Rail Disasters of Ireland

burnthebox · January 30, 2013

HI ALL, WHERE DID I READ ABOUT A RUNAWAY CRASH INTO BUFFERS, THANKS IN ADVANCE

enniscorthyman · February 4, 2013

There was one 141/181 blown in half up north during the

troubles and the Brittish Goverenment insisted that it be

rebuilt as they had responsibility for paying for damage.

After a number of years the loco was rebuilt and the

Brittish Government were shocked at the cost,as it

would have been for cheaper for GM to ship over new

loco in replacement for it.I don't know what number

It was.

Railer · February 4, 2013

There was one 141/181 blown in half up north during the
troubles and the Brittish Goverenment insisted that it be

rebuilt as they had responsibility for paying for damage.

After a number of years the loco was rebuilt and the

Brittish Government were shocked at the cost,as it

would have been for cheaper for GM to ship over new

loco in replacement for it.I don't know what number

It was.

Was that not one of the A class. The loco was more or less hijacked. The driver was removed and a bomb was planted in the cab while the loco was let run unmanned on the Northern line till it exploded. Think it was 016. Or is that another story?

Killucan2 · February 4, 2013

there was one 141/181 blown in half up north during the
troubles and the brittish goverenment insisted that it be

rebuilt as they had responsibility for paying for damage.

After a number of years the loco was rebuilt and the

brittish government were shocked at the cost,as it

would have been for cheaper for gm to ship over new

loco in replacement for it.i don't know what number

it was.

145.

M.

enniscorthyman · February 4, 2013

Was that not one of the A class. The loco was more or less hijacked. The driver was removed and a bomb was planted in the cab while the loco was let run unmanned on the Northern line till it exploded. Think it was 016. Or is that another story?

I know 008 was destroyed,maybe this was the one.C201 was also destroyed by a bomb.

Eiretrains · February 4, 2013

Was that not one of the A class. The loco was more or less hijacked. The driver was removed and a bomb was planted in the cab while the loco was let run unmanned on the Northern line till it exploded. Think it was 016. Or is that another story?

It was 004, which in 1979 was hijacked near the border and then sent on its way driver-less, eventually derailing and falling on its side at Goraghwood. NIR actually installed a short-lived loop at Goraghwood to allow runaways to be derailed.

008 and 046 were other A Class casualties as Eamonn pointed to, bombed near the border at Meigh in 1973/79 respectively.

.

121 Class 125 ran away(I think) at Roscommon in the 1970s, running into the headshunt and falling into an adjacent river, it was repaired but 125 was never the same again and ended her career early in 1986.

Much of the above details can be found in the ITG's Irish Traction & Travel books.

Worth mentioning the Harcourt St runaway also, nearly 112 years ago this month.

All photos posted above can be found on Tom Ryan's Flickr site.

Edited February 4, 2013 by Eiretrains

Warbonnet · February 4, 2013

I know 008 was destroyed,maybe this was the one.C201 was also destroyed by a bomb.

There was a video of C201 going pop on YouTube a while back, but I just cannot find it now!

enniscorthyman · February 4, 2013

I never saw Tom Ryan's photo before.I love the shots

of the IRRS special to Ballinacourty in 1982.A great collection

Of photos.

jhb171achill · February 4, 2013

I can't see why railway operators are so paranoid about the public seeing the aftermath of an accident. Are we so sanitised now that it will shock us more than years ago? I attended the scene of one accident many years ago and wandered about among police, railway staff and general rubber-neckers, on and off the track, without a day glo jacket, PTS or steel capped boots. That, of course, is a different issue - the H & S stuff.

If a 201 ends up at 45 degrees, big deal. Put it upright. If people want to look, let 'em look. Why not? The press frequently publish, with at times questionable accuracy, accounts of all manner of other things which really are none of their business, and which do not serve this great mythical thing, the "public interest", one bit!

I have pics myself of the 1963 Lisburn smash...

Flying Scotsman 4472 · February 4, 2013

There was a video of C201 going pop on YouTube a while back, but I just cannot find it now!

There are still bits of her still in the ditch beside the track. Maybe I'll take my angle grinder up some day cut it up and sell souvenirs=))

Railer · February 4, 2013

Here is 123 after the rails spread apart under the loco while it was pushing a Mk3 set back to Pearse from Drogheda. The undamaged Mk3s and DVT have already been hauled away while the rest of the train is recovered.

snapper · February 4, 2013

Wow, this turned into a really great thread with lots of great pictures. Keep them coming lads.

heirflick · February 4, 2013

There was a video of C201 going pop on YouTube a while back, but I just cannot find it now!

here it is...

heirflick · February 4, 2013

great pics railer...thanks for sharing!

h gricer · February 4, 2013

145.

M.

I think it was actually 146, the rebuilt cab was very noticeable with its bigger numbers at 1 end.

Regards

hg

Riversuir226 · February 4, 2013

A60 was another casualty of the time derailed in Portadown after travelling 48 km from the border with nobody at the controls.

kevrail · February 4, 2013

One of the most spectacular accidents in Irish railway history happened at Harcourt St Station on St. Valentines Day 1909. An incoming cattle train from Enniscorthy failed to stop, crashed through the buffer stops and the metre-thick outer station wall, leaving the engine perched precariously above Hatch Street some nine metres below. Miraculously nobody was killed, neither civilians, guard, cattlemen nor their beasts, but the driver of the train, 22 year old William Hyland, was trapped in the wreckage and had to have his right arm amputated.

Riversuir226 · February 5, 2013

Happened in Tramore when 560 exMGWR fancied a night stay in the Hotel De Life on the 13/8/1947. It broke through the buffers in the station and landed upright on the Strand Rd following a brake failure on the 1 in 140 gradient. 12 years earlier a 2-2-2 tank derailed closer to Waterford at Carricklong bridge dragging 2 coaches down the embankment after her.

Fast forward to the 8/11/97 211 and 3 mk3's derailed at knockcroghery co Roscommon.

Riversuir226 · February 5, 2013

211 was hauling the 8:25 Dublin to Westport when it derailed at Curry level crossing due to the poor condition of the track. All 7 coaches were derailed to some degree and 440 meters were damaged. This led to probably the modernization of most of the track in Ireland and a timely wake up call to the government and Irish rail.

kevrail · February 5, 2013

The Armagh Rail Disaster of 1889 claimed 88 lives and injured 170 people. The 940 passengers were travelling to Warrenpoint on a day trip organised by Armagh Sunday School.

There was such excitement about the prospect of a trip to the seaside that hundreds of people had bought tickets in advance. To meet this demand, extra carriages were added to the train putting considerable stress on the engine.

Once all the passengers had arrived, they were loaded onto the carriages and the carriage doors locked to prevent non-ticketed passengers from boarding. The train then left the station with its passengers, crew, and all of the passengers’ provisions for the day. Even without the weight of the engine, the train weighed between 185 and 187 tons.

The journey was expected to last an hour. A gradient of 1:75 at the Armagh Bank, however, meant that the engine was under particular strain. Near the summit of this climb, at Derry’s Crossing, the engine began to lose power and finally came to a halt. The incline meant that it would be impossible to restart the train so the crew applied the brakes and considered their options.

It was decided to divide the train in two to take the carriages over the incline. The train was fitted with a continuous non-automatic vacuum braking system. This meant that the remaining carriages would be left without the brake triggered by the engine. It was decided to leave stones beneath the wheels of the carriages and the handbrake was applied in the guard’s carriage at the rear.As the train made to leave, however, it rolled slightly backwards pushing at the static carriages, causing them to move and crush the stones. The handbrake in the guard’s carriage alone couldn’t hold the train and the carriages began to roll back down the line.

Seeing what had happened, the crew tried to place more stones behind the carriage wheels but these were crushed immediately under its force. They tried to recouple the moving carriages to the rest of the train but this dangerous task was also unsuccessful.

The passengers, locked in the carriages, unable to get out through the small windows, were captive to a fate that became more perilous as the carriages picked up speed, travelling the wrong way along the tracks.

The 10:35 train, a powerful engine travelling with a light load, was following behind the excursion train. Though the drivers saw the runaway carriages coming towards them and tried to reverse, it was too late, collision was inevitable.

At a speed of about 40 mph the carriages smashed into the 10:35 train. The last three carriages and their passengers were obliterated. The near-static train was relatively unharmed though its carriages became loose and began to move down the track. Without the quick action of the crew of the 10.35, who managed to stop them, further damage would have been caused.

Once the news of the accident broke, members of the RIC, the Royal Fusiliers, and concerned citizens hastily made their way to the site. Their first task was to free the passengers from the wreckage and separate the living from the dead.

Treatment was administered to the injured at the site and they were taken quickly to medical and make-shift facilities in Armagh. Sixty-four people were pronounced dead immediately and over time the death toll grew to 88.

At the time this made the Armagh Rail Disaster the worst in Europe.

The legal proceedings that followed the disaster forced many improvements to the railways. The government passed the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 which required all passenger railways to use the safer continuous automatic brake. It also made stipulations as to signalling and the interlocking of all points and signals.

This legislation was a turning point in the history of the railways. Previously government had taken a hands-off attitude, leaving the powerful railway companies to prosper on their own terms. The Armagh Rail Disaster demonstrated the need for government intervention to ensure passenger safety. The act remains the basic framework for railway operators to this day.

ttc0169 · February 5, 2013

I think it was actually 146, the rebuilt cab was very noticeable with its bigger numbers at 1 end.
Regards

hg

According to the book-"Rails around Dublin"by Donal Murray,the section on Inchicore shows a photo of a wrecked 145 with a photo of the rebuilt 145 below that,

146 demolised the buffer stop at Tralee station about 15 years ago on arrival from Mallow early one morning while hauling the liner/mail-ending up on Rock street,

186+144 were hauling the Knock special to Claremorris in September 1988 when they ran into some cattle that were being herded across the line,derailing both locos,

185+187 ran away for a short distance on the Rosslare line about 10 years ago,

152 developed a brake defect while travelling light engine from Inchicore to Athlone a few years ago and passed a signal at danger,the driver needing a new pair of boxer shorts after that one ....Most of the 141/181s were withdrawn within a few weeks of that incident happening,

211 was the loco involved in the Knockcroghery derailment in November 1997,

202 collided with the rear of a timber train wagon which was fouling the loop road at Ballinasloe-the first 201 to suffer accident damage.

Riversuir226 · February 5, 2013

on the 6/2/76 174 derailed near Scarbhach Co Down following an explosion, luckily the train was only travelling at. 30 mph and was in a cutting the loco and 6 mk2's ended up leaning against the cutting. Buckeye coupling and modern all steel coaches prevented serious injury or loss of life.

Riversuir226 · February 5, 2013

Clogh bridge 31/12/75, After a bridge hit by an excavator on the back of a truck causing the granite masonry to be moved and buckled the rails, even with efforts to stop the train, it still hit the bridge at over 60 mph. B132 ended up at the bottom of an embankment on its roof , the leading 3 coaches jumped the bridge and shattered on impact .

5 people died with numerous injuries most down to the coaches disintegrating and penetration of other coaches.

kevrail · February 5, 2013

211 was hauling the 8:25 Dublin to Westport when it derailed at Curry level crossing due to the poor condition of the track. All 7 coaches were derailed to some degree and 440 meters were damaged. This led to probably the modernization of most of the track in Ireland and a timely wake up call to the government and Irish rail.

A fish plate fractured which put the track out of alignment. The wooden sleepers over the next several hundred metres shattered as the 100 tonne train careered forward. All the passenger carriages careered off the line and crashed into the siding. Most of them were seriously damaged. The locomotive, the generating unit and the dining car remained on the track. Miraculously, no passengers lost their lives, although a few were injured.

heirflick · February 5, 2013

dont forget this one....

this incident happened at the 46 milepost on the dublin side of mullingar where a passenger train hit a goods - no injuries tg! except for the barrels of guinness:((

Edited February 5, 2013 by heirflick

Broithe · February 5, 2013

Shaken, not stirred.

heirflick · February 5, 2013

read this accident report about fatality of a staff member at Balbriggan station in 1963...

http://www.raiu.ie/download/pdf/accident_balbriggan.pdf

Edited February 5, 2013 by heirflick

Sulzer201 · February 5, 2013

read this accident report about fatality of a staff member at Balbriggan station in 1963...

http://www.raiu.ie/download/pdf/accident_balbriggan.pdf

Interesting report their heirflick very tragic for that man and all involved.

kevrail · February 5, 2013

This thread needs to be renamed from Runaway loco crash into bufers to something like "Rail Disasters of Ireland". It is a history lesson all on its own

Riversuir226 · February 5, 2013

I ll second that kevrail

BosKonay · February 5, 2013

Done

Riversuir226 · February 5, 2013

Nice one,

Kinsale 28/1/1915

A special goods train collided with the regular 830 mixed at the platform in Kinsale, the combination of a max loaded goods train 206 tons hauled by an 0-6-0 tank and the points were set for the platform line rather than the yard. Led to the deaths of two passengers who were on the mixed train more deaths were avoided thanks to the quick reaction of the staff who managed to clear most of the passengers out of the train before impact.

In the following board of trade report it emerged that the mixed train was to close to the signal and that the brakes in the special was only 7.5 tons and it was recommended to increase them to 10 tons.