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Disruption - Huddersfield to Stalybridge - 06/04/16 - uncoupled freight train

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ajdunlop

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Services this morning have been cancelled or severely delayed in both directions (more so towards Leeds) because of an uncoupled freight train.

As far as I can work out it might be this train http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/H60899/2016/04/06/advanced

I have just gone past and it looks like the decoupling has occurred between wagons around half way down the train. the train is standing just to the Huddersfield side of Slaithwaite.

Is this an unusual thing to happen? Seems odd that it has got this far in its journey before the problem occurred. Presumably that means something had broken rather than human error?
 
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gimmea50anyday

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Yeah, it is this train. A controlled reversal and recouple was successful and train is now on route. Westbound services were still running but eastbound have been diverted running non stop from MCV-LDS via calder Valley and Elland with bus replacement LDS-DEW and HUD-SYB-MAN. Services returning to normal but usual units and crews are displaced and out of hours etc still causing knock on delays.

Looks like a parting coupling as opposed to a damaged coupling. Its rare but does happen, piece of ballast hitting a bullseye shot on the buckeye has known to separate trains....
 

YorkshireBear

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Yeah, it is this train. A controlled reversal and recouple was successful and train is now on route. Westbound services were still running but eastbound have been diverted running non stop from MCV-LDS via calder Valley and Elland with bus replacement LDS-DEW and HUD-SYB-MAN. Services returning to normal but usual units and crews are displaced and out of hours etc still causing knock on delays.

Looks like a parting coupling as opposed to a damaged coupling. Its rare but does happen, piece of ballast hitting a bullseye shot on the buckeye has known to separate trains....

From what i can tell it looks like it the coupling jumped under the force of braking. Very unusual.
 

gimmea50anyday

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Not suprising but still unusual. Some canny steep hills around these parts these here trains have to climb, which is why TPE units have traditionally had more powerful engines fitted. The AT300's TPE are receiving will have uprated engines fitted compared to GW's version too.
 

edwin_m

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I don't recall hearing of many uncouplings of modern freight trains, so either they are rare or they are usually recoupled without serious disruption.

There's a RAIB report on one just north of St Pancras where the train for the stone terminal became uncoupled. Instead of realising part of the train was missing, the driver became convinced that vandals had removed the tail lamp and disconnected the brake pipe. Unfortunately the brakes on the rear portion were in poor condition and leaked off quite quickly, and the driver was very lucky not to be hit as it rolled silently down the grade towards the other portion. Being crushed by a few hundred tonnes can kill even if it's only moving at a couple of MPH.
 

JohnB57

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Not suprising but still unusual. Some canny steep hills around these parts these here trains have to climb, which is why TPE units have traditionally had more powerful engines fitted. The AT300's TPE are receiving will have uprated engines fitted compared to GW's version too.
Very true and as a child of the sixties, brought up within sight of where this mishap occurred and to the sound of steam locos struggling up the line in bad weather, I can vouch for the gradient up the valley. But this one was going downhill which I guess is a more unusual kind of split.
 
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headshot119

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I don't recall hearing of many uncouplings of modern freight trains, so either they are rare or they are usually recoupled without serious disruption.

There's a RAIB report on one just north of St Pancras where the train for the stone terminal became uncoupled. Instead of realising part of the train was missing, the driver became convinced that vandals had removed the tail lamp and disconnected the brake pipe. Unfortunately the brakes on the rear portion were in poor condition and leaked off quite quickly, and the driver was very lucky not to be hit as it rolled silently down the grade towards the other portion. Being crushed by a few hundred tonnes can kill even if it's only moving at a couple of MPH.

This is the report in case anyone else was curious.
 

Andyh82

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TPE we're getting blamed on Twitter as per usual, despite the distruption being beyond their control.

No TPE at all from Huddersfield to Leeds in the morning peak is quite significant though, had this occurred in a couple of years there wouldn't have been a Northern stopper either.
 
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