Churnet Valley Railway General Discussion

That location is only about ½ mile from the yard at Chedd

 

Without speculating in any way, from the photgraphs,the leading (rear) tender bogie has derailed whilst the front bogie has remained on the track. The rear bogie has seemingly come away from its pivot. All eight loco driving wheels have also derailed but the pony truck is still on the track. The leading coach bogie has also fully derailed and over-ridden the loco buffers. The tender has come into contact with the cab roof, bending it upwards.

I have my thoughts on what's actually happened but will keep those to myself. My thoughts are with the CVR and especially the loco crew involved. I hope they make a quick recovery. At least they have RSS on site to help.

Edit: Having seen a different picture, I'm less certain that the rear bogie has come away from its pivot. The rear of the tender is substantially away from the track line, with the far side (right hand) wheels of the rear bogie being over the near side rail.

 

I have to say great co-operation between heritage railways, the Foxfield Railway is offering ticket acceptance tomorrow for Churnet Valley ticket holders affected this weekend.

 

I saw a short video of this on Youtube and came here straight away for more info! I am beyond glad that there were no injuries. Those pictures are a devastating sight and my heart goes out to all the CVR staff and volunteers in this situation.

 

Indeed; that must have been pretty scary in the cab, when the tender came crashing in. I'm very glad nobody appears to have been hurt.

I wonder what the deal is with the carriage, with its leading bogie derailed as well? Was it dragged off by the engine - or did the whole caboodle happen because of a fault in the track, which took out the tender, engine, and then the carriage? I will be very interested to see the results of the investigation.

Noel

 

Loco crew are all fine if shook up. They know they’ve got support as/when needed.

ORR/RAIB informed, it’s a case of letting the processes flow accordingly.

Foxfield have not only opened their offer of travel to our customers, but assisted in providing spares to fix the track to aid the recovery. The gestures maybe small in physicality, but is hugely appreciated in our hour of need. Massive respect to their team for this.

 

Think you'll find that most heritage railways are like this and help out where possible, there's very much a all of one "company" ethos in my experience.

 

Highly recommended …..

https://www.churnetvalleyrailway.co.uk/borders-explorer

 

Nice to see the railway back running so soon.

 

Booked on the 30th May one with my brother, a belated 70th birthday present from him to me. Looking forward to it

 

The “new” section to Leek is only utilised for Borders Explorer days in 2026. Until we upgrade the overall infrastructure we are restricted with operating practices, but also we are still waiting for the Barnfield redevelopment to catch up with our progress.

The Borders days though are a great experience; you travel every bit of track the CVR currently owns including traversing the triangle (twice), get a freshly cooked breakfast served to your seat, a guided tour of both Leek station (current) and Cheddleton engineering facilities plus 2x runpasts at LBJ from ground level under supervision by CVR volunteers.

There are only 2x dates left in 2026 so do book whilst there is availability.