Train Fire on Monday 16th November

[whole diary]

[Surrey 455]

Get Surrey is reporting that passengers had to be evacuated from a train at Betchworth.

Delays on rail services between Redhill and Guildford were set to continue into Monday afternoon after a train fire saw the line closed during the morning rush hour.

Passengers fled the stricken First Great Western service when it stopped at a level crossing at Buckland, near Betchworth railway station, shortly before 7.30am, with smoke belching out from beneath the lead carriage.

David D'Souza told Get Surrey how he and his fellow passengers alerted the driver when they saw smoke seeping into their carriage on the section of line between Reigate and Dorking .

No-one was injured in the incident, although Mr D'Souza added a few people appeared to be suffering the effects of smoke inhalation.

As a result of the breakdown, dozens of passengers lined the roadside in Buckland while awaiting replacement bus services.

A spokesman for Surrey Fire & Rescue Service confirmed four engines attended the incident, as well as a water carrier.

The pumps came from Reigate, Guildford, Horley and Banstead fire stations, while the water carrier was from Godstone station.

VIEW GALLERY   
"We received a call at 7.29am," the fire service spokesman said.

"We sent four pumps and spent around 40 minutes at the scene. No-one was injured.

"It was a train fire. We used one hose reel and left at 8.12am when we handed the situation over to Network Rail."

A spokesman for Network Rail said the train came to a stop at Buckland level crossing, which intersects Rectory Lane.

"The call was made at 7.20am," he said. "It was the 6.57am Gatwick Airport to Reading service. The incident happened just west of Reigate.

"It seems a call was made by the driver, who reported one of the engines was on fire. It was a diesel train and the engine is underneath the carriage.

"Passengers were evacuated into Rectory Lane within around 10 to 15 minutes so it was dealt with pretty swiftly.

"Delays are ongoing. The whole railway was closed for an hour. The train has been cleared and normal running resumed at 11.45am, although there are knock-on delays."

Delays or revisions

Line operator Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) said all lines reopened at around midday but stressed the disruption would continue into the afternoon.

"Following a broken down train earlier today between Redhill and Guildford, all lines have now reopened.

"Train services running through these stations are returning to normal but some services may still be delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

"Disruption is expected until 2pm. Replacement road transport [has been] organised to run between Guildford and Redhill in both directions.

"Southern Railway are conveying passengers between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria in both directions until further notice."

GWR added tickets were being accepted by other rail companies, including South West Trains and Southern.

Passengers were advised to check with their rail provider before travelling.

A spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) added: "SECAmb attended with a number of vehicles, as well as the Hazardous Area Response Team.

"However, no injuries were recorded to any of the passengers."

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/train-fire-leads-rail-delays-10451740

[LiskeardRich]

Having seen photos earlier this week, the driver brought it to a stop on a little used level crossing. Good access for emergency services, and good exit for passengers to be taken away

[Chris from Nailsea]

Excellent reaction by the train driver to the reported problem, then. 

Making due allowance for the strapline-grabbing "Passengers fled the stricken First Great Western service when it stopped at a level crossing at Buckland, near Betchworth railway station, shortly before 7.30am, with smoke belching out from beneath the lead carriage."

 

[Fourbee]

Had the fire started upon arrival at Dorking Deepdene I think the potential for something more serious could have developed. For those not familiar with the station:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Dorking_Deepdene_Station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1311499.jpg

[Electric train]

I would not say this was a major conflagration looks like its might have been the combustion heater, or perhaps oil getting onto the exhaust

[Fourbee]

I agree the white smoke looks like burning oil, there's another article here which suggests it started as an electrical fault near the "gearbox":

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/train-driver-praised-quick-thinking-10454259

[Fourbee]

...we can probably substitute "gearbox" for transmission.

[stuving]

I agree the white smoke looks like burning oil, there's another article here which suggests it started as an electrical fault near the "gearbox":

...we can probably substitute "gearbox" for transmission.

Is it just me, or is that use of "substitute ... for" new? Because that's the second time I've seen it today, and to me it just looks wrong.

What I mean is that a substitute is a replacement, used with "for" to indicate what got replaced. That's what my dictionary (less than ten years old) thinks too, applying to the verb as well. I can see how it comes to be used to mean "replace" for footballers, but I expect "by" or "with" to show the new player - "for" is already spoken for in the inverse meaning.

[patch38]

The OED^▸ (Oxford English Dictionary) has the following to say:

Usage

Traditionally, the verb substitute is followed by for and means ^put someone or something in place of another^, as in she substituted the fake vase for the real one. From the late 17th century substitute has also been used to mean ^replace someone or something with something else^, as in she substituted the real vase with the fake one. This can be confusing, since the two sentences shown above mean the same thing, yet the object of the verb and the object of the preposition have swapped positions. Despite the potential confusion, the second, newer use is well established, especially in some scientific contexts and in sport ( the top scorer was substituted with almost half an hour still to play), and is now generally regarded as part of normal standard English.

I'm more worried that the fireman in the getsurrey article referred to a 'train line' rather than a 'railway line'. But that's just because I'm old and pedantic. 

[Surrey 455]

Had the fire started upon arrival at Dorking Deepdene I think the potential for something more serious could have developed. For those not familiar with the station:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Dorking_Deepdene_Station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1311499.jpg

Oddly enough there was a fire at Deepdene a few days earlier...

A PILE of newspapers was intentionally set on fire in the early hours of this morning at Dorking Deepedene Station.

Staff on a passing train saw the flames and stopped to call emergency services at about 5.30am.

The crew from Dorking Fire Station raced to the scene and firefighters were able to extinguish the fire using buckets of water. A plastic bag containing a bong - used for drug taking - was also found at the site but a Surrey Fire and Rescue spokesman said it did not look like it had been used and it was not the cause of the fire.

Once the flames were extinguished the train was able to leave the station, but some delays remain into this morning.
A member of the Surrey Fire and Rescue crew from Dorking told the Advertiser: "It was flaming when the train passed by and they first saw it and they did not feel they wanted to leave it unattended."

http://www.dorkingandleatherheadadvertiser.co.uk/Dorking-Deepdene-station/story-28168568-detail/story.html