Churnet Valley Railway - heritage line, Kingsley & Froghall to Ipstones, Staffs

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Heritage railway train derails as services halted

[Image from here is not available to guests]
The derailment is the first such incident in Churnet Valley Railway's 30-year history, the operator said - Image © Churnet Valley Railway

A train has derailed on a heritage railway forcing a halt to services, its operator has confirmed.

The locomotive and coach, which was not carrying passengers, came off the tracks on the Churnet Valley Railway shortly after departing Cheddleton, Staffordshire, on Saturday.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Churnet Valley Railway Plc (CVR^▸ (Cockpit Voice Recorder, an item of safety equipment installed on aircraft, in case of problems: it forms part of the so-called 'black box' - which is actually bright orange, to make it easier to recover, in case of need)) said the train consisted of "empty coaching stock" and no injuries had been reported after the incident, at about 09:40 BST.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch)) confirmed to the BBC it had been notified of the derailment.

CVR said it was the first time this had happened, and it was working closely with the relevant authorities, while operations to remove and re-rail the locomotive and coach were under way. "The railway has proudly operated heritage steam and diesel services since 1996 and this is the first incident of this nature in our history," it said on Facebook.

"We are committed to understanding exactly what has occurred and will continue to support all investigative efforts." It said the locomotive involved was new to the fleet but had undergone "extensive testing" prior to entering service. "It would be inappropriate to speculate on the cause at this stage," CVR added.

Trains were suspended throughout Saturday and remained so on Sunday, with normal service expected to resume on Wednesday. CVR apologised to anyone affected by the derailment and confirmed Foxfield Railway would offer free travel for those who have Sunday tickets.

"A decision on RAIB's course of action will be taken in the coming days," an RAIB spokesperson said.

[grahame]

the derailment was last weekend (19th April) , and the railway re-opened yesterday for a private charter and today for public service. Yahoo News tells us

In a social media post, Churnet Valley Railway stated: "An investigation has confirmed that this incident was not caused by any single factor. Instead, it resulted from a combination of multiple, minor and otherwise manageable elements aligning in a particular set of circumstances. This type of occurrence, sometimes described as the “Swiss cheese model”, is recognised across safety-critical industries. No individual issue has been identified that, in isolation, would have led to a derailment, and there is no single point of failure to attribute. Track repairs resulting from the derailment have been completed.

[ChrisB]

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) report was dated April 19th. Something that needs checking before copying across is how old the report is?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thank you for your post, ChrisB.

I did note that the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) article was published on 19 April 2026. That's only seven days ago and I didn't post it as a 'breaking news' story: I posted it here on our 'Heritage' board, as it's already now become a matter of historic interest.

My providing items, on the Coffee Shop forum, of what I hope may be of some interest to a few of our members and guests, is done in my unpaid free time: I am not a professional journalist.

CfN^▸ (Chris from Nailsea, an administrator on this forum).