Torfield derailment

The Torfield derailment was a derailment at Torfield which occurred on 23 July 2011. 9 people were killed, and 69 people were injured.

In an unrelated incident on 24 July 2011, while at the Torfield derailment crash site, one person was injured after falling off of the roof of 43055 while taking photos of the crash site. The photographer was working for RAIB, and had been given permission to climb onto 43055's roof.

Recovery
The recovery of the trains started on the morning 24 July, when 43048 was driven onto Platform 1 and stabled. Shortly afterwards, Torfield Road level crossing re-opened to road traffic. On 25 July, 43055 and 44047 were also driven to Platform 1 and stabled. Later that day, 66412 was released from repair work after the Torfield level crossing accident and entered service immediately recovering wreckage the same day.

On 28 July 2011, a complicated move was carried out. 66412 slowly edged into the depot, metres from the carriage, before coupling to the wagons and Torfield Steam Locomotive. It then dragged them slowly out of the depot, before powering almost once around the loop, and going onto the inner loop via the points near Torfield Halt railway station. It paused just short of Torfield railway station, which was occupied by 43048, 44047, and 43055. The HighSpeedTrain moved forwards out of the platform and went round the inner loop, stopping behind 66412, which then pulled into the platform where it dropped the freight off, uncoupled, and set off back to the accident site. Once 66412 had arrived, the HighSpeedTrain moved onto the other side of the loop, further away from the crash site.

Work was temporarily stopped on 28 July 2011 for around 2 hours after a thermometer on the site showed a dangerously high reading of 104F. However, work re-started after it was realised that the thermometer was positioned close to the stationary 66412's exhaust pipe, which was in use at the time (as the locomotive was idling). The thermometer was moved to the other end of the site from the railway line and there it showed the accurate reading of 70.3F (as of 1620 BST, shortly after moving).

On 28 July 2011, the existing bogies were taken off of 42164 at the site, and taken to the nearby European Metal Recycling facility for scrapping. Shortly afterwards, 66412 collected two new temporary bogies from Torfield depot, and they were carefully fitted to 42164. It was then put on the rails, and very slowly dragged to Torfield depot by 66412 where it will be repaired.

On 29 July, new rails and points were fitted in the area and 66412 carried out tests on the line. It re-opened on 30 July; however it closed just a day later for the removal of the points and Torfield South's demolition.