to Manchester express, hauled by Class 2P 4-4-0 No.1743, to pass through the station non-stop. A train at the up platform prevented them simply moving the trolley onto the up-line, and it was not possible to lift the 4.5 hundredweight trolley the two feet to get it back onto the platform. They attempted to get the trolley on its side in the "six-foot" between the two lines, but did not succeed and had to jump for their lives as the express neared. The leading bogie of the locomotive derailed on hitting the trolley, but the driving wheels did not; the engine continued onwards until it hit a diamond crossover at the north end of the station when it became completely derailed, detached from its tender and ended up facing backwards. The second passenger coach was completely wrecked. Both enginemen and five passengers were killed.<br /> The subsequent Board of Trade accident investigation showed that the down platform sloped unnecessarily steeply (1 in 24) towards the track, and that whilst the passageway was not so fiercely graded it still sloped at about 1 in 80 to the track. Practical experiment showed that this was quite sufficient to allow a luggage trolley to roll away unless the greatest care was taken.<br /> Here we see the crane about to lift the backwards facing engine back onto the rails.
  • WELLINGBOROUGH - On September 2nd, 1898. at Wellingborough <br /> Station, a postman brought a mailcart to the station with mail which he was to see onto a train due at 2022. The mail should then have been brought to the down platform through a passageway (normally closed by a gate kept locked from the inside) between the station yard and the platform. The postman went into the station collected a luggage trolley and took it along the platform to the platform side of the gate. Whilst the platform itself sloped towards the railway tracks quite noticeably, the passageway did not. The postman put down the handle by which he was drawing the trolley and unlocked the gate. He then reached round for the trolley handle only to see the trolley running off the edge of the platform and onto the down main line. He and the station foreman tried frantically to clear the trolley off the line as the signals were already set for the 1915 London St Pancras to Manchester express, hauled by Class 2P 4-4-0 No.1743, to pass through the station non-stop. A train at the up platform prevented them simply moving the trolley onto the up-line, and it was not possible to lift the 4.5 hundredweight trolley the two feet to get it back onto the platform. They attempted to get the trolley on its side in the "six-foot" between the two lines, but did not succeed and had to jump for their lives as the express neared. The leading bogie of the locomotive derailed on hitting the trolley, but the driving wheels did not; the engine continued onwards until it hit a diamond crossover at the north end of the station when it became completely derailed, detached from its tender and ended up facing backwards. The second passenger coach was completely wrecked. Both enginemen and five passengers were killed.<br /> The subsequent Board of Trade accident investigation showed that the down platform sloped unnecessarily steeply (1 in 24) towards the track, and that whilst the passageway was not so fiercely graded it still sloped at about 1 in 80 to the track. Practical experiment showed that this was quite sufficient to allow a luggage trolley to roll away unless the greatest care was taken.<br /> Seen here from a different angle is the railway crane about to lift the engine.
  • WELLINGBOROUGH - On September 2nd, 1898. at Wellingborough <br /> Station, a postman brought a mailcart to the station with mail which he was to see onto a train due at 2022. The mail should then have been brought to the down platform through a passageway (normally closed by a gate kept locked from the inside) between the station yard and the platform. The postman went into the station collected a luggage trolley and took it along the platform to the platform side of the gate. Whilst the platform itself sloped towards the railway tracks quite noticeably, the passageway did not. The postman put down the handle by which he was drawing the trolley and unlocked the gate. He then reached round for the trolley handle only to see the trolley running off the edge of the platform and onto the down main line. He and the station foreman tried frantically to clear the trolley off the line as the signals were already set for the 1915 London St Pancras to Manchester express to pass through the station non-stop. A train at the up platform prevented them simply moving the trolley onto the up-line, and it was not possible to lift the 4.5 hundredweight trolley the two feet to get it back onto the platform. They attempted to get the trolley on its side in the "six-foot" between the two lines, but did not succeed and had to jump for their lives as the express neared. The leading bogie of the locomotive derailed on hitting the trolley, but the driving wheels did not; the engine continued onwards until it hit a diamond crossover at the north end of the station when it became completely derailed, detached from its tender and ended up facing backwards. The second passenger coach was completely wrecked. Both enginemen and five passengers were killed.<br /> The subsequent Board of Trade accident investigation showed that the down platform sloped unnecessarily steeply (1 in 24) towards the track, and that whilst the passageway was not so fiercely graded it still sloped at about 1 in 80 to the track. Practical experiment showed that this was quite sufficient to allow a luggage trolley to roll away unless the greatest care was taken. <br /> The shattered remains of the second coach are seen here whilst behind it the engine's tender is being rerailed.
  • WELWYN GARDEN CITY, January 7th, 1957 - 60520 OWEN TUDOR (Class A2), in thick fog, ignored signals and ran into the rear of a stationary train, 1 killed, 25 injured.
  • WELWYN GARDEN CITY, January 7th, 1957 - 60520 OWEN TUDOR (Class A2), in thick fog, ignored signals and ran into the rear of a stationary train, 1 killed, 25 injured.
  • WELWYN GARDEN CITY - On June 15th, 1935, a train from London King's Cross to Leeds collided with a train from Kings Cross to Newcastle at night. Fourteen people were killed and 29 injured. The accident was a rear collision caused by a signalman's error. The signalman at Welwyn Garden City, who had been fairly recently appointed to the box, became confused and accepted two trains into the same block section. The Newcastle train, arriving first, received a signal check and was slowed down to 15‒20 mph; the Leeds train consisting of 11 coaches hauled by Class K3 2-6-0 No 4009 ran into it at approximately 65 mph. There were several significant features. Firstly, the Inspecting Officer felt that the signalman had been promoted beyond his level of competence for such a busy box, and the assessment and training procedures for signalmen should be improved. Secondly, he recommended that the block instruments should be linked to the track circuits to prevent future occurrences in such a way that a "Line clear" indication could only be given on the block instrument if the track circuits had registered passage of a train; this was widely adopted and known as 'Welwyn Control'. Most of the casualties occurred in the second train. The first train was composed entirely of modern coaching stock with steel frames and buckeye couplings and, although the last coach of the train was telescoped, pushed 140 yard by the locomotive and ripped off it bogies, the only serious casualties in it were the guard and his dog. The second train was compose mainly of older stock and it was in these that most of the casualties occurred. Here we see the damage to the rear coach of the second train.
  • WELWYN GARDEN CITY - On September 13th, 2016, Class 313 055 was leaving the Welwyn Garden City depot when it derailed at about 0120 hours. No one was injured and there was no obvious reason for the derailment. Much disruption was caused on the ECML.
  • WENSLEYDALE RAILWAY, Bedale - 47 715 POSEIDON - Class 47 DE Co-Co - built 06/66 by Brush Traction as D1945 - 02/74 to 47 502, 03/85 to 47 715 - withdrawn by Virgin Trains in 01/99, reinstated by Fragonset Railways on 01/02, withdrawn 12/07 - preserved at Wensleydale Railway - seen here derailed in Bedale Station, 01/05/10.
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