1967 Thirsk rail crash

Breakdown cranes were ordered from York, Leeds and Gateshead (Newcastle), and the derailed vehicles were cleared from the track by 23:30 on 1 August.

An extract from The Ministry of Transport report into the accident states: The 02:40 Cliffe to Uddingston cement train was travelling on the Down Slow line at about 45 mph (72 km/h) – the maximum speed permitted at the time for trains conveying loaded wagons of this type, when the rear axle of the 12th wagon became derailed towards the cess on plain track.

The passenger train was the 12:00 express from King's Cross to Edinburgh, and it comprised 13 coaches drawn by a Type 4 diesel-electric locomotive.

He applied the brakes fully but he could not prevent a collision, and the left-hand side of the locomotive struck the wagon at a speed of about 50 mph (80 km/h).

The driver of the freight train also rang the signalman at Thirsk from the telephone on a signal near which his locomotive had stopped, and asked for the emergency services to be sent urgently.

The buffer beam, draw-gear and coupling shackle of this wagon were ripped clean off by the force of the impact and thrown 71 yd (65 m) into an adjacent field.

He operated the sanding gear to increase the grip on the rails and shut down the engine of his locomotive to reduce the risk of fire in case the derailed tank wagon contained flammable liquid as he realised he now had no chance to avoid the collision.

The wagon derailment was blamed on excessive wear in the suspension components,[a] thought to be caused by cement dust abrasion, in combination with slight variations in both wheel-set diameter and track alignment.

Furthermore, it was a number of other accidents involving suspected poor riding of CemFlo wagons that resulted in progressively more severe speed restrictions being placed on any trains containing this type.

One of them had noted that the leading wheel-set of a wagon "somewhere just forward of the halfway point" had dropped heavily into the gap on a cross-over then rebounded higher than the rest.

Following the accident, wagon LA201 was selected for rolling-road tests at Doncaster having been judged to be in an almost identical condition to LA223 – the first vehicle to derail in the crash.