Railway Forum - White Knuckle Ride

I think I'll remember Monday the 8th of March 1999 for the rest of my life after the following episode. The Middlesbrough to Whitby branch had been closed for a couple of days and in the meantime there had been torrential rain in the area and reports of landslips etc, so I was asked to take a light engine (37890 heaveyweight) to Whitby to check the track. On board with me was a track worker and a signals inspector from Railtrack. The track worker had a list of places where there were worries there could be problems, so off we set in the very early hours to go and see if the track was in fact okay and the trains could start to run on time.

There were a couple of places to check to the West of Kildale station, one of which was a concern cos some farmer had been tipping slurry down the embankment onto the railway at one point, but these and everywhere else had been fine, so I was told the next place to check was at Danby, so off I set.

Just about a quarter of a mile after heading East out of Kildale though, we all noticed that there was a big dip in the track. I slammed the brakes on and hoped for the best, but by the time we'd come to a stand, we'd run over it and we were well and truly derailed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ale02-done.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ale04-done.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ale01-done.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ale03-done.jpg

The Railtrack inspector was white as a sheet, as were his knuckles which had grabbed very firmly onto the arm rests on the second mans seat. His first words were, "I think I need the toilet". I said he was in luck cos there was a toilet on Kildale Station that he could use, so off he trundled.

Me and the track worker surveyed the damage and concluded that we were especially lucky that we hadn't come to a stand actually on top of where the trackbed had slipped cos the loco would probably have then topped over into the river.

About an hour or so later, one of my inspectors arrived and the first thing he asked me was if I minded staying until the tool van lads had re-railed the loco cos there were no other spare men available. I said it was fine as long as he could take me to a shop somewhere to get something to eat, so he took me to Castleton in his van. On the way, we passed the Railtrack inspector and asked him if he wanted to go to the shop, but he said he'd find somewhere local. I figured he'd be lucky cos Kildale is a tiny place, but he seemed confident.

When we got back from Castleton, we saw the Railtrack inspector again and asked him if he'd had any joy finding a shop. He said he'd found a post office that was closed, so he asked a passer by what time it opened. The passer by said "Tuesday".

If you look at the last picture, you'll see that the track bed is about 2 feet below where the track should be, but while we were there, the track bed continued to slip and by the time the tool vans had re-railed the loco about 5 hours later, the gap beneath the rails was about 8 feet.

I have a few more pics of this incident somewhere which I will scan and add to this thread as and when I find them.