27th July 2009

Last Thursday museum visitors leaving Beamish in the late afternoon would have seen Gateshead 10 sat in the ballast between the entrance stop and Foulbridge. A combination of expanding rails (and the resulting ongoing movement in this warm weather) with a resulting sharpening of the radius over a rail joint plus 10’s design tendency to ride light on the leading pony wheel led to the incident. No passengers were on board and the crew acted swiftly and correctly to contain the situation.
The tram was rerailed the same evening. It is always a worry when such things occur (this is the first derailment on the main line in many many years), but procedures and safety practices worked well and correctly. The RAIB were immediately informed and investigations commenced. We are, as a result of this process, satisfied with the outcome.

Below: All four wheels of the No.1 end bogie off the track. The check rail had kept the wheels in line until this ran out, and even then the derailment did not occur. The driver brought the tram to a halt immediately upon realising there was a problem.

Below: 10 is attended by the PW van.

Below: Jacking the pony end of the bogie clear of the rails. Metal plates are then slid into place before the same is repeated with the rather heavier driving axle (which has most of the body weight on it plus the motor). The tram is then slewed sideways on the plates before being rolled in a controlled manner off the plates and onto the rails. This method reduces the risk of damaging the tram as all lifting points are where loadings are designed to occur.

Below: The rectified joints with tie-bars, re-spiked rails and new fishplates. This is actually a fairly sharp curve and it is subject to some creep under load, as well as during hot weather when the expansion gaps close up.