Railway Crash Berkshire

[DickieD]

The derailment of the IC125 train in the Selby crash some time ago was apparently influenced by the fact the train 'engine' was at the rear and the much lighter driving trailer was in front. Can anybody tell from what has appeared so far on TV whether or not this was the case in the latest crash?

[sddsddean]

They are two different sorts of trains Dickie. In the Selby crash, you would have had a train made up of a loco (probably a Class 91), about 8 coaches and the Driving Trailer (probably a Class 92 or 93). This is 'cos the ECML is overhead electric. The Western region uses 125's which have a diesel powered class 43 loco at each end, so it will be 'heavy' at both ends. I will now put on my anorak and go home!!

[DickieD]

sddsddean -- Brilliant! Thanks for that. I had, obviously mistakenly, deduced that the lighter end of the Upton Nervet train had ridden up on a piece of (Mazda) debris and this had slid in front of the wheels as far as the points. Maybe that did happen anyway despite the engine at both ends. I must read more of the 'Railway Magazine' instead of just looking at the pictures! Keeping your anorak on for the moment, perhaps you can explain why modern trains don't have the spiky things in front of the wheels that steam engines had? Most American diesels seem to have snow ploughs (plows?) fitted as standard, perhaps this is because of the greater frequency of level crossings in the U.S., as well as the snow.

[sddsddean]

The 'spikey' things you refer to are presumably the wedge shaped gratings on old American locos (as seen in Alias Smith and Jones etc). These are 'cowcatchers' to shove any unsuspecting animal out of the way. Obviously a snowplough would have to be solid. These are kept at loco depots and used as needed. The only other 'spikey' things are the buffers, which are between each piece of rolling stock. Most locos still have these, but they are sometimes behind a fairing which is removed when they are needed.

[sddsddean]

If you go here http://web.ukonline.co.uk/railpics/hst.htm you can some pics of HST125 locos. On most of them you can see the panel on its 'chin' that is opened to reveal the coupling. Go about 2/3 of the way down to 43080 and you will see this is one of the few examples that still has its buffer beam.

The only picture I could find of a snowplough is on this page of photos of models, but it shows what one looks like. You simply hitch a loco up to it and drive at the snowdrift! Its about 10 pictures down. http://www.dyserth-road.co.uk/Visitors%20Stock/visitors_stock.htm

[sddsddean]

I'll do that link again. http://www.dyserth-road.co.uk/Visitors%20Stock/visitors_stock.htm

 

[DickieD]

Thanks sddsddean -- But I don't mean the things you mention which I am familiar with. It took me a while to find this picture which shows a length of metal hanging down in front of each of the leading wheels. Many steam locos had these, even the last classes built by B.R. http://www.southdevonrailway.org/3803plustender.jpg

[sddsddean]

Hadn't seen those before. Obviously just a simple way of ensuring the wheels don't hit any obstructions. I wonder why they don't use something similar nowadays?