Railway mishaps that occured soon after introduction to service

[Dr Day]

External factors, but Rotherham Tram-Train had a major lorry incident on the first day of operation, IIRC

 

[Ianno87]

The inaugral day of public operation of the new Blackpool trams saw one derail at Fleetwood Ferry.

And the second (I think) day of operation of the Metrolink to MediaCity saw an M5000 split the points at Harbour City (one bogie went one way, the other the other way)

 

[Eddd]

No structural damage, but Rocket was involved in a fatality during the opening ceremony of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830...

 

[Midmat]

The Dutch Fyra/V250 trains didn't do too well and were all withdrawn within a few months. A few sustained quite severe damage to themselves just on their regular journeys from memory (partly due to snow/ice though).

 

[tshanazt]

From Gillham, John C. (1988). The Age of the Electric Train: Electric Trains in Britain since 1883, published by Ian Allan Ltd, and as quoted on Wikipedia:

"Following a series of transformer explosions, caused by damage to the transformer windings from backfires in the mercury arc rectifiers, the entire stock of Class 303s had to be hastily withdrawn from service after only a few weeks' service. Over the weekend of 17/18 December 1960 all 72 EMU sets were taken into strorage and the old steam-operated service was temporarily reinstated whilst urgent modifications were made. This also delayed the handing over of the Cathcart Circle service to electric operation."

 

[Donny_m]

There’s a Tyne and Wear metro set in Bristol that came down for repair a few years ago but has seemingly been abandoned under a tarp.

As far as I’m aware they weren’t rebuilt into the silver with yellow doors that long ago so that one can’t have been running very long.

 

[Statto]

External factors, but Rotherham Tram-Train had a major lorry incident on the first day of operation, IIRC

Another Sheffield tram-train was damaged in a collision with a car at the same junction as the incident with the lorry, just over a month later

 

[Cowley]

The Dutch Fyra/V250 trains didn't do too well and were all withdrawn within a few months. A few sustained quite severe damage to themselves just on their regular journeys from memory (partly due to snow/ice though).

Hm. The class 155s had some fairly major issues (partly involving the doors maybe?) just after introduction on the Cardiff - Portsmouth’s.
This led to a hurried scrambling of various 47/4s, and whatever coaches were available during 1988.

 

[Andrew1395]

People will know of the Tay bridge railway disaster. When the 18 month old structure had a catastrophic failure. Less well known is the Dee bridge disaster. Where Robert Stephenson design in Chester failed after 8 months, with the train crashing yo the river resulting in many deaths. I think this may have resulted in the first railway inspectorate disaster reports.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Lots of Neville Hill units had serious collisions in the first few years.

156468/490 collided in the tragic Ais Gill crash in 1995. The worst affected 524xx vehicles took a couple of years to repair.

156473 hit by a stolen JCB at Pudsey foot crossing.

156498 collided with 91019 at Holbeck Junc.

156483 collided with a RES 47 at Leeds west end and apparently had a slightly twisted frame but was still repaired.

156489 collided with a 60 at Crosby Garrett.

All badly damaged and all repaired. The 156’s are strong old units.

There was also the one (478?) that was an insurance write-off after going for an unplanned swim in Scotland a few years back. Even that one returned to service.

 

[delt1c]

What about the 317 that had a Driving car written of at Cricklwood before even entering service