Great Western Passenger Forum

Chris from Nailsea

Administrator
Hero Member

Posts: 22319

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

« on: April 26, 2026, 19:22:24 »

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

Quote

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^▸ ) 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^▸ ) 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.


	Logged

William Huskisson MP^▸ was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830. Many more have died in the same way since then. Don't take a chance: Stop, Look, Listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner." Discuss.

grahame

Administrator
Hero Member

Posts: 47523

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

« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2026, 19:47:41 »

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

Quote

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.


	Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Transport User Group, West Wiltshire Rail User Group Committee and TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member

ChrisB

Transport Scholar
Hero Member

Posts: 14302

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

« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2026, 20:09:38 »

The BBC^» report was dated April 19th. Something that needs checking before copying across is how old the report is?


	Logged

Chris from Nailsea

Administrator
Hero Member

Posts: 22319

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

« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2026, 20:26:25 »

Thank you for your post, ChrisB.

I did note that the BBC^» 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^▸ . Lips sealed


	Logged

Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

Pages: [1]

« previous next »