Toton Derailment

[Master Cutler]

Twenty-two wagons, most of which were loaded, ran away from a siding at Old Bank in Toton and travelled for half a mile towards the active line before the front four derailed.
A signaller working at the East Midlands Control Centre noticed the wagons - which were coupled together in what is known as a 'rake' - had passed a red signal and tripped an alarm.
They then passed a second red signal and some of the wagons derailed at the Toton south junction.

[pre65]

There is a picture in this newspaper report.

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/...e-1800-4946979

[Beeyar Wunby]

Ooh dear, someone's gonna get in the neck for that.

There's some interesting tackle hanging off the coupler, and it looks like they may be foul of the running line.

[aussiesteve]

Yep, a brief spiel has made yer RAIB mob, who will investigate.
At least the rear wagon still had a red tail light attached when it derailed and fouled the main line.
Is Toton a hump style yard ?
I kinda recollect it being mentioned before somewhere.
If so, I am wondering about the falling grade.
We attempted this feat last year over in Croweater country, when a rake of wagons decided to take off in a yard.
Troublesome trucks as Thomas the tank engine would call em.
Steve.

[Master Cutler]

Thanks for adding the link Philip, my text is taken from the report.
You may have heard of Toton in connection with our East Midlands HS2 rail hub Steve.

[TRP]

Originally Posted by aussiesteve

Yep, a brief spiel has made yer RAIB mob, who will investigate.
At least the rear wagon still had a red tail light attached when it derailed and fouled the main line.
Is Toton a hump style yard ?
I kinda recollect it being mentioned before somewhere.
If so, I am wondering about the falling grade.
We attempted this feat last year over in Croweater country, when a rake of wagons decided to take off in a yard.
Troublesome trucks as Thomas the tank engine would call em.
Steve.

Hi Steve.

Toton used to use hump shunting as in the 1951 photo in this link:
http://toton-rail.co.uk/images/toton3.jpg
and from this 1930s archive footage - a modern H&S nightmare!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHDd4t_wKpU
and another film featuring 19502 footage & former workers revisiting the site:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8K8myH9DJ4

Toton yard was first set up as two sidings in 1856, continuing to grow over the years until two large, separate Up & Down yards were created. Hump shunting (or gravity shunting) was introduced in 1901 and continued until 1984.
http://totonsidings.com/history.html
http://totonsidings.com/upside-hump.html
http://totonsidings.com/downside-hump.html

I'm not sure of the current geography, whether there is still any remnants of the hump, but I guess there must be a bit of a downgrade for the wagons to run away for half a mile.

Tony

[aussiesteve]

Crikey, Toton was massive back in the heyday.
Makes our old partially gone to history Enfield yard in smog hollow look puny.
We never went in for hump yard style here in NSW.
But, most yards were built on a minor grade to permit manual gravitating and jiffy shunting.
I was in cockroach crew barracks at Enfield adjacent Enfield yard a couple of times when the sirens went off.
A rake of wagons out of control, the shunter performing the gravitating loosing it, followed by one or more loud BANGS.
Interesting also that in the Audio Recordings page of the Toton history, there is mention of Coal greedy Beyer Garratts.
HMMM.
And, now I remember why Toton rang a bell.
The hump signal having the multi-lamp head below the main signal.
I was hunting for info about our NSW single light turnout indicator signal, we call the scattered aces.
A slanted row of originally three whites, but subsequently yellows.
I thought that our signal may have originated via the Pennsy RR Position Light.
But, somebody had suggested that it may have originated from that Toton hump signal.
I will take a gander at the you tuber video clips when I am next at the local library.
Steve.

[pre65]

RAIB release report into runaway and derailment of wagons at Toton in Nottinghamshire.

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2021/12...eid=aa4ee9b801