Train fire at Craven Arms on the evening of 22/05/2022.

[Towers]

Lots of ammendments on the Treherberts this morning, diversions and some cancellations. "More trains needing repair than usual", which you can't really argue with!

 

[wobman]

It sounds like the 2 units badly effected will need craneing onto a low loader now, the damage is worse than envisaged.
There's also been an issue in the sidings were they are stabled, they are saying it's safer to use road transport now.

 

[AdamWW]

The Valley Lines seem to be doing quite well today - there is little disruption reported on Journeycheck and what there is mostly seems unrelated to the lack of 150's.

There's an evening Coryton to Radyr and back cancelled "due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time." and a Treherbert train diverted via the City line all-stops presumably in replacement but that seems to be about all.

Quite a contrast to earlier this week, and indeed to what they were predicting for today last night and even this morning.

 

[dgl]

I reckon there was either a fault probably caused by the accident or some error in maintenance, an old hand here's sure that's happened before, but very rarely.

Given the damage below the solebar incurred in the collision it'd be surprising if the brakes HAD come off without incident. It's easy to say with hindsight but perhaps considering the damage was known about beforehand it might have been a touch naïve to expect it to be a simple rescue job, and I'm guessing it wasn't scotched when it was detached again.

Going from another forum it seems like if there is not enough cylinder pressure for the parking brake to be released then you have to manually release it, however certian precautions have to be taken as the parking brake can only then be applied once a certian amount of pressure has been built back up, naturally impossible if there is a leak somewhere and as such you now have a train wth no brakes at all.

 

[Shrop]

Does anyone know how far the police have got with identifying those who were responsible for this?

 

[keithboddey]

I have uploaded a couple of Photos of the situation at Craven Arms on 28th May. (6 days after the crash).

Login

cms.e.jimdo.com

 

[150249]

Out of interest, was it 150240 or 150242 that was the damaged tfw liveried unit?

 

[Strathclyder]

Out of interest, was it 150240 or 150242 that was the damaged tfw liveried unit?

150242. 150240 was at the rear of the formation. @keithboddey's video in post #19 of this thread has some up close video and still shots of the damaged train.

 

[Bikeman78]

150242. 150240 was at the rear of the formation. @keithboddey's video in post #19 of this thread has some up close video and still shots of the damaged train.

On a positive note, 150240 is already back in service. Last seen heading from Cardiff to Pembroke Dock.

 

[Anonymous10]

On a positive note, 150240 is already back in service. Last seen heading from Cardiff to Pembroke Dock.

maybe that's the unit they were rescuing as opposed to the others would make sense

 

[Strathclyder]

On a positive note, 150240 is already back in service. Last seen heading from Cardiff to Pembroke Dock.

That's indeed positive news, I did suspect that 240 woudn't have suffered that much damage, if any at all. Somewhat eases the chronic unit shortage TfW are currently enduring (I can't comment further on that from my perch up in ScotRail-land, so I won't lol).

 

[keithboddey]

Not sure if an early link I posted worked.
Try this

Craven Arms Train Crash

A serious collision occurred on Sunday night 22nd May 2022. I took the Camera over the following morning. The Video I made is on you tube here :- https://youtu.be/WOIjRil8SJQ

keithboddey.jimdofree.com

 

[liamf656]

It sounds like the 2 units badly effected will need craneing onto a low loader now, the damage is worse than envisaged.
There's also been an issue in the sidings were they are stabled, they are saying it's safer to use road transport now.

The damaged train has gone through the buffer stops in the sidings, the buffer stops in question now being underneath the end vehicle of 150242!

 

[Towers]

The damaged train has gone through the buffer stops in the sidings, the buffer stops in question now being underneath the end vehicle of 150242!

I wonder if there'll be a separate investigation into that!

 

[978wta]

I wonder if there'll be a separate investigation into that!

More than likely, and it will be the recovery crew that will be responsible I would have thought.

 

[507020]

That's the plan 1x150 freed up from the Bleanau branch and then in September the 197s go onto the Chester to Liverpool service.
It's a phased introduction which means 1x197 into service and 1x175 goes off lease with tfw.

Tfw need more units now and they are trying to get 2x150s from Northern on loan.

Surely the priority is to get 197s into service as planned rather than try and source any additional 15x or repair the damaged ones (which can go for scrap given the surplus there will be once the new TfW fleet is fully introduced) but they can’t afford to lose a single 175 until overcrowding is alleviated.

Blaenau Ffestiniog will free up a 150 and Lime Street - Chester must free up 153s, not allow 175s to be withdrawn. There are of course the 230s for Bidston - Wrexham which will free up another 150. They were supposed to have entered service by now…

 

[Anonymous10]

Surely the priority is to get 197s into service as planned rather than try and source any additional 15x or repair the damaged ones (which can go for scrap given the surplus there will be once the new TfW fleet is fully introduced) but they can’t afford to lose a single 175 until overcrowding is alleviated.

Blaenau Ffestiniog will free up a 150 and Lime Street - Chester must free up 153s, not allow 175s to be withdrawn. There are of course the 230s for Bidston - Wrexham which will free up another 150. They were supposed to have entered service by now…

the issue is the here and now 2 150s from northern could be pressed into service nearly immediately with little training taking the fleet back to the already tight numbers

 

[wobman]

Surely the priority is to get 197s into service as planned rather than try and source any additional 15x or repair the damaged ones (which can go for scrap given the surplus there will be once the new TfW fleet is fully introduced) but they can’t afford to lose a single 175 until overcrowding is alleviated.

Blaenau Ffestiniog will free up a 150 and Lime Street - Chester must free up 153s, not allow 175s to be withdrawn. There are of course the 230s for Bidston - Wrexham which will free up another 150. They were supposed to have entered service by now…

Tfw need units now and more Northern 150s would certainly help with stock allocation.
The 197s won't start being in service until august / September at the earliest, by then tfw have lots of traction training to complete. No 197s have completed their fault free mileage accumulation and testing yet, there's lots of work before they come into service.

 

[978wta]

Does anyone have any information on what is happening with the damaged 150s?

 

[150249]

Does anyone have any information on what is happening with the damaged 150s?

They looked repairable. I assume that they are being repaired or being assessed.

Would they make a 3 car 150/9?

 

[sd0733]

They looked repairable. I assume that they are being repaired or being assessed.

Would they make a 3 car 150/9?

I believe more damage has been caused internally by some unwanted visits to the units with the interior and a cab being smashed up and one of the cabs set alight.

 

[SuperLuke2334]

I believe more damage has been caused internally by some unwanted visits to the units with the interior and a cab being smashed up and one of the cabs set alight.

While they've been sat in the sidings??? Some people these days are utterly horrible....

 

[Towers]

To be fair leaving two obviously damaged units dumped in an isolated siding for a month, in the same area that someone appears to have deliberately derailed them in the first place, is never likely to end well

 

[sd0733]

While they've been sat in the sidings??? Some people these days are utterly horrible....

Yes .

To be fair leaving two obviously damaged units dumped in an isolated siding for a month, in the same area that someone appears to have deliberately derailed them in the first place, is never likely to end well

Exactly, seems more than a little likely that leaving battered units there for all this time is going to be a magnet for wrecking.

 

[AlexNL]

A good example of the broken window theory...

 

[Shrop]

Exactly, seems more than a little likely that leaving battered units there for all this time is going to be a magnet for wrecking.

Is there still no news on catching the culprits of the original crime of stealing vehicles, then driving them on to the track and abandoning them there? Is it just another sorry tale of not putting too much effort into catching them, in case the police catch them, only for the courts to succumb to their hurt feelings when they trot out excuses that it was all the fault of society for failing to teach them right from wrong? I might be getting old, but the way crime and punishment seems to be heading is that this could all end with the perpetrators, if they are caught, ending up with compensation due to the harassment that society and the courts have put them through.

 

[craigybagel]

Is there still no news on catching the culprits of the original crime of stealing vehicles, then driving them on to the track and abandoning them there? Is it just another sorry tale of not putting too much effort into catching them, in case the police catch them, only for the courts to succumb to their hurt feelings when they trot out excuses that it was all the fault of society for failing to teach them right from wrong? I might be getting old, but the way crime and punishment seems to be heading is that this could all end with the perpetrators, if they are caught, ending up with compensation due to the harassment that society and the courts have put them through.

It's a police matter, and this is a railway forum. I don't think you're likely to hear anything here unless the police make a public statement on the matter.

 

[Shrop]

It's a police matter, and this is a railway forum. I don't think you're likely to hear anything here unless the police make a public statement on the matter.

There's too much doom and gloom posted about this incident, my own despairing post wasn't really an exception I admit. But I did think it would restore a bit of faith in our systems if there was some info on the culprits being caught, and I guess that if that was the case, someone in rail circles would know.

 

[Alanko]

Is there still no news on catching the culprits of the original crime of stealing vehicles, then driving them on to the track and abandoning them there? Is it just another sorry tale of not putting too much effort into catching them, in case the police catch them, only for the courts to succumb to their hurt feelings when they trot out excuses that it was all the fault of society for failing to teach them right from wrong? I might be getting old, but the way crime and punishment seems to be heading is that this could all end with the perpetrators, if they are caught, ending up with compensation due to the harassment that society and the courts have put them through.

Almost a full bingo card here. Keep going!

 

[bishdunster]

Almost a full bingo card here. Keep going!

10 years absolute minimum with no parole for endangering safety on the railway, these absolute ********* deserve no sympathy !!!!!!