East Midlands Railway team rerails Ecclesbourne engine
A MAIN line operator’s rail recovery crew saved the day when a steam locomotive came off the rails on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway.
BR Standard 4MT 2-6-4T No. 80080, on loan from the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust at Butterley, derailed while running round a service at Duffield on the morning on Friday, August 19, causing minimal damage to both locomotive and track. Within 15 minutes of the incident, a double-decker bus was found to take stranded passengers back to Wirksworth. For the weekend, services operated between only Wirksworth and Shottle, including several fully booked ‘Faulty Towers’ dining experience services on the Saturday.
The East Midlands Railway rail vehicle recovery team, led by Mark Coney, that company’s head of engineering, arrived on the Sunday and had No. 80080 rerailed inside four hours. The locomotive was then topped-and-tailed to Wirksworth using two locomotives provided by Locomotive Services Limited of Crewe. EVR operator Wyvern Rail plc vice chairman Neil Ferguson-Lee said: “The most remarkable aspect was how the EVR’s team and the whole railway worked together to recover the situation,” adding that the EMR team – several of which are EVR volunteers – deserve special recognition. The minor damage had been repaired by September 8 and the locomotive returned to traffic.