Virgin Voyager Fire.
 

Rail Gen sites are reporting that a Class 221 Virgin Voyager has caught fire at Rugby. It is thought to be a Euston - Holyhead service. Don't know how serious it is. Network Rail say that all services in the area are at a standstill.

The voyagers really have had a fair share of problems on the network ever since their introduction.

Fortunately on this occasion it doesn't appear to have been too serious and the initial reports of it being a "fire" were a bit exaggerated.

Here is a description of the incident from a North Wales rail worker who was travelling on the train:

"I was on the 19:38 Voyager from London yesterday. We arrived at Rugby on time and were sat in the platform for a good ten minutes. Then the train manager made an anouncement that everybody should evacuate the train in a calm and fashionable manor. So everyone got off the train at Rugby. I walked down towards the back end of the train to find lots of Virgin staff looking at some smoke comeing from the roof of coach A, first class coach. There wasn't a lot of smoke but enough to cause a bad smell and a lot of concern. Ten minutes later the fire brigade showed up and then a lot of network rail people.About half past nine we were told we could get back on the train and that it would be going via Birmingham and that there would be a set swap at Birmingham. Passengers for Litchfield T.V were told to wait at Rugby for the service behind ours. About 21:40, with the engine isolated, we were on our way again to Birmingham. According to the train manager, it was coolant that was leaking, therefore causing the smoke. We rolled in to platform 2 at Birmingham and were told that there would be another Voyager there waiting to take us to Holyhead at platform 3. Five minutes later 221102 came in and everyone got on. Once again we were on our way about 22:40 - the time i should have been back at LLJ!
We arrived back at LLJ about 01:00 in the morning.

When I was on earlys Thursday morning the same thing happend shortly after it had been put on the North Wales runs that morining after an overnight set swap at Birmingham. It was the same unit and the same problem. The delay wasn't as bad though, only 45 minutes and was on time to work the Holyhead - London service. 221102 is still on this diagram and I am happy to say, was on time tonight.

Hope this has shed a bit of light on the situation."

Just one question, how do you evacuate a train in a fashionable manner?

I wondered if someone would notice that :D :D

I think they must have erected a catwalk against the Voyagers doors. The passengers would then have been expected to leave the train with an exaggerated walk, stopping every so often to turn around whilst the Virgin staff looked on in their bright red jackets.:D

Now that would have been traumatic enough to bring on a few cases of PTSD and compensation claims :D