European Railroad Discussion > Train accident in Scotland 12 August 1330 European time

CNN reporting a derailment,with video, of a passenger train derailment in Scotland. Some portion of the train is on fire and it appears emergency vehicles are converging.

1340 ABC NEWS reports accident was at Aberdeenshire. CNN updates that accident occurred shortly before 1000 local. Heavy rain occurred overnight in the area.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/20 04:43 by crusader5619.

More info here https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8619291/ScotRail-train-derails-near-Aberdeen-sparking-emergency-response.html

Heavy rain and landslip. But only 6 passengers on the train (as reported there). That makes no sense even if running at half capacity. Fortunate it wasn't more crowded. Looks like a big mess. 

The train was the 06:38 Aberdeen to Glasgow, one of Scotrail's Inter7City HSTs. Tragically there are three dead, including the driver. Atrocious weather last night and this morning caused multiple instances of flooding and landslips.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/20 10:50 by 86235.

Is "landslip" Queen's English for land or mud slide" ?

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Is "landslip" Queen's English for land or mud
> slide" ?

Yes.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Heavy rain and landslip. But only 6 passengers on
> the train (as reported there). That makes no sense
> even if running at half capacity. Fortunate it
> wasn't more crowded. Looks like a big mess. 

Glad to see your typical empathy for the victims!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/20 18:04 by 4489.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Is "landslip" Queen's English for land or mud
> slide" ?

Yup, another case where British geologic terms are a bit more precise than American counterparts. 

That opinion regarding precision depends upon which side of the pond that you practice geology.

After seeing the picture of coaches piled on one another; I wonder how american style tite-loc couplers would have faired?
Also, given the night before's horrible weather, it looks to be like the train was going faster than it should have been......

DaveL

stevelv Wrote:
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> More info
> here https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-861
> 9291/ScotRail-train-derails-near-Aberdeen-sparking
> -emergency-response.html

The Daily Mail, as ususal, had more photographs and facts than almost any other source on the interent.
The consist was listed (somewhere) as 1 locomotive and 4 carriages. So there were not 2 locomotives...
The pictures show the locomotive upright and on the track. Please specualte how the driver was killed in this crash.
Also, if there was one locomotive, was the driver in the locomotive pushing, or was the driver in a carriage driving?
Does Scotrail use camera recorders?
There are so many details that could have come out, but the News agaencies don't know which questions to ask.
I would have liked to have seen a rail expert explain each of the pieces of the set, and clarify what direction it was travelling from the photographs.
Why does the public have to wait a year for a documentary to get basice facts and explanations of the visual evidence at hand??
Why is this so hard??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/20 23:26 by Rover.

Rover Wrote:
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> The Daily Mail, as ususal, had more photographs
> and facts than almost any other source on the
> interent.

Facts? In the Daily Mail? That's debatable.

> The consist was listed (somewhere) as 1 locomotive
> and 4 carriages. So there were not 2
> locomotives...

These trains have a Class 43 power car at each end. They are in effect locomotives.

The front power car and the four coaches derailed. The rear power car remained on the tracks.

Here's a news source that interviewed one of Britain's leading railway journalists:
https://news.stv.tv/north/railway-expert-warns-derailment-probe-could-take-a-year



 



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/20 03:37 by railsmith.

Do these trains operate push-pull?  Or pull-pull?

If not, then what the heck was burning down the embankment?

I just assumed that the leading unit was down the embankment, but that can't be the case if there was only one unit and four cars.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/20 06:54 by restricted_speed.

Rover Wrote:
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> stevelv Wrote:
> The consist was listed (somewhere) as 1 locomotive
> and 4 carriages. So there were not 2
> locomotives...

I'm thinking this must be incorrect.  I am not intimately familiar with these trains, but I think they operate with a locomotive on each end.

---

march_hare Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Is "landslip" Queen's English for land or mud
> > slide" ?
>
> Yup, another case where British geologic terms are
> a bit more precise than American counterparts. 

Not just Americans who use landslide vs landslip, the Canadians use landslide too.

HSTs have a power car (essentially a locomotive). Both are in operation at all times so not push/pull but simulataneous push and pull.
As for the Daily Mail some of us know it best as the "Daily Fail".

DaveL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> After seeing the picture of coaches piled on one
> another; I wonder how american style tite-loc
> couplers would have faired?
> Also, given the night before's horrible weather,
> it looks to be like the train was going faster
> than it should have been......
>
> DaveL

The power cars are coupled to the passenger cars using knuckle couplers, the passenger cars are permanently coupled to one another, uncoupling requires a depot visit. Whatever happened on Wednesday morning was catastrophic. Bearing in mind the accident happened three hours after the train left Aberdeen, if running normally it should have arrived in Glasgow by then. It had already encountered an obstruction and was returning north at the time of the accident back towards Stonehaven (the first stop south of Aberdeen) retracing it's route.

Hartington Wrote:
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> HSTs have a power car (essentially a locomotive).
> Both are in operation at all times so not
> push/pull but simulataneous push and pull.
> As for the Daily Mail some of us know it best as
> the "Daily Fail".

Thanks Hartington.

march_hare Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Is "landslip" Queen's English for land or mud
> > slide" ?
>
> Yup, another case where British geologic terms are
> a bit more precise than American counterparts. 

When I started in South Africa, there was a discussion that included the English language. I pointed out that they speak English; we talk American (but I'm also capabled of English). The difference is not subtle.

TAW

This article contains some new information and the preliminary results by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-53778891