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West Coast Railway Company ECS catches fire near Salford Crescent


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Reports now in the media suggesting a WCRC empty stock train has derailed and caught fire on or near Windsor Bridge in Manchester.

 

ITV report and short video here:

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/story/2013-01-23/train-derails-in-manchester/#derailed-train-catches-fire-on-a-manchester-city-centre-bridge_150706

Edited by 'CHARD
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Oh dear - them again; not having a good time of late and I suspect this one will not only attract the attention of RAIB but, unless it is down to an infrastructure fault, will add to calls to remove the £5,000 limit on charter operators for delay etc costs as it is going to be an expensive job.

 

BTW as best I can make out it is at Ordsall Lane Jcn.

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Oh dear - them again; not having a good time of late and I suspect this one will not only attract the attention of RAIB but, unless it is down to an infrastructure fault, will add to calls to remove the £5,000 limit on charter operators for delay etc costs as it is going to be an expensive job.

 

Just speculating - which I know I shouldn't until more facts are known, but the fire does look to be in the bogie area - handbrake left on?

 

Cheers,

Mick

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Just speculating - which I know I shouldn't until more facts are known, but the fire does look to be in the bogie area - handbrake left on?

 

Cheers,

Mick

I did wonder as it does look low down on the loco in one picture, rather like a bad underframe fire (but that is surmise on my part - just that it does look  a bit like what I have seen of bad underframe fires).

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My take is that the engine derailed, fuel tank ruptured, sparks igniting fuel. With that amount of flame and white smoke it has to be a lot of diesel fueling the flames. What caused it to derail is another matter - such a multitude of possibilites i don't think I could attempt to narrow it down to even just a few!

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This couldn't have happened at a worse place. This Junction is very, very busy. Glad no one injured.

 

Having it rough the railways of Salford recently. The Diamond at Salford Crescent Junction failed around Christmas, and may not be relaid untill April. (according to link below). It was straight - lined, leaving a single track in the Salford Crescent - Man Vic line for a short distance. This is / has caused serious problems. Not sure if  this bit of line is back to normal. By the way Todays incident was around a mile east of Salford Crescent and not at this junction.

 

Long complicated story if your interested here.

 

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=77356

 

Brit15

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I would agree Titan - I would think the loco derailed first and ruptured a fuel tank and then took fire - it will be interesting to find out in time. Unusual in my eyes for the heavy locomotive to leave the tracks when on the back of the train or maybe the points failed or something under 47500. A shame for one time celebrity 47500 - in BR days all sorts used to get fixed up after bogie fires - depends on the damage level I guess but this now has derailment damage too! Anyway thankfully everyone is OK.

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Good to see some quality journalism, I never realised a Class 47 was a steam train.

 

http://www.wishfm.net/news/local/train-was-old-fashioned-passenger-steam-train/

 

Wow... "It was quite a significant fire in the sense that it was a fire on a train which isn't the norm.''

 

And then the fire brigade fought the fire with ''foam branches'', thats pitiful reporting!

 

On the other hand, good set of photos from GMFRS, and interesting to see they could get a fire engine so close (on the track?) and could bring a forklift truck with them?

Edited by cunningduck
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Wow... "It was quite a significant fire in the sense that it was a fire on a train which isn't the norm.''

 

And then the fire brigade fought the fire with ''foam branches'', thats pitiful reporting!

 

On the other hand, good set of photos from GMFRS, and interesting to see they could get a fire engine so close (on the track?) and could bring a forklift truck with them?

What do they call foam branches nowadays then?  And road access looks very easy indeed - fortunately - judging from Google Maps

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Wow... "It was quite a significant fire in the sense that it was a fire on a train which isn't the norm.''

 

And then the fire brigade fought the fire with ''foam branches'', thats pitiful reporting!

 

On the other hand, good set of photos from GMFRS, and interesting to see they could get a fire engine so close (on the track?) and could bring a forklift truck with them?

 

I wouldn't think that GMFRS deal with too many train fires. IIRC the last 'significant' train fire involving GMFRS was the collision at Eccles in 1984 where 45147 was incinerated.

 

With a large fire more than likely involving diesel fuel, foam would be the medium of choice, so foam branches would be needed to apply the foam. The foam branch mixes the foam liquid with water.

Edited by Baby Deltic
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Exactly what i thought!

Whatever one may think of the smaller operators, if you value the retention of the charter market, I wouldn't be so quick to condemn WCR, who do a lot of good stuff, too. No one's perfect, but if they are responsible for this incident, then clearly they'll have to accept the consequences of that. But - as ever - we should await the outcome of the official investigations...

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My take is that the engine derailed, fuel tank ruptured, sparks igniting fuel. With that amount of flame and white smoke it has to be a lot of diesel fueling the flames. What caused it to derail is another matter - such a multitude of possibilites i don't think I could attempt to narrow it down to even just a few!

Same as what i was thinken too buddy...

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..........................., and interesting to see they could get a fire engine so close (on the track?) and could bring a forklift truck with them?

The fire was right opposite the signalling REB which feeds the junction at Ordsall Lane. There is an gate about 200 yards away with vehicle access right up to the REB for maintenance.

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