RTC - The Lindum Fayre - 3/12/16

Thanks but that's only available to subscribers ! -- A summary would be useful.

 

Riveira's stock has come in for plenty of stick in recent times about it's condition and ending up on the deck at Southampton Docks didn't help.

 

HSTs do use buckeyes between vehicles, they just aren't dropheads and they don't have buffers.

 

My father was on a train on the GWGCJ near High Wycombe in the late '50's which became divided. I think it was between loco and train but I may not be remembering that correctly. I remember he said it had a Grange on the front. Details aside it clearly did happen from time to time with passenger trains.

 

Here's an extract or two :
"From what Iv seen its a similar failure to the XC HST."
"From the photo I've seen, it certainly looks like a tailpin failure, rather than the nut working loose due to a missing split pin. Though the photo is rather poor and grainy, so can't tell for certain."
"From what Iv seen the hole drawhook came detached from the coach with the buckeye still coupled to the other coach. The buckeye its self hasn't failed."

I take no responsibility for the accuracy of the reports nor the spelling and grammar.

 

I'm surprised that there was no damaged done to the corridor connections between the coaches and at least one of the Vac brake hoses was not ripped apart. Also detonators should have been placed on the rails to protect a disabled train.

 

That was the point I was making.

 

Here we see one fail in front of you, a very lucky catch...

 

Mark 1s have Pullman Gangways, so I would be surprised if there had been any damage to these as they are 'sprung' against each other, no clips are used, as you would with British Standard Gangways. There is a very good post, I think on the 'volunteer crisis' thread, by @threelinkdave, explaining the process of coupling with both Buckeyes and screw coupled stock. Spookily, 'divided trains' were being discussed there earlier this week (and perhaps even more so I was discussing the subject with a retired senior rail manager this morning after the incident but certainly before I knew of it and I suspect he might not have done either).

The brake pipes will almost certainly have separated - this is the 'fail safe' in such circumstances. If the train was air braked (which it may well have been as 46233 is dual braked), then at least one of the pipes would definitely have parted company with the vehicle it was formerly attached to!

I suspect there will be a desire to establish the exact reason to enable suitable checks and 'counter-measures' to be undertaken as swiftly as possible, and this may well not be difficult to do if some of the reports are correct.

As it the incident alsmost certainly took place on track ciruited lines, I suspect detenators would not be needed.

Steven

 

And only about 24 posts too

 

Rather suprised it took so long to clear the stock out of the way. There are solutions to most buckeye failures

1. locking pin failure - drop couplers, lengthen buffers - couple across draw hooks using emergency -red- coupling
2. Drophead pin failure - same as 1
3. Drawhook failure - no simple solution - recover ecsfromother end

Vacuum bag destruction. Spare vac bags are carried so split bag can be replaced. I carry a small adjustable spanner for such eventualiyies

 

Subscribe then!!! It's probably anti-speculation device, and clearly works as there is only about 24 posts on the subject!!!

 

From what I've read on wnxx, the front portion of the train eventually went forward and the rear portion went back to to wherever they ended up.

 

farce
fɑːs/
noun

1. a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations.
   "he toured the backwoods in second-rate farces"
   synonyms: slapstick comedy, broad comedy, slapstick, burlesque, vaudeville, travesty, buffoonery;More
   
   
   • the dramatic genre represented by farces.
     "the choreographed confusion of real farce"
   • an event or situation that is absurd or disorganized.
     "the debate turned into a drunken farce"
     synonyms: absurdity, mockery, travesty, sham, pretence, masquerade, charade, piece of futility,joke, waste of time, laughing stock; More

I'd say the last one covers it, wouldn't you? It is a somewhat absurd event.

It was also posed as a question rather than a statement.

 

I think 'farce' is one of those words commonly used by certain members of the, um, railway enthusiast fraternity to refer to an unusual occurrence that might cause delay to other services and may take some time to sort out. I wouldn't read too much into it: if you don't use the word in such a context (as I don't) then it might strike you as incongruous. It's not been a particularly good day for charter trains for one reason or another.

 

Anything mechanical can break down or malfunction for reasons only known to Mr Sod and his wretched law. This wasn't a farce and the outcome for the passengers was unfortunate but inevitable. It happens, I'm sure we've all had our cars breakdown or have a flat tyre when we are in a hurry to get somewhere, I have but I would never describe it as a farce.

 

During my years as a booking lad and then signalman, I never experienced a freight train dividing, let along a passenger train. All of us were trained of course to look out for the rear of all trains to ensure that the tail lamp was in place. Thank God, it always was. And so today's incident is likely to be a very rare occurrence indeed and will be subject to very close scrutiny. As others have said, it could have happened out of the mainline travelling at speed (snatch). Actually, let's not go there.

 

Wrong. A passenger train separating whether as an ECS or passenger duty, whether DBC or West Coast would justify much more than just throwing toys out of the pram. As with other investigations, you can be sure there will be one and the consequences will be revealed in the fullness of time.