This video uses several historic images taken by the late Weston Langford, you can view thousands more of his photographs on his website: westonlangford.com/ All *uncredited* images and footage are taken by myself. Inconveniently I wasn't born in 1960, so these are 21st century photos with some minor adjustments made to make them look 'close enough' for the era and story. My pictures of 'R755' are of Steamrail Victoria's R761, and the pictures of 'B85' are of Seymour Railway Heritage Centre's B74. There are also some scenes from the Yarra Valley Railway, Victorian Goldfields Railway and Daylesford Spa Country Railway, as well as some HO scale model railway shots. The book containing the account about this accident, Hudson Power, is long out of print, but copies do come up on ebay fairly often, so keep an eye out if you'd like one. If you enjoy these videos and have a few dollars to spare each month, please consider supporting the channel on Patreon: www.patreon.com/Taitset
When this happened I was a six years old train nut (still am one) and my dad took me up to the R class wreck the next day. To my eyes the locomotive had attempted to completely buried itself in the dirt. I got to walk on the side of the boiler and marvel at how huge a thing it was. I’m 71 years old now and that train wreck remains one of the highest adventures I’ve experienced. Thank for the nostalgia
Excellent video, your production quality is incredible. Please do more videos on runaways/incidents like this (how many are there in Australia/NZ?), they're entertaining and quite interesting!
Growing up, our house was parallel to the Broadmeadows train line, about 700 meters from the station. My parents still lived there until last year. I love watching these videos, if anything, just to be able to say to my daughter "I know exactly where that spot is on the line!"
That was brilliant, thanks Martin! I feel like pancakes now, I don't know why. When I was workshop coordinator at Junee Railway Workshop, we looked after T333 a few times, and I seem to recall a few early-2010s duckface pics taken on and around it! I was unaware of its adventure 50+ years earlier and thankfully it wasn't the loco I derailed on my first time at the controls! Cheers!
I also spent a bit of time climbing over 333 when it was at SRHC, without knowing its story! I almost made an actual pancake to film, but in the end decided the real visual was enough. Maybe I still should make myself a pancake though..
Irrelevant perhaps but I recalled a trip from Culcairn-Corowa on a freight pulled by 4814, I returned to Corowa (by car) on the 40th anniversary of that trip, I researched 4814 and realized it’s one of the locos at the Junee Roundhouse and I now have a photo, glad it’s still running after 70 years.
The late Harry Williams was also an avid aviation photographer. He would have had an extensive photo collection of both rail and aircraft. Glad to see his collection hasn't been lost.
A similar account can also be found in Nick Anchen's book "The right way, the wrong way, and the railway", which is a big anthology of stories from the same era. Definitely worth a read!
I am extremely excited to find out that I was fortunate enough to go and visit T333 at Maldon on the VGR just yesterday, and the image of the signal box used at the end as well as I was allowed to look around the signal box at Castlemaine on the same trip too.
RUNAWAY PASSENGER TRAIN FROM CATERHAM (LONDON UK 1974). Probably the most incredible runaway, which miraculously missed numerous hair raising disasters on its way through one of the Worlds busiest rail networks in the morning rush hour. The train was formed of 750v DC 75mph Third Rail Suburban Electric units in a 10-car formation (two times 4-car EPB units & a 2-car EPB). It had been happily parked overnight in one of the Platforms in the little branch terminus in the Salubrious Stockbroker Belt village of Caterham, since the previous evening. As this little Terminus is on a very slight gradient the stage was set ! The Driver had arrived but gone in the Crewroom on the station platform to make tea. His Guard arrived on the platform, & assuming the Driver had put his Key on, to start pumping up the Brakes (which he hadn't). Had gone into the rear cab and released the handbrake. He then wandered down the platform & into the crew room, where he found the Driver making tea. But before either of them were halfway through a nice Cuppa, a Porter rushed in & told them "Your train has gone without you" !!! The Signalman (A friend of mine) in the Mechanical signalbox was also having a nice cuppa & reading the morning paper. When he became aware a train was slowly moving past his box. The problem was the branch was downhill on a gradient of 1 in 80 for the six miles down to the 4 track Brighton to London Mainline. Where trains followed each other every few minutes at speeds of up to 90mph. And there were two busy Level Crossings at two of the three intermediate stations, with old fashioned gates across the tracks, before you even reached the Junction!!! My Friend Colin the Signalman, banged out the Bellcode for Runaway train, but wisely got on the phone as he knew nobody would believe such a thing could happen. By the time the train passed the first station "Whyteleafe South" it was doing a good 20mph. By the time it reached the next Station "Whyteleafe" it was doing 30mph, and at Kenley it was thought to be doing near 40mph. Thankfully they had managed to get the gates open for the Runaway, but the Commuters in their cars were already honking their horns in frustration. The phone lines were already red hot, in "Operational Control" in its 25 Storey Skyscraper in Croydon, where it was already a smog filled office, frantically aiding & abetting "The Marlborough Cigarette" campaign. They knew that this quiet little branch joined the mainline to London around a hairy 25mph curve with checkrails. They had already phoned the signalbox at the 6 platform Junction Station of Purley. And instructed the Signalman to Divert the Runaway into the Carriage Siding. But the Signalman replied "Can't do that, there is an 8-car Electric in the Siding & a Driver has just gone to prepare that train. And there is not enough time to send anyone to warn him". Ooops !!! They had no choice but to Stop the stream of Electric Expresses coming Up the Fast line, and let the Runaway out onto the mainline. Miraculously the train screeched its way around the 90 degree curve without derailing, although it had been slowed down in the process to around 30mph. But the line from Purley was slightly downhill ALL the way to Croydon (6 miles), and then more steeply downhill for the next 10 miles all the way to London Bridge Station. A major London Terminal where thousands of passengers would be milling around !!! Now the fun really begins as "Control" had another brainwave & telephoned the Mixed Traction Depot at Norwood Junction. They asked for volunteers to get a Diesel Loco ready. Then when the Electric passed the Loco Depot, to follow it out onto the Mainline. The Signalman would divert the runaway onto the Steeply (uphill) Crystal Palace branch, and the Diesel loco could come and buffer up behind as the runaway stopped. What a Brilliant idea, just one problem ! The traincrew at Norwood Depot were staunch Union men & seeing a Golden Opportunity, they said "What's it worth ?" and started talking Telephone number bribery figures. "No time, no deal", screamed the management. So the Norwood Depot Traincrew, all wandered outside to await the passing of the Runaway, which the Grapevine hinted was now coming their way at a good 40mph or more. Back one Station at the very busy East Croydon commuter interchange station. The very wise Station Manager Conrad Clark, had also come up with a brainwave. Having had the Station cleared of Hundreds of Commuters by the Police. He put his wicked plan into action. First he "Volunteered" a Young Flexible Porter & put him in a Postal trolley. Which he hitched up to one of the Stations very unusual Gas Powered Tractors, which reputedly could do a good 30mph. Now the idea was the Tractor would hurtle flat out along the Platform, as the Runaway came trundling through the station, and the deft young Porter would jump into the train through one of the inward opening Guards van doors & put the handbrake on. Fantastic idea, only problem was even at 32mph the flat out tractor wasn't fast enough as the Runaway was now going nearly an estimated 50mph. Operations Control having given up trying to Bribe the Norwood Junction Drivers, had resorted to the only option left. If they were to stop this 450ton train from smashing into the Buffer stops at London Bridge at possibly in excess of 60mph. So the Norwood Junction Signalbox was instructed to entertain the Norwood Drivers, by diverting the Runaway through the Carriage Washing plant, which ended in buffer stops right at the end of Number 1 platform on Norwood Junction Station. The Police had already cleared the station, and it seems spilt the beans to the commuters, that they too could watch the entertainment, as British Railways were now going into the Commuter Train trashing business ! Indeed according to two of my friends who were "Secondmen"(Driver trainees) at Norwood Depot, a Great Cheer went up as the 10-car Electric train rushed past doing around 50mph, lurched and wobbled violently as it was routed into the Carriage washer road. Hurtled through the 15mph Washing plant still doing near 50mph, and ripped out a lot of the rotating canvas washing strips, which flew in all directions. Just before the First Carriage hit & demolished the Buffer stops, forcing them up the ramp at the end of the platform. With the weight of the other nine carriages ensuring they too starting running up the platform ramp and onto the actual platform. Luckily this huge 450ton bulldozer ground to a halt some 20ft before it reached the platform Canopy, which would have been obliterated !!! PRESS REPORTS This story couldn't but help get itself into the National press and evening TV News, branded as "The Runaway train from Caterham". However it seems BR had managed to keep a lid on much of the Story. As there was only a little film of the damaged train, at Norwood Junction station. As nobody had been killed or even injured, the Press had already forgotten the incident by Breakfast the following day. Totally oblivious to the potential carnage that would have occurred if the train had reached LONDON BRIDGE !!! The internal Railway Inquiry had of course discovered the truth. That the Guard who was in his last week before retiring after 30 years on the Railway, had interfered with equipment he was not as a Guard allowed to touch. Released the handbrake, without actually checking that the Driver had started the brake system pumping up. Overnight the train is totally "switched out", so the air brakes leak off & the handbrake is the only thing stopping the train rolling away, by breakfast time.
I love how you used 46BE to represent 24BE. I was actually washing 46 yesterday In preparation for Sunday's diesel RAIL & SAIL. GREAT video as always m8.👍
I have a relic from that collision.A screw coupler link that is torn in half. It was half buried in the ballast in "B" siding. I noticed it whilst preparing a spark many years ago.
Great video Martin. Incidents like these highlight how important it is to never signal a train to advance unless the next location is 100 percent clear, and not just "it should be clear by the time you arrive".
Many thanks for another calm, clear explanation of a railway accident. You definitely have a knack for this! Was there an official investigation report on the accident? As a Brit, it's fascinating to see early twentieth century British signalling practice replicated so far away. It looks as if there were no track circuits, or at least no interlocking between track circuits and block instruments - is that right? If the interlocking had detected the freight train on the line at Broadmeadows, it would have prevented the passenger train from departing from Craigieburn.
If you've chosen to focus on runaway trains for a while you could make an episode on the Frankston collision on June 10th 1975 where an up Long Island goods train hauled by B69 lost brakes while running down Langwarrin bank and slammed into Hitachi 27M. The best known photograph is from the Peter J. Vincent collection.
From the past Broadmeadows run away vid, there was a comment that touched in this, but you had not heard of. I looked up my Hudson Power book to try and get the facts right as I had recalled it involving an R class. But did not get around to making a comment given the disjointed description as though everyone knew all about it. From another comment here the detail i remember may have been in the ML2 Story book. Great summary you have made. Much better than i could. I used to work with Weston Langford and have a feeling he would be pleased his photos helped with this.
I grew up, and still live in, Broadmeadows. There was one incident I'm hoping you can look into. One day after school, we went to the station (this was when Broadmeadows was still end of the line). Between the station and Camp Rd bridge there was a holding yard. I don't know what happened, but a train had hit the timber end-fence and derailed. The fence acted like a ramp, and the train was up in the air on an angle, pointing right at the bridge. I really wished I'd seen it unfold, and in hindsight, I wish even more we'd had mobile phones back then!
Hey Martin, fantastic video as always. Just wondering, could you do a fleet video on the Victorian railways? I'm not asking you to do all of it (as that would be way to difficult) but like from the 30's to the 80's or something like that.
I had pancakes today in Seddon so this felt incredibly apt. I've been fortunate to catch an Albury train through the Albion-Jacana line before. Hard to believe Broady has been the site of two runaway trains :O
Hey Martin have you considered a video about the General Motors station? Interesting historical topic and the situation later in its life is pretty funny too
Very well presented Martin! Your description of how things came asunder in this incident is very succinct and could serve as good training material for inductees to the heritage railway sector. I noticed Mark Waller's comment about interlocks between signals, track circuits and block instruments and recall that once upon a time Victorian Railways had such a feature called "Lock and Block". If you can find a 1919 Book of Rules and Regulations the operation of such is described within. I loved the reference to a giant pancake. Might I remind you that Pancake Tuesday for this year is fast approaching (13th February).....I must remember to pig out on some this year. I've been a bit slack on RU-vid viewing over the last few months and have been relaxing over part of this Holiday weekend catching up with several of my regulars. I viewed this presentation after noticing it on the sidebar from other presenters. Thanks again for a great presentation and I'll catch up with the backlog and post appropriate and relevant comments on your others that I still have to view. Cheers from Michael.🙂😉🙂
I also watch a lot of Plainly Difficult's videos on industrial accidents. There are remarkable similarities. Time pressures, departure from standard/safe operating procedure and inadequate communication. Fortunately, this runaway ended without loss of life so we know little aboutnit.
Mate can you please do one on the XPT Wallen Countrylink crash and the Southern Aurora crash. Love your channel, great content and you are an excellent presenter
Speaking of Sunshine... You should do a video on the Sunshine Rail Disaster in 1908. There's a lot of information to research and it makes a compelling read.
On a modern locomotive the thing that would’ve stopped the train in this situation wouldn’t have been the vigilance but rather the Power Cutout Switch (PCS), which is supposed to cut tractive power when the brake pipe discharges below normal operational pressure (usually around 320kPa). This would’ve occurred when the train separated the second time.
The 1947 Riddles accident is an intresting one, a melbourne bound goods train hauled by an A2 smashed into trucks from a previous train. The A2 toppled down the embankment. Around 100 sheep killed. Another intresting accident is the 1951 Serviceton where the West and East bound overland collide head on, 4 A2's are caught in the wreckage. All but 1 scrapped Video's on them would be cool :)
As always, amazing video! Do you have any oddly specific/ random locations that you like to watch trains? I personally enjoy looking down on trains around the Belgrave single track area, and also at Caulfield, looking up onto the elevated sections :)
as a kensingtonite these cragieburn runaways sure are exciting! maybe i've walked past you filming off the Arden St pedestrian bridge - you're welcome to introduce yourself to passing 6'4" gingers: one of them might be me!
Did Australian diesel power not have PC switches in this time period? In the states the locomotive would return to idle the moment the train separated and this would have gone down as an unremarkable collision.
i know the driver who was responsible for shutting down B85 after it had crashed into the goods wagons. i cant remember the exact story but he was ready to head out of dynon and saw B85 crash into the wagons, promptly rushing over to turn the thing off as its roaring its head off. apparently the door had been slammed shut so hard on B85 that it couldnt be opened so he had to brake the door window and climb in that way to shut it off. after the incident he got in trouble from his driver manager because he didnt shut B85 down properly, i cant remember the specifics.
I had lunch with my mum yesterday: Me: Your friends Wendy and Weston, was that Weston Langford? Mum: Yes, it was. Why? Me: People make videos about trains. Did Weston like trains? Mum *rolls her eyes*: Yes, he chartered a special train for their wedding. (I also played in a band with his daughter)
Very interesting! I never met him, at least not knowingly - however I do know that I stood next to him one time in Ballarat in 2005, as I have a photo taken right next to one of his at roughly the same moment.
@@Taitset I don’t think I met him, as I met his daughter separately through music. It’s cool to share a photo session with an elder statesman of trainspotters though.
With a brake pipe just five cars long and two locos in 6 notch, it's quite possible that the brakes were released even with the tap open rather than applied and the locos overpowering them. What did the signaller get for giving the 'line clear' bell to the other signaller when the line was not clear?
Funny how there seems to be more (publicly accessible) photos of the 1960 runaway than the 2003 one. I guess the latter being at night didn't help haha
This whole incident never would have happened on an American railway, because it is just standard procedure in America to make important passenger trains wait for three-hour-late goods trains to drop off some cows.
At the current rate, I expect the next broadmeadows runaway away to happen in 2046. 😀 The operational Rs are R711 and R761 with Steamrail, R707 with 707 Operations and R766 on standard gauge in NSW.
@@Taitset That was mostly a test. I was mainly asking to see if you would remember R766. I happen to live in the Hunter Valley and get to see R766 pass occasionally. (If you don't count the fact that it has been sitting in a yard awaiting repairs ever since around May.)
I'm not sure how much work 766 actually ended up doing for West Coast, it was always 711 when I saw it, and I've hardly seen any photos of 766 actually running the train.
