Man crushed by garden model train

[newbie babs]

Not sure if this has already been posted but just read it, on the news


Man crushed by garden model train at his Wilmcote home
A man has been airlifted to hospital after being crushed and trapped by a model train in his back garden.

The man, in his 70s, was thought to have been sitting on the large-scale locomotive when it left the rails and came off a garden wall.

He was trapped for almost 30 minutes as ambulance crews and firefighters tried to free him at his home in Wilmcote in Warwickshire, paramedics said.

He suffered abdominal and pelvic injuries, they added.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: "He was given pain relief and immobilised by ambulance crews with the use of a splint, neck collar and spinal board, before being airlifted to the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire."

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I am not at all surprised, as the engine of this size would weigh quite a considerable amount.

 

[sprinterguy]

I'm curious to know what gauge was involved here, in order to get a better feel for the situation. Whether it was the smaller 7 and 1/4 inch that is quite prevalent for garden railways and rides for the public in parks and the like, or perhaps something larger: Even 9 and a half inch gauge locos, such as the line in Marine Park in South Shields, are substantial pieces of machinery that must have quite a decent weight behind them. I suppose it depends on how big the unfortunate fellas' garden was!

I was involved in a collision on one of the 7 and a quarter inch lines once, back home in Sunderland: GWR Castle rear-ended a smaller tank engine (and it's attached "carriage") that had stopped on the main line for a "blow up" after losing pressure. Coal scattered everywhere, Castle nose-dived down the side of the embankment; It was just like a real train crash...only smaller...

 

[Madge Wildfire]

Poor chap, it must have been an awful experience. He is lucky not to have sustained serious burns, assuming the loco was a live steam one (although I suppose it may not have been).

Here's wishing him a speedy recovery.

 

[Schnellzug]

What's the minimum threshold for the RAIB to be informed? Would a 7 1/2 " count as a passenger carrying train? (And I'm not being facetious).

 

[ralphchadkirk]

I believe the gauge has to be over ~13 inches for anything to be RAIB reportable.

 

[ainsworth74]

I believe the gauge has to be over ~13 inches for anything to be RAIB reportable.

So an accident on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway would be reportable to the RAIB?

 

[ralphchadkirk]

So an accident on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway would be reportable to the RAIB?

http://www.raib.gov.uk/about_us/index.cfm

The scope of the RAIB’s work is set out in the Act and it is mandated to investigate any serious railway accident, as defined in the Regulations (Regulation 2(3)), which occurs on a railway, as defined by the Transport and Works Act 1992. This covers:

...
• heritage railways (including narrow-gauge systems over 350mm gauge);
...

I suppose it depends how the railway is set up in legislation.

 

[Schnellzug]

RH&DR would certainly, that's always been classified as a public railway. I expect one criterion would be if they chrage fares.

 

[507 001]

I was always told that it was anything OVER 10 1/4.