Reported Incident with 70013 Sun 27th May on the Peak Forrester.

I was told of a severe Incident with Britannia class 70013 this morning outside New Barnet station of what appears to be a great blow back setting fire to engine crew and those on footplate.
They were seen jumping from footplate (except driver who stopped train at Barnet on a Green signal?) with hair and overalls severely burning/on fire. Very nasty burns can be seen on crew.
Over 2 hour delay with trains being put onto fast line to try and clear delays.
Ambulances still in attendance.
A class 47 was on front of train now.

This report was originally from my brother and a colegue who were on the scene so to speak.

Here is hoping all are OK.

I cannot confirm this report so far but hope it is not as bad as relayed to me by people on the spot. It appears bad with two crew in hospital but perhaps? Not as bad as "eye witness reports"[I/]

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

Lets hope the injuries are not too bad. Best wishes to all involved

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

The 47 was already on the front. There's a couple of single bore tunnels on the slow lines on the GN, so if 70013 wasn't working or if the blower wasn't on, then there's always a risk of a blow back.

 

Severe Incident with 70013 today

Best wishes to all involved!

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

5944, who in there right mind would open the door without first putting on the blower should the engine not be working? a blow back can occur even with the blower on! this sounds like a hideous incident and I wish the crew well!

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

Doesn't sound at all good does it. Are there any updates?

There was a nasty one with 34027 running light engine in one of the Linslade tunnels some time back. Then before that there was one in Bramhope tunnel with 46229, caused by a core plug in the blower supply breaking in the smokebox. That one set light to the coal in the tender, and the driver was off work for months. Gotta stop these things happening somehow.

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

I don't think Andrew has explained his points-of-view properly. You would never open the firebox doors without having the blower on - it's a simple natural reaction that every fireman is taught - although it is possible that the draught from the regulator being open can have the same effect as the blower - but it's better to just put it on anyway.

Even when the blower is on you can get a blowback, say if the regulator is shut very quickly. You don't run with the blower wound full-on and the exhaust gases coming back into the cab would defeat the draw of the blower. Another instance might be going under a bridge or in a tunnel. Again this would depend on how hard you had the blower turned on. It isn't (in most cases) a control that is simply on or off.

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

I'm hoping that the incident is less serious than the original impressions suggest, based on the fact that if serious injuries had occurred, then surely 70013 would have gone nowhere till RAIB had picked over it.

The fact that it continued after two hours must be reasonably good news, I'd have thought.

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

Any updates?

Having a look at another forum that John is prolific on it would appear that all is not as b&w as first seems?

Hopefully that is the case and it has all been greatly exaggerated, lets hope so for the crews sake. But given what happened at NYMR on Monday I do think it would be best if people made sure stories were correct before plastering them across forums!!

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

Amen to that!

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

Other forums report that injuries did occur, but RAIB gave permission for tour (and loco) to proceed.

But until something official is released I guess we will all have to avoid pointless speculation, and above all, hope that whatever injuries might have occurred are not overly serious.

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

Of course that always follows. But I think in a case like this it's worth taking into account that there is obviously a lot of natural concern for the potential victims, and the possible repercussions. It's not quite the same as the usual gossipmongering. A blowback is one of the nastiest things that can happen on a steam locomotive, and it can definitely be life threatening.

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

It didn't continue after two hours, it was some two hours late already when this incident happened. Yes, further delays were incurred but but not of the magnitude your post suggests.

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

Hear hear, well said that man.

The welfare of the crew must come first.

With best regards
Chris:

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

The train was not delayed two hours by this. It was delayed two hours because the ECS working had been trapped by over running engineering works.
The relatively minor delays due to the New Barnet incident were more or less clawed back by Peterborough.

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

Sorry, wasn't implying any knowledge of the delay, or cause of it, beyond what others had written.

But if the delay caused by this incident was significantly less than the two hours originally claimed, then I think it adds to the hope that it wasn't as serious as the original (and IMHO overly sensationalistic) post implied.

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

I had the same experience at Wolsztyn while driving the PM 36 but having a spacious cab it wasn't serious .

 

Re: Severe Incident with 70013 today

I saw 70013 arriving back at Matlock from Rowsley running around 2.1/2 hours late. All the talk at the lineside was of a blowback earlier in the day - which must surely have come from the passengers who alighted there from the special - so that appears to be what happened.