Rail Disasters of Ireland

[burnthebox]

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

[Sulzer201]

Thanks Glenderg - I didn't know an A was involved in a serious incident in Cahir at that time - that incident must have been very close to the very serious and fatal freight accident on the Cahir - River Suir bridge? Was it a Woolwich that went through the deck at the head of a loaded beet train? Thanks.

[Glenderg]

You're welcome - Full skinny on Cahir here...

 

http://irishrailwaymodelling.com/showthread.php/829-Cahir-crash-1955

[heirflick]

great pics richie - thanks for posting...pure magic! any chance you know what happened at foynes?

Edited February 5, 2013 by heirflick

[Glenderg]

These three below possibly belong in their own thread, but since they were unusual, I thought I'd pop them in here. Mods, feel free to move if you to a historical thread if you wish.

 

"Dublin 1914 - British Army Soldiers on Duty on Butt Bridge", Custom House in background, porter kegs at the dockside too. I have a problem with this since the bridge wasn't built 'til 1934 and they aren't on the swing bridge.

 

 

 

Apparently same day 1914 troops leaving Tara street Station to go stand on the elevated richochet/sniper friendly bridge...

 

 

 

"Troops protecting the signal box at North Wall Yard - 1911" GSWR can be made out on the roof of the wagon, and signal box reads "NORTH WALL YD".

 

 

I don't think the top two are from 1914, either 1911 or 1920. Richie

[Eiretrains]

A few I have from a chap who collects this sort of stuff... Hover over the image for date and place.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5718[/ATTACH]

That's A44 at the Sligo end of Kilfree junction, June 1956, an awful smash indeed, details can be found in Dan Rehenan's extensive article on CIE's Crossleys (IRRS journals No.90 and No.91);

 

"Shortly after 06.00 on 15 June 1956 No. A44, working the 22.10 goods from North Wall to Sligo, was diverted

into a siding at Kilfree Junction, and crashed violently into the buffer-block. The locomotive and 12 wagons

were wrecked, the loco having sheared off her bogies was triple-somersaulted down a 25ft embankment;

remarkably, the driver Conlon had a miraculous escape, with only minor injuries. Wreckage blocked the line

until the morning of the 16th."

[Riversuir226]

Jaysus the tram and the steam roller happened on the Carrigrohane ( Straight ) rd near Cork city on the muskerry line out of the Western rd terminus.It happened on the 6/9/1927, the 745 am mixed train from Donoghmore was half way between Carrigrohane and Victoria cross, when the steam roller drove into Coach no 7 causing it to derail. Damage to the train and steam roller was considerable, incidentally no 7 was built by Cravens!!!.

[Riversuir226]

I d say 1916 for the soldiers in and around Dublin, especially during or after the rising.

[Mayner]

Kiltimagh December 1916 a head on collision between a goods and ballast train 6 railway employees were killed 10 injured a number seriously http://www.westontrack.com/history06.htm.

 

This one seems to be relatively unknown possibly because only railway employees were involved and against the background of the Great War and growing political unrest in Ireland.

 

The trains were originally were to cross at Swinford but the Limerick-Tubbercurry ballast with a 101 Class 21 laden low sided ballast wagons and 2 vans was delayed having stalled due to poor rail conditions on the climb out of Claremorris and required banking assistance.

 

The goods a Sligo-Tuam special picking up empty caattle wagons for washing was allowed into the Swinford-Kiltimagh section.

 

The ballast ran through the Up home and starting signals at Kiltimagh and collided head on with the goods outside the station. Those that died and most of the injured were in a brakke van at the front of the train, at the time most railwways had brake vans with passenger compartments for drovers and railway workers.

 

An inquest was held which found that none of the staff at Kiltimagh had done anything wrong but there may have been some unspecified negiglence on the part of some GSWR Official or the Company.

 

The Burma Road was heavily graded and Kiltimagh which was sited on a grade was considered to be a hazardous place for passing trains as there was a risk of North bound loose coupled trains over running the Up starting signal and enter the Kiltimagh-Swinford section.

 

The Limerick based crew of the ballast do not appear to have been familiar with the line and may have missed the home signal in foggy conditions, which would have made it difficult to stop a heavy train before over-running the starter signal for the next section.

 

In CIE days gravity shunting seemed to be the norm for North bound trains placing wagons in the yard in Kiltimagh. One of the Markle? videos on rails in the West first shows a loco arriving in the station, the points are set for one of the sidings and a cut of wagons for the station arrives by gravity a few minutes later, the road is re-set for the main line and the remainder of the train arrives and couples up to the loco.

[ger711]

Just come across this tonight. Myself and my Wife were on the Knockcroghery derailment travelling to Ballyhaunis. We had got married in July of that year and then her Grandfather died on the 07th November. We were travelling down after getting the call at 4am that morning. I remember we had just come back to our seats from the dining car with some coffee and there was an almighty bang. Then there was dust in the carriage and when everything settled the most surreal silence. Funny thing was that I met a guy afterwards who told me that this was his second derailment in a year. Got away from him ASAP:)

[jhb171achill]

What was the one in those pics above showing a modern IE railcar at the bottom of an embankment?

[snapper]

What was the one in those pics above showing a modern IE railcar at the bottom of an embankment?

 

It was a derailment after a 2900 hit debris from a landslide near Wicklow Station on 16th of November 2009.

 

The full report and larger pictures are available here http://www.raiu.ie/download/pdf/accident_wicklow.pdf

[josefstadt]

What was the one in those pics above showing a modern IE railcar at the bottom of an embankment?

 

Indeed, as Snapper says, it was the 16 November 2009 derailment in the cutting just south of Wicklow station. 29026, working the 04:10 Connolly-Arklow empty train, ran into a landslide, resulting in the closure of the Wicklow-Arklow section until 22 November. Fortunately the driver was unhurt.

[jhb171achill]

Didn't know about that one.... a six day closure... back in the day it would probably have been 6 hours! Let's see - an hour to fix the problem, 23 hours for an evaluation of it, and five days health and safety stuff? (Or have I little to do today!!) :-) :-)

[josefstadt]

November 2009 saw unusually heavy rain over a prolonged period, with the ground in many places becoming saturated. At the time of the Wicklow incident, the Arklow-Gorey section was also closed (14 to 27 November) due to a small landslip and concerns about the stability of an embankment just north of Inch. Also, during this period, the DART, Sligo, Ennis, Galway, Westport and Cork lines were closed or severely disrupted by flooding for varying lengths of time.

[dave182]

Here one I'd never seen before. Derailed Freight train in Tullamore station. Looks like the Asahi tanks were heading back to Dublin, so probably no major risk here. (Scroll down to bottom of page for images)

 

http://keepontrack.scoilnet.ie/tullamore/6th-class-boys-scoil-bhride/trains-past-and-present-at-tullamore/