08 February 2009
Returning this morning from Waterval Boven, after an overnight stay, we witnessed a scene recorded on the photos. Just west of Belfast, the railway runs close to the road and we saw the derailment. We left the car on the side of the road and walked a few hundred metres to the crash site. The recovery guys told us what had happened. Previously, 4 locomotives were parked on the spur line next to the main line without any power. A coal train passed at about 4am and the vibration of the passing train set the parked unit into motion. We find it difficult to imagine that locomotives do not have the equivalent of a hand brake, but this seems to be what happened. Because of the slight gradient the locomotives gained momentum and jumped the points onto the main line hitting the rear wagon of the coal train. The results, as they say, are history.
This event will quite probably not be a news item, as there were no casualties.
Regards,
Mike Allan / Les Wallace
Great to see more people active with report/pictures. Thanks guys
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