Oil train fires

Oil train fires are rare. The last major incident was at Stewarton, in Scotland, on January 27

2009 ( RAIL 611), with the most memorable in Summit Tunnel on December 20 1984.

At Stewarton, a bridge over the A735 road collapsed as DB Schenker’s 0520 MossendRiccarton train crossed. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch published its report over a year later and found that corrosion had weakened the bridge’s girders so much that it could not take the train’s weight.

Of the train’s ten bogie tank wagons, five were carrying gas oil, two diesel and three kerosene. RAIB noted that the final wagon (carrying kerosene) caught fire. In all, around 220,000 litres of diesel and kerosene leaked from four tanks.

Network Rail had been about to replace the bridge as part of a £30 million project to lay five miles of double-track from Lugton to Stewarton.

At Summit Tunnel, BR 47125 was hauling the 0140 Haverton Hill-Glazebrook.

A faulty bearing under the fourth of 13 bogie tank wagons carrying petrol caused the derailment in the tunnel.

The subsequent fire reached temperatures of 1,800°C

(melting bricks) and led to smoke billowing across the Pennines from the tunnel’s ventilation shafts.

Initially the fire was bought under control, but it then worsened and eventually took four days to be controlled. It took until March 1 1985 to remove the last wagon and the tunnel remained closed until August 19 1985.

On March 3 1983, a track fault led to a fire near Warrington after dipped joints derailed a 14-tank train laden with gas oil.

On January 1 1969, loose tank covers caused a fire at Ambergate Junction, when sparks from brake blocks set fire to a highly inflammable light oil that had spilled from the wagons.