Cow 'stuck under train' after collision near Colchester

Saperstein · 18 Jun 2019

Cow 'stuck under train' after collision near Colchester

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/greater...&utm_source=eshot&utm_campaign=newsletterlink

A train near Colchester has collided with a cow on the tracks, causing disruption on the Greater Anglia network.

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The train franchise reported that the 6.47am Clacton-on-Sea to London Liverpool Street train struck a cow between Colchester and Wivenhoe.

The collision caused delays heading towards Colchester for the duration of the morning and affected services travelling from Thorpe-le-Soken and Walton-on-the-Naze.

A Greater Anglia spokesman said: "A train struck a cow, near Wivenhoe towards Colchester. The cow was stuck under the front of the train, and needed to be removed before the train can move."

The track was cleared about 8.30am, with disruption expected to clear on the network by 10am.

Network Rail engineers are being deployed to the incident.
H
Greater Anglia have directed affected customers to their Delay Repay scheme and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

Local bus routes 61/62 (Wivenhoe to uColchester) and 97/98 (Colchester to Clacton-on-Sea) are accepting train tickets

Looks like it was 1N13 and caped 86L at Colchester according to RTT.

Anyone know what stock is used on this service? picture shows a class 90 but RTT says the service doesn’t have a guard from Colchester.

I don’t know this area so no idea of the sort of speeds that might be involved, but lucky it didn’t derail the train.

RailUK Forums

Alfie1014 · 18 Jun 2019

Booked 12 car 321 units moved to Colchester sidings (presumably for a clean?)

trentside · 18 Jun 2019

Alfie1014 said:
Booked 12 car 321 units moved to Colchester sidings (presumably for a clean?)

A clean and based on what happens at my TOC an examination of the unit above and below to ensure there’s not serious damage anywhere.

Stampy · 18 Jun 2019

It needs moo-ving... Sorry

matacaster · 18 Jun 2019

Shouldn't it be

Cow stuck udder a train?

matacaster · 18 Jun 2019

Perhaps cow should have given a toot on its horn to warn driver?

Saperstein · 18 Jun 2019

That’s why cows wear cowbells.... their horns don’t work!

Metal_gee_man · 18 Jun 2019

The worst part is the network rail guys and gals will need to clear the cow off the line.
I know many years ago pre-privatisation that would have made it to many of their fridges and freezers that evening, now I suspect it'll have to be bagged and tagged and hauled of to an incinerator!

STEVIEBOY1 · 18 Jun 2019

I think something similar happened on South West Trains some years ago near Tisbury Loop with a 158 or 159 unit.

itsonlyme · 18 Jun 2019

It happened between Parbold and Appley Bridge in about 1961. When the train got to Wigan there was definitely a smell of steak coming from the engine. A hearty breakfast for the train crew that day!!

gazzaa2 · 18 Jun 2019

Metal_gee_man said:
The worst part is the network rail guys and gals will need to clear the cow off the line.
I know many years ago pre-privatisation that would have made it to many of their fridges and freezers that evening, now I suspect it'll have to be bagged and tagged and hauled of to an incinerator!

Political correctness gone mad.

trebor79 · 18 Jun 2019

Metal_gee_man said:
The worst part is the network rail guys and gals will need to clear the cow off the line.
I know many years ago pre-privatisation that would have made it to many of their fridges and freezers that evening, now I suspect it'll have to be bagged and tagged and hauled of to an incinerator!

Wouldn't make for very good eating. Assuming they were even able to butcher it, the flesh would likely be full of blood and bone particles. The blood spoils the meat and the bone fragments are obviously undesirable too.
Went on a stag do once where we butchered a deer in the woods. Instructor explained why one should never eat roadkill, and why they always shoot the deer in certain places to avoid the blood/bone issue.

Darandio · 18 Jun 2019

Metal_gee_man said:
The worst part is the network rail guys and gals will need to clear the cow off the line.
I know many years ago pre-privatisation that would have made it to many of their fridges and freezers that evening, now I suspect it'll have to be bagged and tagged and hauled of to an incinerator!

Reminds me of a story from my dad that happened near Tursdale Jcn in the 80's. Several cattle had been hit and my dad and someone else were in the messroom at Ferryhill. Next HST has been held at T439 next to the messroom, they are both told to get on board and driver proceeds with caution to within 200m or so of the scene. Ganger is already on site and decision has been made to roll them down into the dyke to allow traffic to resume.

Adlington · 18 Jun 2019

trebor79 said:
Instructor explained why one should never eat roadkill

It's a cultural things, like eating horseflesh... Americans are less squeamish:

State-wide bans on salvaging roadkill began in the 1950s, when one in 10 people in the lower 48 hunted; today, it’s only one in 20. When California made picking up roadkill illegal in 1957, the law was supposed to prevent people from poaching by intentionally smashing into deer with their vehicles. Oregon, Washington and Texas passed similar laws.

Forty years later, states began repealing their bans, partly to reduce the workload of state-funded highway cleaning crews. Tennessee was one of the earliest to do so. As a state senator, Tim Burchett received national attention when he proposed a bill to let Tennessee residents collect and eat roadkill without a tag in 1999. His prediction that “everyone’s going to make us look like a bunch of hayseed rednecks” was right. A Knoxville News Sentinel headline read “Grease the skillet, Ma! New bill will make road kill legal eatin’”, and a New York Times reporter covering the ridicule revealed his own prejudice when he wrote: “As if a state law were preventing anyone from scraping a happy meal off the asphalt. As if anyone would even dream of it.”

The reporter was wrong: within the last decade, more than five states have lifted or loosened their roadkill restrictions, making eating roadkill legal in more states than not. Today, thousands of people apply for salvage permits each year.

NoOnesFool · 18 Jun 2019

trebor79 said:
Wouldn't make for very good eating. Assuming they were even able to butcher it, the flesh would likely be full of blood and bone particles. The blood spoils the meat and the bone fragments are obviously undesirable too.
Went on a stag do once where we butchered a deer in the woods. Instructor explained why one should never eat roadkill, and why they always shoot the deer in certain places to avoid the blood/bone issue.

Plus it will be contaminated with track-side toilet waste, coolant and more than likely rat droppings.

Matt_pool · 18 Jun 2019

Reminds me of the time I saw a London Midland 350 strike a pigeon at Mossley Hill station.

I got the Northern stopper to Lime Street where I caught up with the 350, which had about half the remains of the pigeon spread across the windscreen!

With a bird strike like that you'd expect the pigeon to be deflected off to one side, but from the impact it looked like it had flown head on into the train which would have been going 60-70mph.

Something to do with physics just made it go SPLAT!

ThreeIfByAir · 18 Jun 2019

Well, let's be thankful we didn't have another Polmont.

sheepy1991 · 18 Jun 2019

Alfie1014 said:
Booked 12 car 321 units moved to Colchester sidings (presumably for a clean?)

Metal_gee_man said:
The worst part is the network rail guys and gals will need to clear the cow off the line.
I know many years ago pre-privatisation that would have made it to many of their fridges and freezers that evening, now I suspect it'll have to be bagged and tagged and hauled of to an incinerator!

Was a 12 car class 360. Unit moved under its own power but was sent into the Yard at Colchester for a checkover.

Internal reports suggest a block was given for the farmers tractor to pull the remaining parts of the cow clear of the line. Extremely lucky this was not more serious as it was not a glancing blow...

Saperstein · 18 Jun 2019

trebor79 said:
Wouldn't make for very good eating. Assuming they were even able to butcher it, the flesh would likely be full of blood and bone particles. The blood spoils the meat and the bone fragments are obviously undesirable too.
Went on a stag do once where we butchered a deer in the woods. Instructor explained why one should never eat roadkill, and why they always shoot the deer in certain places to avoid the blood/bone issue.

Reminds me of a time, many, many years ago when a driver told me how he hit this Pheasant near Haywards Heath with his 309, when he got to Hove it was apparently still on the front of the unit but the bones had shattered making it inedible.

Peter Mugridge · 19 Jun 2019

Err... Stag do... deer...? :rolleyes:

Saperstein · 19 Jun 2019

Oh deer

PeterC · 19 Jun 2019

I remember a similar incident near Romford, I think around 1970. A pair of horses had got onto the track and lost an arguement with a freightliner. I can't remember which class it was, either a 37 or 47, but as we went past the front wheels were definitely off the track with a horse underneath.

tsr · 19 Jun 2019

There was one incident not so long ago where a horse was cut clean in half by a train. Somewhere in the East Midlands, I think.

alxndr · 19 Jun 2019

NoOnesFool said:
Plus it will be contaminated with track-side toilet waste, coolant and more than likely rat droppings.

I tend to prefer my steak without the skin on... Doesn't matter much what may be on the outside, much like a banana.

306024 · 19 Jun 2019

Amongst the ‘comedy’ here a thought for the driver for whom it would have been an uncomfortable experience to say the least, and everyone else involved in the clear up.

Many years ago a 12 car 321 hit a number of cows near Hatfield Peverel in the evening peak, derailing one bogie in the middle of the train. And of course Polmont, although the line speeds on the Clacton branch are not so high.

61653 HTAFC · 19 Jun 2019

Saperstein said:
Reminds me of a time, many, many years ago when a driver told me how he hit this Pheasant near Haywards Heath with his 309, when he got to Hove it was apparently still on the front of the unit but the bones had shattered making it inedible.

A 309 going Haywards Heath to Hove? Was it a Peugeot Replacement Service via the A23? :lol:

DarloRich · 19 Jun 2019

306024 said:
Amongst the ‘comedy’ here a thought for the driver for whom it would have been an uncomfortable experience to say the least, and everyone else involved in the clear up

well said. Hardly a jolly jape for those involved.

Metal_gee_man said:
I know many years ago pre-privatisation that would have made it to many of their fridges and freezers that evening, now I suspect it'll have to be bagged and tagged and hauled of to an incinerator!

i dont think you would want to eat the remains after they have been hit by a train and rolled about in all the nasty stuff in the formation.

Alfie1014 · 19 Jun 2019

306024 said:
Amongst the ‘comedy’ here a thought for the driver for whom it would have been an uncomfortable experience to say the least, and everyone else involved in the clear up.

Indeed, can’t have been nice. Was on the country side of Wivenhoe near where there is a temp speed restriction of 20mph for a foot crossing so the train would have luckily been travelling quite slowly.

Saperstein · 19 Jun 2019

61653 HTAFC said:
A 309 going Haywards Heath to Hove? Was it a Peugeot Replacement Service via the A23?

Sorry.. for some reason I was thinking of a 319, but they, of course never went to Hove and this incident was long before they were introduced anyway ISTR.

The correct traction was probably 421 or 423 (or both).

The ex-Victoria services would run as 8 or 12 cars to Worthing, calling at Hove, sometimes Portslade, Shoreham-By-Sea, occasionally Lancing, and divide at Worthing.

The front 4 or 8 would continue semi-fast towards Portsmouth Harbour, the rear 4 stopper to Littlehampton.

Not sure what the situation was with Eastbourne/Hastings, was there even a direct service from Victoria?

Now of course they all split/join at Haywards Heath.

N.b. Happy to be corrected on the above, it was many years ago!

Dave1987 · 19 Jun 2019

Alfie1014 said:
Indeed, can’t have been nice. Was on the country side of Wivenhoe near where there is a temp speed restriction of 20mph for a foot crossing so the train would have luckily been travelling quite slowly.

Except for the fact that that isn’t correct. Train was travelling at 50mph when it hit the cow.

Cow 'stuck under train' after collision near Colchester

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