Has a train ever crashed into itself in the history of railways?

[PTR 444]

Last night, a trailer for a game called Snakeybus came up on my Facebook feed, which is based on the popular cellphone game “Snake” in which you have to manoeuvre a snake round the screen without crashing into your own path. That got me thinking, seeing as trains can be fairly long and flat crossings exist on many railways, has there ever been an instance where a train has crashed into itself side-on?

I’d presume if it’s ever happened, it’s a rather rare occurrence since there’s hardly any point in looping a railway over itself unless it’s climbing a mountain, such as the Tehachapi loop in the US. Trains do pass over themselves in these instances but via a bridge so they can’t crash into themselves. I’m just curious as to whether someone has ever built a railway that loops over itself at-grade, and a long train has had the misfortune to travel over it, crashing into itself in the process.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I don't know about a train ever doing that, but that famously smart and wise pop singer Brian Harvey (of East 17) once ran himself over in his car!

More likely (though again I don't know of any instances of it happening) would be an error or malfunction with a slip-coach failing to decelerate adequately and colliding with the train it just detached from.

Second edit: clearly the social isolation is taking it's toll!

 

[Ianigsy]

It used to happen occasionally with MGR coal trains if the train was too long for the loop - I've certainly seen photos of a Class 56 wedged against the last couple of wagons of its train.

 

[pdeaves]

Loads of times, but in nearly every case it would be on a model railway!

 

[AM9]

It could nearly have happened on the Canadian Pacific freight lines through the Rockies spiral tunnels early last year.

 

[Spoorslag '70]

There was a case in Germany where a train collided with itself (and a car for good measure...), being run top and tail without being properly coupled. The operator had a reputation for interesting incidents and lost the certificate because of this...
https://www.eisenbahn-unfalluntersu...henlimburg.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4

 

[edwin_m]

In the days of unfitted freight trains it was relatively common for one to become divided, and if the guard in the brake van wasn't fully alert the rear portion could then collide with the front one. If a driver passing a signal box saw the signalman waving a green flag slowly from side to side, they would understand this to mean they had to keep going to keep ahead of a runaway portion until they got to an ascending gradient that would bring it to a stop (or sometimes send it back the way it came, causing even more problems...).

Even with fitted trains this hazard still exists. RAIB reported on an incident outside St Pancras where a cement train was brought to a stop by loss of pressure in the brake pipe, the driver unaccountably formed the impression that vandals had opened the brake cock and stolen the tail lamp and didn't notice the train was a couple of wagons short. He was extremely lucky not to be crushed to death while putting things right, as the air leaked from the brake reservoirs on the missing wagons, the brakes released and they rolled silently downgrade towards the rest of the train.

 

[norbitonflyer]

A work colleague of mine told of an incident on his train home from Paddington in the days of class 117s, when the two units' mu and brake couplings had been connected but not the screw coupling. The rear unit must have been marginally more powerful than the front one (and had better brakes!) as nothing seemed amiss until the train braked for the first stop (which in those days was Westbourne Park), when the brake pipes separated and both halves stopped.

There have undoubtedly been incidents where a locomotive coupling to a train, or two portions of a train combining, have been misjudged. There is also this one http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/DoT_Glasgow1977.pdf, where a loco ran away down Cowlairs bank and crashed into a train it had recently been detached from.

 

[Taunton]

In the days of loose coupled freight it was by no means unknown. Couplings parted, but the rear portion carries on rolling behind, especially if there are some downhill bits, sometimes even with the guard unaware (particularly at night). Loco and front half gets stopped by the next signalbox for passing with no tail lamp, or the loco crew become aware, and then the second half comes down and rams the back of the first.

David L Smith's classic books about the Glasgow & South Western Railway 100 years ago have more than one such account.

 

[Ashley Hill]

There was an incident on the Meldon Quarry line where a train stalled. The driver cut the loco (33) off and drove forward to arrange assistance. This done he drove back towards his train and subsequently drove into it.

 

[edwin_m]

David L Smith's classic books about the Glasgow & South Western Railway 100 years ago have more than one such account.

Is that the one where a set of wagons got detached on one of the hills and rolled back and forth several times through the station in a nearby valley before it came to a stand?

 

[Cowley]

There was an incident on the Meldon Quarry line where a train stalled. The driver cut the loco (33) off and drove forward to arrange assistance. This done he drove back towards his train and subsequently drove into it.

I think I saw a video clip of the damaged 33 being dropped off at Exeter depot recently. Was that around 1990?
I have a feeling that the damaged wagon was dumped next to the accident site for a while?

 

[Ashley Hill]

I think I saw a video clip of the damaged 33 being dropped off at Exeter depot recently. Was that around 1990?
I have a feeling that the damaged wagon was dumped next to the accident site for a while?

Somewhere about there. Yes I've seen that video clip. The driver retired shortly after!

 

[norbitonflyer]

Is that the one where a set of wagons got detached on one of the hills and rolled back and forth several times through the station in a nearby valley before it came to a stand?

I've read of that happening on the West Highland line - the wagons broke away somewhere on the climb to Corrour summit and ran back down to Bridge of Orchy and on up the opposite hill towards County March summit until they lost momentum, and then continued to yo-yo back and forth a few times. The stationmaster at Bridge of Orchy, at home in bed, said he'd never heard such a busy night on the line.

 

[edwin_m]

I've read of that happening on the West Highland line - the wagons broke away somewhere on the climb to Corrour summit and ran back down to Bridge of Orchy and on up the opposite hill towards County March summit until they lost momentum, and then continued to yo-yo back and forth a few times. The stationmaster at Bridge of Orchy, at home in bed, said he'd never heard such a busy night on the line.

That sounds like the one - possibly one of O S Nock's apochryphal anecdotes. I had an idea it was Glasgow and South Western for some reason.

 

[Dr Hoo]

That sounds like the one - possibly one of O S Nock's apochryphal anecdotes. I had an idea it was Glasgow and South Western for some reason.

Pinwerry Dip on the Stranraer Line. Definitely.

 

[McRhu]

Yes. According to (I think) Video 125 and Paul Coia it happened on the Stranraer line.

 

[edwin_m]

Could have happened in several places I suppose.

There was one a little like it at East Didsbury in 2006: https://www.gov.uk/raib-reports/locomotive-runaway-near-east-didsbury

On Sunday 27 August 2006 an unmanned locomotive became uncoupled from the rear of a freight train as it approached Heald Green station, between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport. The locomotive then ran back northwards in the direction the train had come from for around 3 miles, and through a worksite at East Didsbury station. The locomotive then paused momentarily at Burnage station, before returning back southwards because of the gradient and through the worksite again. The train was brought to a stop by a combination of the gradient and workers wedging a wooden post in front of one of the locomotive’s wheels.

The track workers at East Didsbury station were not positioned on the same line as the runaway locomotive and so there were no injuries. Minor damage was caused to trackside installations.

The immediate causes of the incident were that the rearmost wagon drawhook broke while the train was on a gradient, and that the trailing locomotive had no air supply available in its air reservoirs to apply the brakes.

And while I'm on RAIB here's the St Pancras one I mentioned earlier: https://www.gov.uk/raib-reports/runaway-of-two-wagons-from-camden-road-tunnel

When the 20:10hrs English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS) freight train from Angerstein Wharf to London St Pancras Churchyard Sidings started from a signal at the south end of Camden Road Tunnel, the coupling broke between the second and third wagons from the back of the train. Fifty minutes later the brakes on the two separated wagons ceased to hold them against the gradient, and they ran slowly towards St Pancras for about 200 - 300 metres, then reversing before coming to rest about 140 metres from where they had started.

Causal and contributory factors included that the driver and signaller were not following the rule book requirements concerning trains where couplings had broken or had a missing tail lamp, the condition of the brakes fitted to the runaway wagons, and the breakage of the coupling because part of the material it was made from was outside specification.

 

[Taunton]

I've read of that happening on the West Highland line - the wagons broke away somewhere on the climb to Corrour summit and ran back down to Bridge of Orchy and on up the opposite hill towards County March summit until they lost momentum, and then continued to yo-yo back and forth a few times. The stationmaster at Bridge of Orchy, at home in bed, said he'd never heard such a busy night on the line.

This is actually from Smith's book, including the "never such a busy line" comment, and it was at Pinwherry on the G&SW Stranraer line. Freight stuck on the hill climbing south out of Girvan, so they divided it, loco crew took the first half forward to Pinmore, then returned for the second half where the guard was waiting. Loco men had not secured the first half adequately, and they rolled forward unattended down through Pinwherry and up the other side, then yo-yo-ing back and forth.

The book "Tales of the Glasgow & South Western Railway" is an absolute classic, both for Smith's writing style and the events described. The various chapters originally appeared in The Railway Magazine before WW2, and continued in Railway World afterwards before Ian Allan brought them all together in a book around 1960. There are innumerable accounts of unbraked goods trains having parts run away in various combinations which would suit this thread here, including on one occasion when speeding downhill in the middle of the night the coupling broke between locomotive and tender, and the crew squeezed forward on what remained of the footplate and "wisely decided to keep going". No collision that time, thanks to their foresight.

http://www.steamindex.com/library/smithdl.htm

 

[Merthyr Imp]

There's the fairly well-known tongue-in-cheek story about train operations in the old days at Trent Junction between Nottingham and Derby:

"You arrive at Trent. Where that is I cannot tell...You get out of the train to obtain refreshment, and having taken it, you endeavour to find your train and your carriage. But whether it is on this side or that, and whether it is going north or south, this way or that way, you cannot tell. Bewildered, you frantically rush off into your carriage, the train moves off round a curve, and then you are horrified to see some red lights glaring in front of you, and you are in immediate expectation of a collision, when your fellow passenger calms your fears by telling you that they are only the tail lamps of your own train!"

Given the layout at Trent when the North Curve was still in operation and a very, VERY long train it would have been physically possible - if operationally unlikely - for, as in the original post, a train to collide with itself.

 

[Dr Hoo]

It used to happen occasionally with MGR coal trains if the train was too long for the loop - I've certainly seen photos of a Class 56 wedged against the last couple of wagons of its train.

Any chance of some more details for this? I presume that you are talking about run-round loops rather than the 'discharge circuits'.
Most Yorkshire MGRs started off as 30-wagon sets ISTR, with loops just long enough at several collieries. Later on there was a move to 34-wagon sets at some locations that had had loops extended. Even with TOPS it wouldn't be impossible to accidentally pick up the 'wrong' set in the dark or fog and only find out the hard way at a location with a short loop.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Balloon loops (as at Dungeness on the RH&DR) rather than run-round loops, I think.

 

[TheSel]

Any chance of some more details for this? I presume that you are talking about run-round loops rather than the 'discharge circuits'.
Most Yorkshire MGRs started off as 30-wagon sets ISTR, with loops just long enough at several collieries. Later on there was a move to 34-wagon sets at some locations that had had loops extended. Even with TOPS it wouldn't be impossible to accidentally pick up the 'wrong' set in the dark or fog and only find out the hard way at a location with a short loop.

I suspect this may be the instance referred to in Colin J Marsden & Christopher G Perkins' book "RAIL MISHAPS - A pictorial study of accidents, derailments and collisions" [published by 'TheRailwayCentre.com' - ISBN 978-0-9557887-4-1], which documents (and pictures) such an incident that occurred on 30 October 1980 at Bentley Colliery, where - with two-day old 56084 - the crew of a Merry-go-Round coal trip attempted to run round their train and collided with the end of it which was still foul of the points at the end of said run-round.

 

[Taunton]

Reminiscent of an event in WW2 on the Taunton-Barnstaple single line when two military goods specials, both 43xx double-headed, crossed, both of which (only when they stopped at the starters) turned out to be longer than the loop points. You can work out how many steps were then needed to get round each other.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I suspect this may be the instance referred to in Colin J Marsden & Christopher G Perkins' book "RAIL MISHAPS - A pictorial study of accidents, derailments and collisions" [published by 'TheRailwayCentre.com' - ISBN 978-0-9557887-4-1], which documents (and pictures) such an incident that occurred on 30 October 1980 at Bentley Colliery, where - with two-day old 56084 - the crew of a Merry-go-Round coal trip attempted to run round their train and collided with the end of it which was still foul of the points at the end of said run-round.

Spot on.
Thanks.

 

[pint]

Alton towers: Runaway mine train coaster did exactly that once when a coupling broke and it separated in to two parts, one part then rolled into the other
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/5198728.stm
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jul/21/travelnews.travel

 

[EveningStar]

Vallance's book about the Highland Railway records how the Highland Railway, being both poor and remote from officialdom, responded to an order in 1891 from the Board of Trade concerning continuous brakes on mixed trains with a long correspondence claiming that their practice of running partially braked mixed trains was perfectly safe. Somewhat undermining this assertion was an accident at Achnashellach on the evening of 14 October 1892 (recounted in McConnell's book about the Kyle line), where after uncoupling the locomotive of such a train to undertake some shunting, the train overcame the only remaining brake, started running away on a steep gradient and disappeared into the darkness. Panicking, the train crew set out on their locomotive in pursuit, completely forgetting that the gradient lead to a dip and they thereby ran into their runaway train, injuring nine passengers, as it returned towards them in the darkness from the opposite gradient.

The book "Tales of the Glasgow & South Western Railway" is an absolute classic

Totally agree.

 

[edwin_m]

Vallance's book about the Highland Railway records how the Highland Railway, being both poor and remote from officialdom, responded to an order in 1891 from the Board of Trade concerning continuous brakes on mixed trains with a long correspondence claiming that their practice of running partially braked mixed trains was perfectly safe. Somewhat undermining this assertion was an accident at Achnashellach on the evening of 14 October 1892 (recounted in McConnell's book about the Kyle line), where after uncoupling the locomotive of such a train to undertake some shunting, the train overcame the only remaining brake, started running away on a steep gradient and disappeared into the darkness. Panicking, the train crew set out on their locomotive in pursuit, completely forgetting that the gradient lead to a dip and they thereby ran into their runaway train, injuring nine passengers, as it returned towards them in the darkness from the opposite gradient.

I'm assuming this mixed train had some of the passenger coaches without brakes. As far as I know mixed trains continued well after the 1889 Act made continuous brakes compulsory on passenger trains, but had to have the vacuum brake connected and working on the passenger portion. As this portion was nearest the locomotive, shunting was "interesting" on occasions.

 

[EveningStar]

I'm assuming this mixed train had some of the passenger coaches without brakes. As far as I know mixed trains continued well after the 1889 Act made continuous brakes compulsory on passenger trains, but had to have the vacuum brake connected and working on the passenger portion. As this portion was nearest the locomotive, shunting was "interesting" on occasions.

As I understand it, for convenience of shunting the Highland marshalled mixed trains with coaches at the rear and resisted the Board of Trade requirement for continuous brakes. Achnashellach rather damaged the Highland's argument, although the idea of an engine crew setting off in hot pursuit of their runaway train suggest there was more informality about Kyle line operations than a lack of continuous brakes.

 

[bussnapperwm]

I'm 99% sure there was a incident in Brierley Hill in the late 1800/early 1900s where the train was detached due to overloading and the front half reversed down an incline into the rear half.

EDIT - https://www.blackcountrymuse.com/apps/forums/topics/show/7639045-brierley-hill-train-crash-

For the return trip, due to the huge length of the train, and the lines gradient in places, ( 1 in 75 ) it was decided to split the Carriages, and form two Trains. The first Train now comprised 2 Engines and tenders, 28 Carriages, and 2 brake Vans, one at the front the other at the rear. The other was made up of an Engine and tender, 14 Carriages, a brake van, and left Worcester 15 minutes behind the first which departed at 6.25pm. This train had an extra Engine added at Stourbridge to cope with the steep gradient from Brettel Lane. The first Train arrived at Round Oak, at 8.10pm, it was by now very dark, and the wind was blowing smoke from the many factories across the line. This may have why, in the Station, the train crew failed to spot that yet another coupling had broken, and 17 Carriages, containing over 450 pasengers, and the brake van were now heading back down the line towards the Station they just left, Brettel Lane. A Telegraph message was sent to Brettel Lane, but went unanswered as the second Train was now just leaving the Station, a supposed 11 minutes behind the first. The first hint of any trouble for the driver of the second Train, as the Engines struggled with the weight up the incline, was the sight of the oncoming lights of the runaways guards van. Slamming on the brakes, the train was down to about 2 mph when the van and carriages smashed into it at 16 mph, at a spot called the " Bug Hole ", just beyond Moor Lane Bridge. Doesn't sound much does it, but with all the weight behind it, the van and the last 2 carriages of the runaway were shattered into a million pieces.