A derailment at Southampton
We recently stumbled across this image dated April 25 1987 of 1401 from photographer Jon Piesing.
It's looking like the rear bogie has derailed on the points which is just out of the picture. The former EMU center car can be clearly seen with its end painted blue which is denoting that the cab has been decommissioned.
Within an hour of publishing this article Glyn Hiscock who is one of our group members was a gaurd in the area at the time and he wrote a little bit about it for us
This was an hourly shunt move that used to take the DEMU from the down 'Bay' at Southampton into the middle platform prior to departure with the Portsmouth 'stopper'.
The Guard used to buzz three buzzes on the 'loudaphone' in the cab to tell the Driver when it was safe to set back once the 'dummy' at the end of the bay had cleared.
This was because it was not safe for the Driver to change ends on the up or down 'slow' lines if the shunt went that way.
The Guard on this occasion (nicknamed 'Arry)was new. He had learned the move many times but only from the bay to the down 'slow'.
He had never done the move from the bay along the 'parcels' loop to the gantry signal on the down 'goods' line. In order to complete this move safely there was a second 'dummy' just before the catch points.
On this occasion the Guard gave the three buzzes on the loudaphone and the Driver started reversing.
By the time the Guard realised that he was proceeding along the 'parcels' line and that there was a second dummy that was still at 'danger' it was too late! He buzzed one on the loudaphone (stop) but to no avail and the result is what you see here.
I passed out as a Guard it Eastleigh not long after this happened and it was a valuable lesson for all of us.
On one occasion I did the shunt along the 'Parcels' loop with a Driver (also named Glyn).
On seeing the second dummy 'on' I buzzed the loudaphone once.
Nothing! I buzzed a second time and still got no reaction. I then used the emergency brake at about the same time as the Driver realised what was happening and did the same at his end.
We stopped that DEMU on a sixpence! Thankfully we were still inside the 'dummy' but my nose had nearly hit the windscreen