Derailment of steam loco fails to mar success of Great Central gala

摘要

There was a high degree of embarrassment at the Great Central Railway's Swithland gala on April 27 when Ivatt 2MT No. 46521 derailed all-wheels at Quorn &Woodhouse... in full view of hundreds of visitors. The mishap, which occurred at about 10am, brought proceedings on the whole line to a standstill for about an hour and disrupted the rest of the day's programme due to the fact that the railway's travelling post office set - which the lvatt had been hauling - was trapped for the rest of the day in a siding. The 2MT, running tender-first, had been drawing the TPO out of the siding on the western side of the main line at the southern end of the station when the accident happened. It is understood that the driver had been given permission by the signaller to pass a signal at danger -but it would appear that neither the driver nor the signaller had taken the precaution of checking that a set of catch-points had been set in the train's favour.