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Miscellaneous Reports

Diesel and Electric Casualties

This report highlights diesel or electric locomotives belonging to generally long lived classes that didn't survice as long as the others. A variety of situations occured that explain the early demise of specific locomotives, more often than not either accident damage or fire. This report examines those locomtoves in more detail.

Diesel and Electric Casualties
Number Class Built Final Depot Event Date Cond Age when Wdn Reason Withdrawn Scrapped
D6502 33 12/03/1960 Hither Green 05/03/1964 17/05/1964 4.18 D6502 was in charge of the diverted 02:00 Brighton - Three Bridges class 7 freight (retimed to 01:50 due to the diversion). The driver failed to stop at adverse signals at Itchingfield Junction and struck the side of the 02:30 Three Bridges - Chichester freight. Unfortunately the driver and the secondman in D6502 were both killed. It is thought they may have dozed off in the warm surroundings of the cab.
The MoT report can be seen here.		 07/1964
D1734 47 23/05/1964 Bristol Bath Road 11/01/1965 19/03/1965 0.82 D1734 was the the head of the 03:56 Saltney - Pontypool Road Class 5 freight, consisting of 46 wagons, 775 tons in tow. At the top of the 1 in 100 downhill gradient at Coton Hill, the driver failed to obey a stop sign and his train careered out of control down the hill entering the 'Up' goods loop at speed, crashed through the trap points at the yard exit then, despite an emergency brake application which reduced the speed to about 20mph, derailed and continued for a further 72 yards, having crashed through Coton Hill (South) signal box, demolishing it entirely. The driver was badly injured but the signalman was, unfortunately, killed.
The MoT report can be seen here.		 04/1965
D5383 27 26/04/1962 Line Power Controller, Derby 20/08/1965 15/01/1966 3.73 The 18:45 Leicester - Wellingborough freight, headed by D5383, ran into the back of the preceding freight which was held at East Langton signals. Both cabs were crushed and the locomotive ended up on it's side and caught fire. The driver was killed, despite taking shelter in the rear cab, while the secondman survived by holding onto the locomotive boiler in the engine room.
The guard of the freight was blamed as he had allowed the service to run despite it being overweight (c. 957 tons).
The MoT report can be seen here.		 06/1967
D322 40 21/04/1961 Western Lines (LMR) 13/05/1966 28/10/1967 6.52 While working the 20:40 Euston - Stranraer express, class 40 D322 collided with the runaway portion of a soda ash train that had been hauled by a Stanier 8F 2-8-0. The coupling between the 2nd and 3rd wagon had come off as the screw was not correctly adjusted. The damage to the locomotive was very severe and both enginemen died but the guard of the freight jumped clear before the collision. The accident happened at just before midnight at Acton Grange near the village of Moore near Norton.
The accident report is viewable here.		 09/1967
D5051 24 05/12/1959 Eastfield 11/1967 02/12/1967 8.00 Caught fire while working a Waterside (Ayrshire) coal train. Damage was so severe that the loco was condemned and became the only Sulzer Type 2 broken up at Inverurie Works. 09/1968
E3009 81 07/10/1960   06/01/1968 24/08/1968 7.88 On 6th January 1968, E3009 was working the 11:30 Manchester-Euston when it was in a massive collision at Hixon in Staffordshire. It hit a 148ft long transporter vehicle that was moving a 120 ton electrical transformer for storage at Hixon airfield while travelling at 75mph. The locomotive and first 5 carriages were destroyed and it is perhaps fortunate that only eleven people were killed as the carnage was great. A detailed report can be found at Wikipedia and the Government report is viewable here. 01/08/1968
D5122 24 18/06/1960 Inverness 09/09/1968 02/10/1968 8.30 D5122 crashed into the back of the 08:46 Glasgow - Edinburgh DMU at Castlecary. Both enginemen lost their lives. 03/1971
D1562 47 14/03/1964 Stratford 13/03/1971 20/06/1971 7.27 Class 47 No D1562 had been temporarily uprated and was working the 19:30 Liverpool Street - Norwich when, near Haughley Junction north of Stowmarket, there was an explosion in the engine room. D1562 subsequently caught fire and was severely damaged. The force of the explosion caused the bulkhead door to fly off and strike the driver, breaking his arm.
After periods of storage at Ipswich and Crewe Works, the locomotive was condemned and scrapped - it's cabs were retained as spares for future use.		 09/1971
E6027 73 10/04/1966 Stewarts Lane 10/01/1972 16/07/1972 6.27 While working the 12:24 Three Bridges - Chichester Class 8 Engineer's train, in conjunction with E6010, the train's brakes failed on the approach to Horsham station. The train ran into the back of the 12:02 Victoria - Portsmouth Harbour, consisting of 4-CIG 7362 and 4-BEP 7004. Considerable damage ensued but no-one lost their lives - the driver and secondman of E6027 taking shelter in the locomotives electrical compartment when they realised that a collision was inevitable.
On investigation, the brake cocks between the two locomotives had been switched off by the secondman at Three Bridges in trying to rectify a starting fault and he had forgotten to switch them back on, resulting in the driver having no control of the train brakes.
The MoT report can be seen here.		 02/1973

The following reports are available.

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