Miniature railway accident

[John_Hughes]

BBC story here.

 

[PatB]

the most noteworthy aspect of that story is the fabulously irrelevant heading photo of an anonymous green field and some trees .

[Fat Controller]

That field is part of the Country Park (built on the site of ROF Pembrey, subject of another thread on here); the Llanelli Star/ South Wales Evening Post website has a photo of the train. 

[Marshall5]

More information here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/18/twelve-children-and-five-adults-injured-as-miniature-steam-train/

According to the club's Farcebook page they were cleared by H&S to recommence running today.  It would be interesting to know the cause of the accident (as you can see from my picture I operate at a similar railway) because we experienced a derailment a fortnight ago which appeared to be an act of sabotage. Hope everyone involved gets well soon - I know from personal experience how upsetting it can be to have passengers injured like this.

Ray.

[Chameleon]

A fleet of three ambulances, fire engines, rapid response vehicles and emergency medical retrieval teams were called to the incident at 12.30pm.

 

Wonder if they were told there has been a train crash and thought it was a major incident?

[PaulRhB]

More information here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/18/twelve-children-and-five-adults-injured-as-miniature-steam-train/

According to the club's Farcebook page they were cleared by H&S to recommence running today. It would be interesting to know the cause of the accident (as you can see from my picture I operate at a similar railway) because we experienced a derailment a fortnight ago which appeared to be an act of sabotage. Hope everyone involved gets well soon - I know from personal experience how upsetting it can be to have passengers injured like this.

Ray.

Glad to hear H&S have cleared them, strongly suggests it was a simple cause accident.

 

Having driven big 7 ¼ inch locos in the past at a country park I can attest to derailments being caused by a variety of reasons from loco or track failures, trees dropping branches to chippings etc being thrown on the track in front of my loco. One feature we had was L&B style wagons so in the event of a tip over the passengers legs were protected. There was also a big concrete slab low down in the chassis which 99 out of 100 meant they stayed completely upright. Passengers abiding by the do not lean over is also crucial as one leaning out to grab something dropped in front can lead to others doing it and combined centre of gravity shifting too much.

I'm sure the reason will do the circuit of miniature lines soon although I hope the media attention doesn't mean an excessive reaction to risk from the insurer.

[Giles]

This is why I greatly prefer 10 1/4" gauge - we've had very, very few derailments, and stock has always remained upright and never tipped over. The extra three inches (and mass low down) pays very real dividends under these circumstances.

 

I've once been on a 7 1/4 train being pulled by a Prairie being driven in a rather foolhardy fashion (public train) which derailed and tipped two or three coaches on a curve, spelling us all onto the ground - fortunately no one was seriously injured.

[RJS1977]

There used to be a 2' gauge passenger operation in that area of the park as well, but that has now been abandoned. Most of the circuit is still in place, apart from one spot where it has been breached by a 7 1/4" gauge siding!