The explosion and fire that wrecked 1562 at Haughley Junction, 13/03/1971.

[musicindetail]

I recently spoke to someone who witnessed the immediate aftermath of this incident. As well as his recollections, I've seen several photographs of the loco following the incident, one taken in the loco holding sidings at Ipswich, and several taken at Crewe Works. Having very little technical knowledge myself, can anyone tell me what would cause so much physical damage to 1562? I realise that any explosion would cause damage, but the extent of the fire damage to this loco was extreme enough to see it scrapped while severely damaged 47163 was repaired and put back into service following its collision and resulting fire at Kensal Green in (I think) 1977.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Wasn't 1562 (a Class 47 loco) supposedly the only diesel locomotive written off in BR history for reasons other than fire damage or following a collision?

 

[Magdalia]

1562 did catch fire, with fire tenders from 4 fire stations called out to extinguish the fire. 1562 was reportedly "completely gutted".

BR had expenditure limits for repair of damaged locomotives. The estimated cost of repair of 1562 was £94000, far in excess of the £10000 limit that applied for most classes of diesel locomotive at the time, according to what I have seen in the National Archives.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Have seen it mentioned online that 1562 had been "souped up" and that it had therefore possibly been operating above original ratings. Believe the driver sustained a nasty injury (broken arm) when the engine room door was blown off its hinges.

More info here...

Account Suspended

Extract...

Early in 1971 D1562's power plant was experimentally uprated - with spectacular, and disastrous results. On the evening of March 13th, D1562 hauled the 19:30 Liverpool Street to Norwich in the hands of driver, Harry Hendry. Near Haughley Junction an explosion occurred in the engine room, followed by a fire. The force of the explosion blew the engine room door off its' hinges striking Harry Hendry; and breaking his arm.

Not much additional or supporting info on the Railways Archive site, though.

Accident at Haughley Junction on 13th March 1971 :: The Railways Archive

Archive of UK railways documents

www.railwaysarchive.co.uk

 

[Magdalia]

Extract...

1562 was working the 1943 Norwich to Liverpool Street, not the 1930 Liverpool Street to Norwich.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

1562 was working the 1943 Norwich to Liverpool Street, not the 1930 Liverpool Street to Norwich.

Just goes to prove that you can't trust everything on the web.

What was your definitive source, by the way? National Archives?

 

[Magdalia]

Just goes to prove that you can't trust everything on the web.

What was your definitive source, by the way? National Archives?

The costings numbers are National Archives.

The details of the incident are from the Ipswich Transport Society Journals in 1971.

 

[36270k]

Sounds like a crankcase explosion from overpressure. Sometimes caused by broken piston rings allowing fuel to enter the crankcase.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@musicindetail. Has your query been sufficiently answered now, or are you still looking for additional detail?

 

[dubscottie]

I can recall an article in one of the Railway magazines describing what happened.
Apparently the loco had been modified to run on industrial alcohol of some sort.
Crew were instructed not to smoke in the cabs as there was a risk of igniting the vapor.
Secondman ignored this with the results already mentioned.

 

[randyrippley]

I can recall an article in one of the Railway magazines describing what happened.
Apparently the loco had been modified to run on industrial alcohol of some sort.
Crew were instructed not to smoke in the cabs as there was a risk of igniting the vapor.
Secondman ignored this with the results already mentioned.

Interesting tale, but I would have thought extremely unlikely. It would be equivalent to putting petrol into a diesel engine.
I can't imagine that being agreed by the engineers

 

[musicindetail]

@musicindetail. Has your query been sufficiently answered now, or are you still looking for additional detail?

Hi.
Thank you for the response and information. Clearly, this was a particularly serious incident. The forces exerted by the explosion must have been huge.
I'm particularly interested in the process that took place once the explosion had taken place. in particular, why the bodysides of the loco showed such markedly different burn marks. On one bodyside, the visible fire damage is in one large, uninterrupted area, with visible rippling of the metalwork, while on the other side, the damage looks less severe and appears to be only in specific areas. With my limited technical knowledge, I'd love to know what took place in that engine room to cause such (apparently) different levels of damage to the different engine room areas.
I'm only guessing here, but do you think it's possible that the power unit 'ran away' causing huge pressure to build up in the crankcase? If so, could it have caused the main generator to become overloaded and catch fire, which in turn then caused the traction motors to become overloaded and flash over?
Cheers, Tony.

 

[Clarence Yard]

The ER loco casualty report for the period concluded “1562 13/3 - sparks from brake blocks ignited deposits” (responsibility code X2). So it looks as if something significant then ignited and, as a result, it went bang in a big way.

It was a standard 2580hp 47, running on diesel.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

The same loco caught fire at Ipswich on a Norwich bound service about five years earlier apparently, although doubt that is relevant to it's last and final journey.

 

[33017]

Hi.
Thank you for the response and information. Clearly, this was a particularly serious incident. The forces exerted by the explosion must have been huge.
I'm particularly interested in the process that took place once the explosion had taken place. in particular, why the bodysides of the loco showed such markedly different burn marks. On one bodyside, the visible fire damage is in one large, uninterrupted area, with visible rippling of the metalwork, while on the other side, the damage looks less severe and appears to be only in specific areas. With my limited technical knowledge, I'd love to know what took place in that engine room to cause such (apparently) different levels of damage to the different engine room areas.
I'm only guessing here, but do you think it's possible that the power unit 'ran away' causing huge pressure to build up in the crankcase? If so, could it have caused the main generator to become overloaded and catch fire, which in turn then caused the traction motors to become overloaded and flash over?
Cheers, Tony.

Don’t forget there are crankcase doors either side. Presumably, only one failed during the explosion.

 

[musicindetail]

Don’t forget there are crankcase doors either side. Presumably, only one failed during the explosion.

That's a good point, I hadn't thought of that. It would certainly explain why one side of the loco was much more scorched than the other. Thanks.

 

[Andy R. A.]

If you go to the Flickr website and type in '1562' into the Search Box you will find a post incident photo of the damage to the exterior.

 

[musicindetail]

If you go to the Flickr website and type in '1562' into the Search Box you will find a post incident photo of the damage to the exterior.

Thanks, Andy. What a mess she's in. Such photos certainly tell a story.

 

[dubscottie]

Interesting tale, but I would have thought extremely unlikely. It would be equivalent to putting petrol into a diesel engine.
I can't imagine that being agreed by the engineers

That's what I can recall. It could have even been the boiler that ran on alcohol. I am almost sure it was in one of the early RAIL magazines from the 80's (when some of the pages were printed on yellow paper).

 

[Ashley Hill]

If you go to the Flickr website and type in '1562' into the Search Box you will find a post incident photo of the damage to the exterior.

Perhaps search 1562 loco. I just entered the number and got all sorts of strange pictures.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

If you go to the Flickr website and type in '1562' into the Search Box you will find a post incident photo of the damage to the exterior.

Please could we have a link to the actual picture - see screenshot below; the site is expecting me to search over 208,000 images to find it...

 

[Ashley Hill]

Please could we have a link to the actual picture - see screenshot below; the site is expecting me to search over 208,000 images to find it...



View attachment 146403

Search 1562 Loco that brings up a picture.

For clarity here’s a photo by Ian of 1562.

 

[Andy R. A.]

Strange, my search brought up a different image only 20 pictures in.

1652 p

1562 at Crewe Works after its spectacular engine exposion and subsequent fire. With an estimated repair bill of £72,184, the loco was written off 11 May 1971

www.flickr.com