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

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edwin_m

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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-
There was of course the Armagh accident in 1889 when the locomotive was unable to get a heavy excursion train up the gradient, the crew decided to split it which rendered the rear portion unbraked due to the non-failsafe vacuum brake in use at the time. It is thought the front portion dropped back slightly on restarting, which was enough to push the rear portion over the stones that had been used to scotch a few wheels, after which it rolled back into a following train. This is what prompted the government to mandate continuous automatic brakes on passenger trains.
 
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Jagdpanther

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I am sure I have read of an incident at Barnard Castle where a slip coach crashed into it's own train. I think at one time some trains from Bishop Auckland direction heading through towards Penrith slipped a coach on the descent into Barnard Castle. There certainly was an accident and the practice soon stopped.
 

Dave W

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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-

Indeed - Captain Tyler from the Board of Trade referred to it at the time as "decidedly the worst railway accident" to happen in the country.

Of interest is that it's more widely known as the Round Oak rail crash, despite the collision being the Brettell Lane side of Brierley Hill station - the dates aren't clear but it seems Brierley Hill hadn't quite opened then. I suppose the breakaway did, after all, happen at Round Oak.

I grew up very close to the accident site, so it's to my own embarrassment that I actually know very little aside from that in the widespread literature (Rolt, for example). Maybe I shall make an effort to go home and review some local archives when I get a chance to go back.
 

bussnapperwm

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Indeed - Captain Tyler from the Board of Trade referred to it at the time as "decidedly the worst railway accident" to happen in the country.

Of interest is that it's more widely known as the Round Oak rail crash, despite the collision being the Brettell Lane side of Brierley Hill station - the dates aren't clear but it seems Brierley Hill hadn't quite opened then. I suppose the breakaway did, after all, happen at Round Oak.

I grew up very close to the accident site, so it's to my own embarrassment that I actually know very little aside from that in the widespread literature (Rolt, for example). Maybe I shall make an effort to go home and review some local archives when I get a chance to go back.

Same here. I only came across it when looking at a couple of bits in Brierley Hill library a few years ago.
 

bnsf734

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I seem to remember another accident on the Cowlairs incline out of Glasgow Queen Street in the 1980s when the loco at the buffer stops used to bank the departing train up the incline without being coupled. On this day the train departed with a class 27 I think and 40101 which had brought the train in and was then the banking loco. The class 27 pulled away from the class 40 whilst climbing the bank but subsequently stalled and 40101 then slammed into the back of the train. I think after that incident banking locos then had to be coupled to the train.
 
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Page 48 of April’s Modern Railways describes the rear portion of a divided freight train hitting the front and the guard being killed. 29 Feb 1892 near Chilworth Station on the SE&CR between Redhill and Guildford. There’s a topiary memorial at the station.
 

Sean Emmett

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Rather more recently 180 110 at Helpston in Dec 2017. Reported as hitting an obstruction on the track, which turned out to be one of its own engines.
 

Mat17

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In 2009 a pacer, one of 142042's engines detached and fell off and was then struck by the rear axle, derailing the train.
 
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