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Derailment at Shrewsbury

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Michael.Y

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At approx. 1420 today a Freightliner coal train derailed at Crewe Junction immediately north of Shrewsbury, blocking all lines.

Services to Manchester were being diverted via Wolverhampton to Crewe. Services from Holyhead were terminated at Chester with bus replacements running down the SHR-CHE line.

The derailed wagon has caused damage to the four foot. A large number of NR and BTP personnel were on the scene when I arrived at 1848 this evening. Most of the wagons had been removed from the Shrewsbury end of the train and taken back down the Marches.

There are no estimated times for resumption of services at this time. It is not known if the line north from Platform 7 at SHR is clear or not.

Amongst other things, it caused disruption to the Spitfire Rail Tour to Leeds which didn't stop at SHR. It instead stopped at Telford, with SHR railtourists forced to make their way to Telford in order to catch it. A pair of West Coast 37s were sat in Sutton Bridge Junction south loop when I made my way back down on the 1917 SHR-CDF.


Images : http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambrianpaul/7521356916/
 
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trainophile

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I was waiting at Crewe on Platform 7 to board the 1708 to Milford Haven, which eventually got away at about 1720. There was little useful information at Crewe - the garbled announcer was on duty again (and I'm not the only one who was complaining among ourselves), but I take my hat off to the train staff when we eventually got away.

They couldn't apologise enough, even though it was obviously not ATW's fault, and made sure everyone was given whatever information they needed as regards meeting their connections or the ETA for their destination.

I was wondering why no-one had reported this situation on here and was just about to do so myself! Michael.Y were you by any chance on the delayed train that I was on? If so well done and thank you all.
 
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The train in question was 6M61 Portbury - Fiddlers Ferry P.S. Freightliner Heavy Haul Coal Train.

I have found a pick of the rear of the train.

07/07/2012 14:15 Crewe Jn signaller reported that 6M61 (FLH H 0725 Portbury-Fiddlers Ferry) had derailed at Crewe Jn. 4t h wagon from the rear has derailed in the vicinity of CJ75 p oints. Signaller reported no issues with the route or detect ion, and is leaving the frame in its current state. Unknown at present which lines are available, or otherwise, at prese nt.
 

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Michael.Y

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I was wondering why no-one had reported this situation on here and was just about to do so myself! Michael.Y were you by any chance on the delayed train that I was on? If so well done and thank you all.

I worked the 1709 NWP-SHR followed by the 1917 SHR-NWP (what would have been the 1638 HHD-CDF) and there were only 2 pax on from SHR (re-started) so probably not unfortunately.

We do however have various stewards (and by extension, trollies!) stranded all over the countryside at the moment - most of the Newport ones are home but some Chester stewards had to leave their trollies in Shrewsbury and two of ours are in Chester.

There is some minor discussion on the Tours & Special Workings forum. There were quite a few rubberneckers gathered at the northern end of SHR platform 3 getting a good eyeful - I imagine CambrianPaul (flickr link) was one of them, given the location of his shots.

Incidentally - no word of any injury to the driver.
 

trainophile

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I'm pretty sure there wasn't a trolley on the train I was on. Thought one might board at Shrewsbury but I don't think that happened. I got off at Hereford, but it was hard luck on those going all the way to Milford Haven without even a hot drink. Still, things could have been much worse, indeed I thought I might not get back at all yesterday what with the weather problems.

Wonder how long the Shrewsbury lines will be disrupted. I'm going back up on Wednesday.
 

merlodlliw

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I was aware of this problem on Saturday afternoon in Wrexham, but did not return until later,one wonders if it was a points failure.

On Nat Rail http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/sa454b09fb56412aa07b41b373f03578/details.html

Alternative travel Wrexham to Chester by Arriva bus North West, so I followed the link to Transport Direct, put in Wrexham to Chester, the link stated not specific enough,so I gave up ,why do links have to be so complicated in an emergency to the average traveller.


Bob
 

Michael.Y

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Alternative travel Wrexham to Chester by Arriva bus North West, so I followed the link to Transport Direct, put in Wrexham to Chester, the link stated not specific enough,so I gave up ,why do links have to be so complicated in an emergency to the average traveller
Bob


Link looks straightforward to me; offering a timetable query for bus times. simply putting in Wrexham and Chester is not enough, because there's more than one bus stop in each town. our service down south Traveline Cymru is the same. Besides, there will only be a very small number of people using that web link, most will not even bother to check before they travel and have to be shepherded when they get to the station.
 

Schnellzug

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Link looks straightforward to me; offering a timetable query for bus times. simply putting in Wrexham and Chester is not enough, because there's more than one bus stop in each town. our service down south Traveline Cymru is the same. Besides, there will only be a very small number of people using that web link, most will not even bother to check before they travel and have to be shepherded when they get to the station.

that (perhaps going off the topic a little) is the problem with these Journey planners; if you're going, say, from town to the shops, and you know what the stops are called, that's all very well, but if you want to go from Wrexham to Chester, you're not going to want to fiddle about with "Wrexham: Town Centre [Outside Barclays Bank]" or whatever precise name they may have it listed under. You just want to go from Wrexham to Chester.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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I was aware of this problem on Saturday afternoon in Wrexham, but did not return until later,one wonders if it was a points failure.
On Nat Rail http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/sa454b09fb56412aa07b41b373f03578/details.html

Alternative travel Wrexham to Chester by Arriva bus North West, so I followed the link to Transport Direct, put in Wrexham to Chester, the link stated not specific enough,so I gave up ,why do links have to be so complicated in an emergency to the average traveller.

Bob

I was on the 1430 Chester-Birmingham, got off at Wrexham so luckily no problems for me, but this train would not have reached Shrewsbury as the derailment happened before it could be stopped.
I didn't see the NRE advice until much later, and I saw the Arriva North West message.
I just did a Transport Direct search for Shrewsbury-Chester on Saturday pm (as you might expect several stranded passengers to do) and, once you specify bus only, it offers 3 options:

1450-1837 Arriva/Helms via Whitchurch
1500-2030 Arriva/NX via Newport, Stafford and Manchester Airport!
1515-2240 Arriva/NX via Market Drayton, Hanley and Liverpool!

whereas it's actually pretty easy to do on the half-hourly Arriva buses via Oswestry and Wrexham taking under 3 hours.

If you put in Oswestry-Chester it still routes you via Shrewsbury and the stupid routes.

I just put in Wrexham-Chester and up came:

Bus Station
Walk to Trinity Street
Take Arriva 2 towards Oswestry
Get off at NE Wales School of Art
Take GHA 17 towards Wrexham
Get off at Bus Station (where I just left)
Walk to Trinity Street
Take Arriva 1 to Chester

Needs a bit more work I think...

On the day, I imagine something better was sorted out for anyone stranded (like using the Crewe diversions and then Chester and bus/train).
 

Squaddie

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that (perhaps going off the topic a little) is the problem with these Journey planners; if you're going, say, from town to the shops, and you know what the stops are called, that's all very well, but if you want to go from Wrexham to Chester, you're not going to want to fiddle about with "Wrexham: Town Centre [Outside Barclays Bank]" or whatever precise name they may have it listed under. You just want to go from Wrexham to Chester.
The Traveline Cymru website does allow you to just specify "Wrexham" and "Chester".
 

merlodlliw

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Link looks straightforward to me; offering a timetable query for bus times. simply putting in Wrexham and Chester is not enough, because there's more than one bus stop in each town. our service down south Traveline Cymru is the same. Besides, there will only be a very small number of people using that web link, most will not even bother to check before they travel and have to be shepherded when they get to the station.

The link put up by NR was incorrect anyway, The key bus service is run by Arriva Bus Wales & runs every 12 minutes between Wrexham Bus Stn & Chester Rail Station not Arriva bus North West a link to the Wrexham/Chester route one bus timetable would be easier.

OK I agree only a few will use the link, but lets make it easy.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I just put in Wrexham-Chester and up came:

Bus Station
Walk to Trinity Street
Take Arriva 2 towards Oswestry
Get off at NE Wales School of Art
Take GHA 17 towards Wrexham
Get off at Bus Station (where I just left)
Walk to Trinity Street
Take Arriva 1 to Chester

Needs a bit more work I think...

On the day, I imagine something better was sorted out for anyone stranded (like using the Crewe diversions and then Chester and bus/train).[/QUOTE] LNW/GW

The above example is classic,Trinity Street is where Wrexham Bus Station is situated with its 12 minute service to Chester Rail Station.
 
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All Line Rover

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The staff at Shrewsbury were most impressive.

I arrived on the 14:19 from Birmingham, walked round the station to catch the 14:24 to Crewe, and didn't notice anything untoward until we didn't depart at the correct time so I stepped off the train after about 5 minutes to see the freight train stuck just ahead of us!

Quite how a freight train can derail at such a slow speed I fail to understand. Still, the staff kept us informed and all passengers to intermediate stations (including myself) were off in taxis within 30 minutes! Overall I arrived at my destination just 45 minutes late. That's the best service I've ever experienced. :D (Passengers to Crewe and beyond were advised to travel via Wolverhampton).
 

GB

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Generally speaking, speed is not usually the causal factor (allthough it affects the general outcome) of a derailment.
 

Michael.Y

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The junction is now clear and the damaged trackbed lifted, leaving the through line incomplete. Trains are now running as normal north from Salop. A 4-car 158 ferried people to Wolverhampton to make connections to Crewe and the north, with Wrexham buses ferrying people to Gobowen etc. A special Crewe only 150+153+158 combo also took people north.

The damaged coal wagons were, when I left earlier today, still on the through road. All other engines and wagons are now off the scene.
 

Michael.Y

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Any idea when things will be back to normal Michael?

Passenger service wise things are normal now. Any freight will just have to run through a platform line until replacement of the trackbed is scheduled.
 

The175

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Heard a rumour that the derailment was caused by one of the buffers on the 4th wagon falling off, and nothing to do with the track at all- a buffer was certainly missing of the now famous '4th truck' when I saw it yesterday parked at Shrewsbury (on the middle round as Michael says).
Unlucky that it happened while crossing a busy junction at a station, but then again lucky it wasn't in open countryside at top speed I suppose... no win situation, eh?

Incidentally, anything running from the Chester direction into Shrewsbury can now only use platform 4, and not 4 & 7 as usual owing to the loss of diamond crossovers etc, so Shrewsbury might have some extra congestion issues for a while.
 

TDK

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Heard a rumour that the derailment was caused by one of the buffers on the 4th wagon falling off, and nothing to do with the track at all- a buffer was certainly missing of the now famous '4th truck' when I saw it yesterday parked at Shrewsbury (on the middle round as Michael says).
Unlucky that it happened while crossing a busy junction at a station, but then again lucky it wasn't in open countryside at top speed I suppose... no win situation, eh?

Incidentally, anything running from the Chester direction into Shrewsbury can now only use platform 4, and not 4 & 7 as usual owing to the loss of diamond crossovers etc, so Shrewsbury might have some extra congestion issues for a while.

If that's the case it could have well been buffer lock that caused the buffer to not be there - could be a number of reasons why it derailed may as well wait for the official report.
 

ChiefPlanner

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If that's the case it could have well been buffer lock that caused the buffer to not be there - could be a number of reasons why it derailed may as well wait for the official report.

Quite ! - not unknown for buffers to come off AFTER derailment ! Let the experts opine ....
 

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Can someone inform us as to why the BT Police Officer was in attendance, with his clipboard, as per the linked photograph, please, it was an operational derailment, I've never known them to get involved before if there are no injuries, crime, or hazardous materials involved.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
 
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GB

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BTP are notified as a matter of course. Who is to say at that early stage something untoward hasn't happened?

What looks to be on the surface may not necessarily be so.
 

John Webb

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Can someone inform us as to why the BT Police Officer was in attendance, with his clipboard, as per the linked photograph, please, it was an operational derailment, I've never known them to get involved before if there are no injuries, crime, or hazardous materials involved.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
May I suggest that the BTP were there to check if it was, or was not, caused by malicious interference to the railway? They could then decide if it was an operational derailment and leave it to NR etc to clear up.
 

PHILIPE

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I recall in the 90s at a time the police were getting overzealous, a loco derailed on a Euston to Glasgow passenger train on a Sunday night at 2100 on a freight line at Mossend while being diverted due Engineering Work. The leading bogie dropped off, fortunately at very slow speed. The BT Police declared the site a "crime scene", questioned all the passengers and would not allow them to be taken off the train for 3 hours to join buses. Fair play, they did admit later they had gone over the top but only after they had been embarassed for making a laughing stock of themselves.
 

The Informer

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Can someone inform us as to why the BT Police Officer was in attendance, with his clipboard, as per the linked photograph, please, it was an operational derailment, I've never known them to get involved before if there are no injuries, crime, or hazardous materials involved.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.


The BTP office is at the front of Shrewsbury station. The officer in question is taking 'fish & chips' orders on his clipboard for the boys! ;)
 

anthony263

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Another case today: 153327 manged to split the points at Cardiff Canton depot with one bogie going up one road the other going up another so it was a sight went I passed canton on the 17:04 service from Cardiff heading to Pyle this evening.
 
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