Locomotive 191 "joyriding" incident,

Bonus_Pack

Does anyone remember the incident that took place in north wallin 1991 when 191 was idling and someone tresspassing in the yard gained access to the cab and then set the locomotive into notch 8 heading towards clonsilla. It ended up diverting into a siding and was blown to flitters when it collided with a buffer block at full speed.

Would anyone have links to pictures of this crash or a link to a report that was issued following the investigation by the forerunner of the RAIU or the DoT or whoever it was back then. Probably IE themselves I suppose.

Also on another accident, I was in Queenstown recently and I noticed that during recent refub work in the hertitage centre, the photo of the crashed 165 which hung at teh site of the accident was removed. Outside the concrete slab which until recently (I last saw it during the IRRS Middleton tour) bore the scars of the crash has also been removed and is replaced by an area of tarmac.

Victor

I remember the event, but why didn't the dead man's lever prevent the train from running?

Bonus_Pack

That's the thing. It was a the NW pilot so possibly the DML was out of order. Or perhaps they overrode it some way , which would have required some previous knowledge of locomotives, which begs the question of whether it could have been a disgruntled ex employee or something.

Judgement Day

Bonus_Pack wrote: »

That's the thing. It was a the NW pilot so possibly the DML was out of order. Or perhaps they overrode it some way , which would have required some previous knowledge of locomotives, which begs the question of whether it could have been a disgruntled ex employee or something.

More likely a doolally enthusiast - will I stick up a list of names?

Victor

Judgement Day wrote: »

More likely a doolally enthusiast - will I stick up a list of names?

No.

Judgement Day

Victor wrote: »

No.

Just kidding! Can I be a mod for the day and I'll quieten things down - permanently?

Jehuty

Victor wrote: »

I remember the event, but why didn't the dead man's lever prevent the train from running?

Well, from the accident report into another(fatal) runaway train incident from Connolly to Gormanston in 1974(http://www.raiu.ie/download/pdf/accident_gormanstown.pdf)

some CIE officials were aware that seals on safety control equipment isolating handles in the control cabs of push/pull trains were being broken at Pearse Station, without authorisation, to facilitate certain shunting movements.

So I don't think it's a massive stretch to think the deadman's device back in those days was being regularly isolated when it became inconvenient.

Bonus_Pack

Jehuty wrote: »

Well, from the accident report into another(fatal) runaway train incident from Connolly to Gormanston in 1974(http://www.raiu.ie/download/pdf/accident_gormanstown.pdf)


So I don't think it's a massive stretch to think the deadman's device back in those days was being regularly isolated when it became inconvenient.

Well that is what I initially thought. A non-passenger duty loco with the DML disabled just for doing shunting and pilot works could be the issue. Similar to the way a farmer might make use of a non road worthy tractor just for doing bits around the farmyard.
Still whoever did it must have had some knowledge and may have known that the DML was out of order, hence they targetted that loco.

But anyway, I've e-mailed the RAIU to see have they got any report on the incident or a link to one. It would be an interesting read and I'd particularly like to see the extent of the damage that 191 suffered. Apparently it wasn't broken up until 1998 so they must have used it as a parts loco. I don't suppose anyone knows if any of it's major parts are still lurking in the surviving 181s.

Hungerford

Bonus_Pack wrote: »

Would anyone have links to pictures of this crash or a link to a report that was issued following the investigation by the forerunner of the RAIU or the DoT or whoever it was back then. Probably IE themselves I suppose.

Here's a link to a shot of 191 after the crash. Apparently, shots do exist of it in situ at Clonsilla but I can't find any:
http://www.industrialheritageireland.info/coppermine/displayimage.php?pid=498&fullsize=1

CaptainFreedom

Bonus_Pack wrote: »

I don't suppose anyone knows if any of it's major parts are still lurking in the surviving 181s.

There is only 1 surviving 181 - 190

Sligo Quay

Bonus_Pack wrote: »

Does anyone remember the incident that took place in north wallin 1991 when 191 was idling and someone tresspassing in the yard gained access to the cab and then set the locomotive into notch 8 heading towards clonsilla. It ended up diverting into a siding and was blown to flitters when it collided with a buffer block at full speed.

I saw pictures of this incident only a few weeks ago, in a album of a poster on IRN, I just can't remember where, I don't remember the incident myself, it was 191 last run, thats all I know.

Cookie_Monster

Bonus_Pack wrote: »

Also on another accident, I was in Queenstown recently and I noticed that during recent refub work in the hertitage centre, the photo of the crashed 165 which hung at teh site of the accident was removed. Outside the concrete slab which until recently (I last saw it during the IRRS Middleton tour) bore the scars of the crash has also been removed and is replaced by an area of tarmac.

you saw an Irish loco crash in New Zealand, that's pretty impressive!

I would presume you are actually talking about Cobh though
here's the photo courtesy of Eiretrains
http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20C/Cobh/slides/Cobh_20090924_023_CC_JA.html

Losty Dublin

The truth to the incident was a lot less exciting than a sabotage, that's all I'll say about it. Suffice to say, those with a little knowledge of the class could vouch for this but sure, the urban myth has a little more excitement going for it.

zagmund

Are you related to yer man from P11/RUI ?

He's a fierce one for saying "we know more about it than this but won't tell you"

z

SeanW

Bonus_Pack wrote: »

Also on another accident, I was in Queenstown ?!?!? recently

:eek:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobh

Losty Dublin

zagmund wrote: »

Are you related to yer man from P11/RUI ?

How dare you, take that back at once

Bonus_Pack

So the RAIU have sent a reply to my e-mail:

Unfortunately we have no records of that occurrence, you may wish to contact Irish Rail, The Railway Safety Commission or the DoT and see if they would have anything on it. I tried a quick google search on it but to no avail, the Irish Railway Records Society may be another source of information. Sorry I haven’t been of much help I would be interested to hear how your research develops.

I'll be doing some more digging on this one. There's a bit about it on IRN:

The first locomotive to be withdrawn was locomotive 191. Whilst in use as a pilot locomotive in North Wall on 17th August 1991, an unauthorised person got into the cab whilst the locomotive was unattended and applied full power before jumping off again, leaving locomotive 191 to run away in the direction of Sligo. The locomotive travelled for around 7 miles before it finally ran into a set of buffers in a headshunt at Clonsilla. Following recovery, locomotive 191 was taken back to Inchicore Works, where the bogie-less body was grounded and the locomotive gradually stripped for spares until it was eventually scrapped seven years later

Apparently, it also smashed it’s way through several sets of LC gates going full tilt, Reilly's & Ashtown.

Thanks for the pictures BTW

zagmund

Losty Dublin wrote: »

How dare you, take that back at once

Sorry, beer may have been taken at the time of posting.



z