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Report on the Derailment that occurred on 6th June 1973 at Berkhamsted in the London Midland Region British Railways

Document Summary

The report on the derailment of a freightliner train at Berkhamsted in 1973.

This document was published on 12th June 1974 by Department of the Environment.

It was written by Major C. F. Rose.

This item is linked to the Accident at Berkhamsted on 6th June 1973

The original document format was Stapled Book, and comprised 12 pages.

This document was kindly sourced from Stuart Johnson and is in our Accident reports collection. It was added to the Archive on 4th June 2007.

Copyright Information

This document is Crown Copyright, and is subject to the terms governing the reproduction of crown copyright material. Depending on the status and age of the original document, you may need an OPSI click-use license if you wish to reproduce this material, and other restrictions may apply. Please see this explanation for further details.

"At approximately 16.48 on that day, in fine and warm weather, a freightliner train consisting of 15 wagons hauled by a Class 85 electric locomotive was travelling at about 60 mile/h on the Down Slow line through Berkhamsted Station when the 14th wagon became derailed. The train was stopped by signals at Tring, having run rerailed for some 3+ miles. Investigation showed that the wheels first derailed on the 14th wagon had become derailed somewhere between Berkhamsted and Tring but that other wheels on the 14th and 15th wagons had followed the first wheelset into derailment and were still derailed. The track near the north end of the Down Slow platform at Berkhamsted, where the derailment had started, was found to be badly distorted. Intermittent damage was caused to the track and to signalling and telecommunication cables all the way from Berkhamsted to Tring. Fortunately no one was hurt as a result of the accident."

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