319 455 breathes fire at KCM

[compsci]

As is normal on a weekday morning I was waiting for a train to City Thamelink at the southern end of platform 1 of King's Cross Thameslink. 319 455 pulled in, and as it went under the bridge at the Farringdon end of the plaform a fireball erupted under the bridge with a very loud bang. I'm guessing that this was a 25kv arc, having not seen one before.

The train was pulled up about a carriage length short of the stopping mark, apparently leaving the rear carriage in the tunnel. The driver released some doors on the front unit with the manual cock, but it seems that the station staff didn't do the same to the rear unit, and after being informed of this (after a five minute delay), the driver ran to do it himself.

It seems that the very limited clearance between the OHLE and the bridge may be at fault. The train departed after a delay of about ten minutes.

 

[westcoaster]

not to sure about that there would be no fire ball, just a bang and a blue flash,unless there was something around the pan, did u notice if the pan was still up or down on the unit?

 

[compsci]

The pan was still up, and nowhere near the flash. It may well have just been a blue flash, but there was a bit of a burning smell.

 

[westcoaster]

prob got a pigeon wrapper around it or something, porb tripped out all the switches thats why it went out of service, most strange.(were other trains still running)

 

[compsci]

The power was lost, but was turned back on after the driver contacted the signalman. A pigeon sounds plausible. The clearance between the bridge and the OHLE is about the size of a pigeon.

 

[westcoaster]

tripped out all power, sounds like that is the cause or the pan would not go down, blew out the air valve that keeps the pan up that might have caused the fire, guess we will never find out.

 

[compsci]

The flash was two carriages in front of the pantograph. I didn't see if it stayed up or went down.

 

[westcoaster]

oh the mystert deepens, in that case i dont know very strange