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But so much less of an adrenaline rush. They should announce all these high risk areas as we go past them, then 1, the driver might take care and 2, it would be like a reality horror film. Bit like the amazing central line tube driver that you really want on hallowe’en because he gives all the ghost stories.
As a Traindriver myself i have to tell you: While ETCS, especially in LVL 2, is a safe System - it really poses problems. For normal lines with a lot of stops, manouvering trains etc. it is a struggle. Older, country specific systems like ZUB or LZB are at almost the same safety but with a lot better integration into daily train-business. The idea behind ETCS is great - if all of europe would use it, passing country borders would be as easy as with a car for every traindriver. But yeah, in every day use it sadly still isn't up to our older systems :(
Hello Plainly Difficult. There is a more advanced system called ATP or Automatic Train Protection. It is however more expensive than TPWS or Train Protection Warning System (I think that is what is called) but both systems do what you think it is. Warn the driver of upcoming signals. In addition British Rail has never addressed the very dangerous flaw of the Sunflower dial and it's sound between Preliminary Caution, Caution and Danger. That is partly what caused accidents like the Ladbroke Grove Accident of 1999.
One recommendation from the first accident was the withholding of disciplinary letters until the driver signed off duty, not giving him such letters at the start of a shift.
Or holding disciplinary meetings instead of letters so that the driver can discuss tactics to avoid future errors and the disciplinary chair can ensure that those tactics do not include speeding through corners.
Or, like in Japan, stop punishing drivers for being a bit late. This was a common thing in Japan, with drivers being forced to do 'day training' which involved writing pointless apology letters while being shouted at by managers, and then having to work a shift as normal. The number of fatal incidents due to the fear or being 'trained' or sheer exhaustion went through the roof until the practice was outlawed.
It did seem very odd to give a letter like that to a train driver. If the train he was driving arrived late it does not seem likely that it was because he was being lazy.
@@mjowsey It was many years ago. I worked as a guard from 1983 to 1995 and we were supposed to keep a time book but I think few did - I gave it up after 6 months ! With modern signalling etc the rail managers will be well aware of the reasons for any delays so no point in writing a letter.
In the US, rail cars were linked by a brutally treacherous system called "link and pin". It involved the victim, I mean the railroad worker to hold a steel loop (like a huge single link from a steel chain) in between two railcars while the locomotive smacked them together, then quick drop a pin in each side before the rolled back. He had about 4-6" of slack space during which he could yank his hand out at the last second, but heaven help him if he pulled too soon and the coupler fell, requiring whole minutes for the loco to back up and try again. Finger amputation was so common, you could closely estimate how long someone had worked for the railroad by how few fingers he had left. And of course, once he's down to only a couple, the railroad fires him cause he cant do the job, or if he was buddies with someone important, and had the aptitude he could be switched to something that only required 2 fingers, like sending Morse code. In 1873 Eli Janney patented the automatic coupler which just clicks together with no one even near it (still in widespread use in the US and some other countries today [not in Europe]). But railroads felt it was just cheaper to hire workers with more fingers than spend _hundreds_ of dollars for _every_ railroad car. Why, for some railroads that could have amounted to almost $10,000! And merely to save lives and livelihoods! It wasnt until congress acted in ~1898 that it became mandatory, and accidents fell off a cliff; actually becoming MORE productive for the railways without all the screaming and re-attempts, plus it was simply a much faster machine to use, both coupling and uncoupling.
No disrespect to the town of Morpeth, but I'm sure other European countries would simply have built a straighter section of line that bypassed the town altogether. There'd still be the 'Morpeth Curve' which only local trains and freight trains would use. While faster regional, and mainline services from London would be taken onto the new straight section to avoid having to go through Morpeth and use the 'curve'. And then rejoin the existing line north of Morpeth and its curve. Perhaps there isn't the space to do this in our crowded country? - but countries like France and Germany would have done this much earlier.....many decades ago, while there was still space to build a section for faster trains only. They would have worked it out that this curve was too risky for long distance fast services to use....and they would have acted accordingly. But not us it seems. Never us. It's the old lack of foresight and long term thinking again. Something that continues to blight the UK today. And not just with our railways.
@@robtyman4281 It's not that our country is overcrowded, our population density is actually similar to Germany and less than the Netherlands and Belgium. The problem is that it's impossible to build new infrastructure in the UK because of laws and different groups. Here in the UK we have really strict planning laws introduced after WW2 that ensures new infrastructure doesn't get built unless every party agrees. This has had the negative side effect of making it impossible to build as somebody will always disagree (usually locals). Look at HS2 for an example, tree huggers and other groups are part of the reason the price of the project skyrocketed to over £100B and phase 2 was cancelled. Another example is the lower Thames crossing, which has produced 359,866 pages of paperwork and not a single piece of dirt has even been moved yet! There is actually room to build a Morpeth bypass, but in this region we can't even open closed rail lines that are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people because of our London-centric government.
Morpeth is my home town where I still live today, I was so shocked when I saw this come up in my subscriptions!!! Was not expecting anyone to notice our little corner of northumberland! Thank you for covering it, very interesting. And I can assure everyone I travel in and out of Morpeth regularly by train and have survived so far 😁
As a Morpeht resident, were you also shocked by the narrator (who is a Geordie) referring to Northumberland as "County Northumberland" and putting on a truly silly fake American accent? ("Morrrrrpeth").
My late father was signalman at Colwich Junction on the Trent Valley Main Line, where the 'Knotty' swings off the main for Stoke on Trent and Manchester. In the 1960s the junction layout was altered in a way he felt to be dangerous; if a Stoke bound train 'ran through her sticks' (aka a SPAD these days), there was a very strong chance of it meeting a southbound train from Stafford head on. It worried him so much that he left the railway service. He died in 1977 and about five years later exactly what he predicted happened. A northbound Manchester failed to observe distant signals, got the brakes down far too late and ground to a halt in the middle of the junction, right in the path of a fast London bound express. Why does authority never learn?
Because beauracracies refuse to spend time & money on PREVENTING ANYTHING, until it has already happened. This story proves that even after an accident, they still do not come up with any real viable answers. Just temporary bandaids. My personal experience with engineers, administration, gvnmt entities, ALL look at money and convenience of changes over safety contingencies ALL THE TIME. There is a human cognitive tendancy to make decisions like a gambling establishment. If the "odds" are not "high" enough, then no action is taken. Rather then "imagine worst-case-scenario" and then tell me what "excuse" would justify their lack of action?! Many humans base their decisions on their "odds" assumptions. Which are NEVER based in statistics of reality/possibility/probability!
September 1986 Colwich collision was remarkable in having just one fatality (driver of the Liverpool-Euston) given the 90/100mph cross-impact and the wreckage. Colwich's junction layout was 'asking for trouble' until signalling was modified to avoid drivers mistaking aspect sequences when the first part of the junction is clear but the second (across the Up Fast and round the corner towards Stoke) is not.
Possibly because they behave more as authoritarian corrupt compromised dictators, or ambitious, weak 'yes-men', rather than honest, humble & repsonsible Public-Servants?
Absolutely massive congratulations on 100,000 subscribers! You deserve every last one of them and I truly hope that the road to 1,000,000 subscribers will be quick for you with this absolutely amazing high-quality content
Wow, I'm from Morpeth and live 2 miles away from this railway curve! My mum lives literally right next to the curve. Crazy seeing our little town mentioned, and I learned loads of things they certainly never taught us in school here..!
Congrats on 100K! The Morpeth Curve has a striking similarity to a similar stretch of railroad in my city: Frankford Junction in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. A deadly accident occurred on that curve in 2015 (Amtrak), and is eerily similar to one that occurred in 1943 (then the Pennsylvania Railroad). I love both your plane and train videos!
I was just reading about this curve the other day! My partner is from this area, so we've travelled to and from Morpeth countless times and I'd had no idea how dangerous this section of track was!
In my younger life, I lived in Morpeth and worked in Newcastle for over ten years. I travelled by train to work, so I went over this rail curve more than one thousand times ! Including some evenings out. Returning on the KX to Edinburgh Mail Train, which stopped at Morpeth. I remember the May 1969 derailment. My GP Doctor lived very near the railway line curve at time, and was out of bed at the lineside by 1.45am. Never arriving for his Surgery that day ! As a result of this 1969 derailment, very large warning signs in Red were erected , in both directions, 2 miles before entering Morpeth Station. Advising of a 40mph max. speed limit travelling through Morpeth Station. Unfortnately, it failed to have the appropriate effect concerning the June 1984 derailment, which I remember. Causing ECML Trains to be diverted, both North and South, on to the freight only line via Bedlington to reach Newcastle. With the electricfication of the ECML in 1990, the curve, just to the West of Morpeth Station has been slightly realigned, thus the altered Max. Speed to 50mph. Up to 1930, it would have been possible to construct a straighter by pass rail line , but Morpeth has become larger and more built up, including around the Railway Station, which it wasn't in my 1950s childhood.
Katrina .... Its a bit like people saying "a dangerous road". There is no such thing .... but there is such a thing as dangerous drivers. Same principle applies here. All down to the drivers.
we still had those blue & white coaches on the single line which goes from the new forest to the Isle of Wight Ferry in the 00s . my Uncle Reg Banks was at the Eastleigh Signal Box during the last decades of the previous century. i love trains but my posh missus still has an aversion to public transport in spite of being with a council house boy for 30 years ❤️from woods near Bournemouth
LOVE the new video!! I swear, this is one of my very favorite channels. ALL the congratulations for 100k subs!! So happy for you. Definitely well deserved! I can’t wait to be around to see you gain 100k more! You’re great. Keep it up!! ☺️
4:54 Deltic number 55011 was the 12th Deltic. They were originally numbered from 00 to 21 but under the new numbering system, number 00 became number 22.
Well, if you really want to be pedantic, it was the 13th Deltic, because before D9000 you had the prototype Deltic - named Deltic - itself. D9011 / 55011 was the 12th PRODUCTION Deltic. :)
wow, i am not travelling via train through morpeth. the anxiety would be too much LOL. excellent video once again chloe!!! congrats on 100k, its well deserved. 200k here we come!!
It didn't stop me travelling through the curve, but let's say I was thinking about the history when I heard the train announcer saying 'The next stop is Morpeth' when I travelled on that section in 1997
I've travelled the east coast line from Edinburgh to Newcastle many times over the years and i never knew about this next time I'll definitely be thinking about this video haha
A true "dead man's curve". We had one on the roadway for a long time in my city, so many people crashed on that curve it got that nickname and it sticks to this day.
Incredible, a simple AWS magnet way ahead of the curve, with an advance warning indicator would have prevented at least one accident. And tpws speed restrictions could also prevent trains from speeding at the Morpeth curve. And indeed a short cut of the line for high speed trains would be better.
Exactly what I said modern roadside speed indicators show the driver his feed back speed approaching the radar derived speed readout dont even need magnets unless you want to link it to a brake application . Just a series of red lights at 50 M intervals that stay illuminated whilst the train remains above speed limit and a circular illuminated readout of the train MPH the on the drivers left side would probably be enough to alert the driver ( on the occasions this has occurred night time darkness )
@@andyrichards2569 Ok but having the driver to actually confirm that he/she has seen the lower speed area approaching by pressing a button is always better than just show him/her that the train is approaching the curve too fast by lights. And if still missed, an emergency brake should apply.
@@Ztbmrc1 I was taking this as a site specific issue , where on three occasions all in the black of night trains have sped into the curve ( I surmise from driver concentration or loss of spacial position on the route which is all fast running . ) At night alone in a cab peering into mostly virtual darkness is no fun especially if there are no route features such as girder bridges to alert you to where you are .. whilst this may not have been specifically highlighted in any of the enquiries held , without doubt the drivers did not intend to enter the curve at the speeds they did !! So by deliberation nothing had alerted them to shit Im about to enter the curve at 70 -80 mph which is generally route speed ..
@@Ztbmrc1 this combined with the fact the network is using older and older drivers to fill operating services , does not bode well as we get older holding concentration and recall of immediately previous info becomes difficult Im 65 and I notice a distinct drop off of concentration at night in the dark . I surmise temporary lack of concentration and route possition was a big factor . Fitting a system which links to the AWS TPS is complex. Probably classed as Cost prohibitive in installation . Where as as a trial this upgrade of a stand alone idea is cheap and can be installed at lineside without a full occupation . I agree that linking may be good but no action at all is not good !!!
@@andyrichards2569 The driver of the Royal mail train was pissed, so I guess no amount of warnings would have made any difference. Automatic braking may have helped though.
This was very informative. I'm enthralled, as Autistic people often are, by railways and rolling stock. Especially the historical significance of the British railways.
'Red for Danger' by LTC Rolt is an old classic but a most basic 'Bible' for how the railway rule book and safety systems learned from accidents and incidents. it is enthralling and eminently readable.
@@dorian4534 is it common the interest in trains? My 6 year old is autistic and absolutely loves trains especially steam, have had to travel to York multiple times just to see the mallard (his favourite).
@@admiralsnackbar69 Yes, very! We love predictable routines, objects we can organize. Also, trains run on tracks, straight lines. It's visually soothing, which helps when the world is an incredibly unpredictable and overwhelming place.
Great quality video, thank you so much once again!! BTW, the UK's "abysmally slow" rail development still looks amazing compared to us here in Canada. When I visit the UK, I am so envious of the rail service. I know Canada's geography is less conducive to rail networks, but even in places where more train connections would make sense, we are years behind.
Congratulations for you reaching 100k subs although I am a recent subscriber. Your content is superb not only the visual, but also your description of the events. Finally it is very kind of you to share your sources. Wish you all the best and keep up your outstanding work
An excellent video!!! I forget the date but here in NYC 4/5/6 IRT Line there was a major derailment at 14th Street / Union Square station due to the driver's use of drugs and alcohol while driving the train nearly 100mph. Like this Morpis Curve, the curve at Union Square is very tight. You should do a video on this one as well.
The reason for a lot of the twisting and turning of British railways was that the railways companies of the day had to ngotiate with the locallandowners to buy the land upon which to build their railway infrastructure. If the landlord refused to sell, then the railway had to wind around his land borders. In other countries, a different approach was taken : comulsory purchase of the land needed for the laying of the railways.
Such a thoroughly researched, well made and very interesting video. You deserve a lot more subscribers than mere 100k. Congratulations and big thanks from me!
It’s always a real treat when you upload. I see it pop up and think yes!!! I’m entertained throughout and find it so interesting. The way you deliver it so factually and clear is perfect for me. Thankyou for all you do, from all of us fans!
Train Protection Warning System (TPWS) would prevent this from happening. Overspeed Sensors (OSS) can be spaced to set the linespeed speed limit. Any excessive speed causes the onboard train equipment to issue a brake application which brings the train to a complete halt. The driver cannot override the system once the brake application is in progress.
Well done on that first major milestone of 100K subscribers. The professionally produced quality of your content is superb, and your voice is a delight to listen to (if I'm honest). Here's to the next hundred thousand. 🎉
I can remember both the 1984 and 1994 derailments happening. I regularly drive past the houses at Duchar Park where the passenger train came to rest and it's always in mind. The 1984 crash in particular shocked the whole town and is still well remembered by long term residents.
given the amount of times ive been on this track myself, i had no idea about this. i live literally 5 mins out from the train station, and pass it every time i go into morpeth. to be fair it did always shock me that even 50mph was allowed round that bend. definitely going to be holding my breath going round the bend from now on!
The history of British railway accidents & the introduction of safety measures is very well covered by L.T.C. Rolt; Michael Foley & Christian Wolmar.. Rolt’s ‘Red for Danger being one of the best.
Really enjoyed this week’s video. I love learning about history and how the world has changed through disasters and how they change the course of history through learning. B
This was a great video! Neat that you could travel to Morpeth as well and found several stories to knit together to a really splendid video. This is why I'm a patreon of yours! :)
Very good vid. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 Reaslly surprising the Morpeth curve had SUCH a history, BUT no one has laid new track and closed it down. Its like mycountry's MD DC-9 cargo door design. Saving money is more important than people's safety in the eyes of the people on charge. I HOPE 🙏 NO MORE PEOPLE ARE INJURED OR KILLED! Patty from America
Very interesting video. Just FYI the Class 55 `Deltic' locomotive featured not one but two Napier Deltic 2 stroke high speed Diesel engines each rated 1,650 bhp (1,230 kW), total 3,300 bhp (2,460 kW) which I understand operated in series, i.e. one ramped up to maximum power while the other idled and then on further power demand the second engine ramped up. This resulted in problems (exhaust fires due to a build up of lubrication oil) on low power demand duties (e.g. Heritage railways) so that sometimes the locos were operated with only one engine running when not on the main line. 4:17 To be very picky it would have been fitting for the Ammeter to show some traction motor current e.g. 1,750 Amps instead of zero as the train accelerated north of Newcastle 5:21
True, but this footage was taken from a game that came out around 2008 originally, called Train Simulator Classic (or Railworks). The locomotive is by Kuju, and it dates back to around at least 2010-2011, so inaccuracies for it aren't that surprising.
I never expected someone to mention, let alone produce a video about Morpeth! I’ve been on that line multiple times and didn’t know about how bad the curve is, or it’s fatal past. The more you learn!
WOW! CONGRATULATIONS ON REACHING 100K SUBSCRIBERS! 🎉🎉😊😊 IT'S NO WONDER YOU REACHED THIS MILESTONE CONSIDERING HOW WELL YOU PRODUCE AND NARRATE THEM! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK, AND LET'S CELEBRATE 200K AS SOON AS POSSIBLE 😊😊❤❤
You have such a lovely style of narration and presentation of info. Keep it up! Also I’ve been very much enjoying the Twitch content, just checked out your channel and having a blast watching past streams.
I recently found out that the original ECML route would have by passed Morpeth, taking a route over the River Wansbeck near Ashington. Morpeth was chosen due to money and potential customers. I've often wondered if they would ever dig a bypass route, for future faster services, which would allow slower local trains to go via Morpeth opening up more capacity. I guess the cost of such works would be very high and probably not in Network Rail's minds, plus we're not in London...
Rerouting the railway as shown at 12:41 would likely require expropriating land from every property on the route. Expropriations are major legal proceedings involving high-powered lawyers, politicking, weeks-long hearings, and significant public backlash. They can drag on for literal years and cost millions of dollars in compensation and legal costs. Perhaps this is why the new route was never built. (Maybe some lawyers want to chime in?)
It does cost unbelievable amounts of money, friend if mine was stubborn to move for a road expansion.....got paid way more then her house was worth and she stayed put for years.
@@admiralsnackbar69 The thing about roads and other "linear properties" like pipelines and railways is that if it goes through three pieces of land, owners A and C may sign but owner B now has a major bargaining chip because he can stop the entire project by stalling. In Canada, allowances for future public roadways, railways and utilities were baked right into the land ownership system from very early on. If you buy land with a road allowance going through it, you'd best be prepared for someone to build a road there someday. Legally, you should have known about the allowance when you bought the land (it's in the land title). Allowances don't fix every issue but they are good for essentials like interprovincial highways and public utilities (power, water, communications, etc.).
In the US,there are several curves,that come under that rubric,of excessive speed,plus an extremely tight radius! One accident that stands out was the Chicago Transit Authority's derailment on the Loop,which literally had one of the cars,fall on the street; that was on a 50 foot radius curve,as the rolling stock on the CTA,is patterned after the original elevated cars[50ft.length,9ft.width,12ft.height
Today, we have ATP. If a driver misses a speed reduction a loud alarm will sound asking the driver to take action. If the driver still fails to slow the train the computer will break for you. The alarm is loud so you can't miss it as it sound like an aviation master alarm.
It is very interesting to hear about these cases for me, since I am not invested in trains at all. Keep it up! One accident you should talk about in the future is the train crash in Eschede in Germany. It is the most devastating in German history
This is one of my favourite subjects- the other two being flying & marine topics. They have, as an interest, the advantage of being shared with a very large cross section of society. Aside from that I like your videos, because they are very well researched and presented. Reflecting on the content, they’re all encompassed by four words (in Western terminology); engineering;; science; mechanical and industry. Speaking of which, curvature is often referred to by the measure the radius of a circle both ends of the cure were to continued until both ends of the circle were completed.
Very enjoyable video! Astonishing that on every occasion, the infamy of the curve was believed sufficient enough to keep drivers safe on it, and repeatedly this was clearly insufficient. There was a similar menace in the town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire called the Charlestown curve. It forced drivers to brake their trains hard for an unusually wiggly piece of line that was snaking its way around a hillside. Like with Morpeth, decisions to include bends like this were taken by the engineer (the very same George Stephenson) as he was under pressure to keep line costs down, and only had to concern himself with the speeds and sizes of locomotives from the 1830s. Eventually there was a fatal accident on the curve in 1912, and for once the rail company actually did something. They hacked out a section of the hillside in order to flatten out the curve of the line and as far as I can tell, that put an end to any further mishaps.
If you found this video to be interesting, be sure to subscribe as there is a new video every Saturday. This video also went out to my Patrons on Patreon 48 hours before going out publicly. Consider joining here from £1 per month: www.patreon.com/DisasterBreakdown
Excellent presentation
I love your videos
Congrats on 100k subscribers!
Is there really a new castle at Newcastle?
How can u think I'm going to be satisfied with a boring vid stuffed with ads ? How can u possibly think that ?
This is why TPWS is so vital to the safety of UK railways, though a full supervision system like ETCS would be even safer!
Agreed
Seeing how much emphasis you put in your video about trains, it’s not really surprising to see you here XD
Really like your videos btw
But so much less of an adrenaline rush.
They should announce all these high risk areas as we go past them, then 1, the driver might take care and 2, it would be like a reality horror film. Bit like the amazing central line tube driver that you really want on hallowe’en because he gives all the ghost stories.
As a Traindriver myself i have to tell you: While ETCS, especially in LVL 2, is a safe System - it really poses problems. For normal lines with a lot of stops, manouvering trains etc. it is a struggle. Older, country specific systems like ZUB or LZB are at almost the same safety but with a lot better integration into daily train-business.
The idea behind ETCS is great - if all of europe would use it, passing country borders would be as easy as with a car for every traindriver. But yeah, in every day use it sadly still isn't up to our older systems :(
Hello Plainly Difficult. There is a more advanced system called ATP or Automatic Train Protection. It is however more expensive than TPWS or Train Protection Warning System (I think that is what is called) but both systems do what you think it is. Warn the driver of upcoming signals.
In addition British Rail has never addressed the very dangerous flaw of the Sunflower dial and it's sound between Preliminary Caution, Caution and Danger.
That is partly what caused accidents like the Ladbroke Grove Accident of 1999.
One recommendation from the first accident was the withholding of disciplinary letters until the driver signed off duty, not giving him such letters at the start of a shift.
Or holding disciplinary meetings instead of letters so that the driver can discuss tactics to avoid future errors and the disciplinary chair can ensure that those tactics do not include speeding through corners.
That would consume all my thoughts too, anything might happen.
Or, like in Japan, stop punishing drivers for being a bit late. This was a common thing in Japan, with drivers being forced to do 'day training' which involved writing pointless apology letters while being shouted at by managers, and then having to work a shift as normal. The number of fatal incidents due to the fear or being 'trained' or sheer exhaustion went through the roof until the practice was outlawed.
It did seem very odd to give a letter like that to a train driver. If the train he was driving arrived late it does not seem likely that it was because he was being lazy.
@@mjowsey It was many years ago. I worked as a guard from 1983 to 1995 and we were supposed to keep a time book but I think few did - I gave it up after 6 months ! With modern signalling etc the rail managers will be well aware of the reasons for any delays so no point in writing a letter.
"So there's been like 5 accidents here, should we maybe do something?"
"Nah it'll be fine"
The local residents were probably like "Oh not again"
@@johnkelly1083 very true.
In the US, rail cars were linked by a brutally treacherous system called "link and pin". It involved the victim, I mean the railroad worker to hold a steel loop (like a huge single link from a steel chain) in between two railcars while the locomotive smacked them together, then quick drop a pin in each side before the rolled back. He had about 4-6" of slack space during which he could yank his hand out at the last second, but heaven help him if he pulled too soon and the coupler fell, requiring whole minutes for the loco to back up and try again. Finger amputation was so common, you could closely estimate how long someone had worked for the railroad by how few fingers he had left. And of course, once he's down to only a couple, the railroad fires him cause he cant do the job, or if he was buddies with someone important, and had the aptitude he could be switched to something that only required 2 fingers, like sending Morse code. In 1873 Eli Janney patented the automatic coupler which just clicks together with no one even near it (still in widespread use in the US and some other countries today [not in Europe]). But railroads felt it was just cheaper to hire workers with more fingers than spend _hundreds_ of dollars for _every_ railroad car. Why, for some railroads that could have amounted to almost $10,000! And merely to save lives and livelihoods! It wasnt until congress acted in ~1898 that it became mandatory, and accidents fell off a cliff; actually becoming MORE productive for the railways without all the screaming and re-attempts, plus it was simply a much faster machine to use, both coupling and uncoupling.
No disrespect to the town of Morpeth, but I'm sure other European countries would simply have built a straighter section of line that bypassed the town altogether.
There'd still be the 'Morpeth Curve' which only local trains and freight trains would use. While faster regional, and mainline services from London would be taken onto the new straight section to avoid having to go through Morpeth and use the 'curve'. And then rejoin the existing line north of Morpeth and its curve.
Perhaps there isn't the space to do this in our crowded country? - but countries like France and Germany would have done this much earlier.....many decades ago, while there was still space to build a section for faster trains only. They would have worked it out that this curve was too risky for long distance fast services to use....and they would have acted accordingly. But not us it seems. Never us.
It's the old lack of foresight and long term thinking again. Something that continues to blight the UK today. And not just with our railways.
@@robtyman4281 It's not that our country is overcrowded, our population density is actually similar to Germany and less than the Netherlands and Belgium. The problem is that it's impossible to build new infrastructure in the UK because of laws and different groups.
Here in the UK we have really strict planning laws introduced after WW2 that ensures new infrastructure doesn't get built unless every party agrees. This has had the negative side effect of making it impossible to build as somebody will always disagree (usually locals).
Look at HS2 for an example, tree huggers and other groups are part of the reason the price of the project skyrocketed to over £100B and phase 2 was cancelled. Another example is the lower Thames crossing, which has produced 359,866 pages of paperwork and not a single piece of dirt has even been moved yet!
There is actually room to build a Morpeth bypass, but in this region we can't even open closed rail lines that are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people because of our London-centric government.
Morpeth is my home town where I still live today, I was so shocked when I saw this come up in my subscriptions!!! Was not expecting anyone to notice our little corner of northumberland! Thank you for covering it, very interesting.
And I can assure everyone I travel in and out of Morpeth regularly by train and have survived so far 😁
Wet leaves on the Line is a
Constant worry in...Britain's AUTUMN ........Meaning the FALL in the States for our American Cousins !
As a Morpeht resident, were you also shocked by the narrator (who is a Geordie) referring to Northumberland as "County Northumberland" and putting on a truly silly fake American accent? ("Morrrrrpeth").
Are the accidents well known locally?
@@Mikadobiscuits I believe the major one in 1969 is well known, but the others perhaps not so much?
Survivorship bias :-)
My late father was signalman at Colwich Junction on the Trent Valley Main Line, where the 'Knotty' swings off the main for Stoke on Trent and Manchester. In the 1960s the junction layout was altered in a way he felt to be dangerous; if a Stoke bound train 'ran through her sticks' (aka a SPAD these days), there was a very strong chance of it meeting a southbound train from Stafford head on. It worried him so much that he left the railway service. He died in 1977 and about five years later exactly what he predicted happened. A northbound Manchester failed to observe distant signals, got the brakes down far too late and ground to a halt in the middle of the junction, right in the path of a fast London bound express. Why does authority never learn?
Because beauracracies refuse to spend time & money on PREVENTING ANYTHING, until it has already happened. This story proves that even after an accident, they still do not come up with any real viable answers. Just temporary bandaids.
My personal experience with engineers, administration, gvnmt entities, ALL look at money and convenience of changes over safety contingencies ALL THE TIME. There is a human cognitive tendancy to make decisions like a gambling establishment. If the "odds" are not "high" enough, then no action is taken. Rather then "imagine worst-case-scenario" and then tell me what "excuse" would justify their lack of action?! Many humans base their decisions on their "odds" assumptions. Which are NEVER based in statistics of reality/possibility/probability!
September 1986 Colwich collision was remarkable in having just one fatality (driver of the Liverpool-Euston) given the 90/100mph cross-impact and the wreckage. Colwich's junction layout was 'asking for trouble' until signalling was modified to avoid drivers mistaking aspect sequences when the first part of the junction is clear but the second (across the Up Fast and round the corner towards Stoke) is not.
Possibly because they behave more as authoritarian corrupt compromised dictators, or ambitious, weak 'yes-men', rather than honest, humble & repsonsible Public-Servants?
My Uncle Reg was at Eastleigh signal box from I think the 1960s until retirement in the 1980s 😁👍🐢
Absolutely massive congratulations on 100,000 subscribers! You deserve every last one of them and I truly hope that the road to 1,000,000 subscribers will be quick for you with this absolutely amazing high-quality content
Thank you for your kind words!
🤍💙👌🏽👍🏼
I went down to the comments to wright just this. Spot on :)
Wow, I'm from Morpeth and live 2 miles away from this railway curve! My mum lives literally right next to the curve. Crazy seeing our little town mentioned, and I learned loads of things they certainly never taught us in school here..!
i live near amble
i assume they forgot to mention that Concentration Camps are a British invention??
Congrats on 100K! The Morpeth Curve has a striking similarity to a similar stretch of railroad in my city: Frankford Junction in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. A deadly accident occurred on that curve in 2015 (Amtrak), and is eerily similar to one that occurred in 1943 (then the Pennsylvania Railroad).
I love both your plane and train videos!
I was just reading about this curve the other day! My partner is from this area, so we've travelled to and from Morpeth countless times and I'd had no idea how dangerous this section of track was!
In my younger life, I lived in Morpeth and worked in Newcastle for over ten years. I travelled by train to work, so I went over this rail curve more than one thousand times ! Including some evenings out. Returning on the KX to Edinburgh Mail Train, which stopped at Morpeth. I remember the May 1969 derailment. My GP Doctor lived very near the railway line curve at time, and was out of bed at the lineside by 1.45am. Never arriving for his Surgery that day ! As a result of this 1969 derailment, very large warning signs in Red were erected , in both directions, 2 miles before entering Morpeth Station. Advising of a 40mph max. speed limit travelling through Morpeth Station. Unfortnately, it failed to have the appropriate effect concerning the June 1984 derailment, which I remember. Causing ECML Trains to be diverted, both North and South, on to the freight only line via Bedlington to reach Newcastle. With the electricfication of the ECML in 1990, the curve, just to the West of Morpeth Station has been slightly realigned, thus the altered Max. Speed to 50mph. Up to 1930, it would have been possible to construct a straighter by pass rail line , but Morpeth has become larger and more built up, including around the Railway Station, which it wasn't in my 1950s childhood.
Katrina .... Its a bit like people saying "a dangerous road". There is no such thing .... but there is such a thing as dangerous drivers. Same principle applies here. All down to the drivers.
we still had those blue & white coaches on the single line which goes from the new forest to the Isle of Wight Ferry in the 00s . my Uncle Reg Banks was at the Eastleigh Signal Box during the last decades of the previous century. i love trains but my posh missus still has an aversion to public transport in spite of being with a council house boy for 30 years ❤️from woods near Bournemouth
That was freaking epic. I love the fact that you dived into something else than air traffic accidents. Keep it up!
charting the history of this one curve right from the first accident to the most recent was really interesting to watch! great video, as always!
LOVE the new video!! I swear, this is one of my very favorite channels. ALL the congratulations for 100k subs!! So happy for you. Definitely well deserved! I can’t wait to be around to see you gain 100k more! You’re great. Keep it up!! ☺️
4:54 Deltic number 55011 was the 12th Deltic.
They were originally numbered from 00 to 21 but under the new numbering system, number 00 became number 22.
Deltic #55011 was also named _The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers_ . It would be scrapped at Doncaster in 1982.
I was going to say that!!!
Well, if you really want to be pedantic, it was the 13th Deltic, because before D9000 you had the prototype Deltic - named Deltic - itself. D9011 / 55011 was the 12th PRODUCTION Deltic. :)
wow, i am not travelling via train through morpeth. the anxiety would be too much LOL. excellent video once again chloe!!! congrats on 100k, its well deserved. 200k here we come!!
It didn't stop me travelling through the curve, but let's say I was thinking about the history when I heard the train announcer saying 'The next stop is Morpeth' when I travelled on that section in 1997
I often get anxiety on trains and only feel better when the brakes come on.
I've travelled the east coast line from Edinburgh to Newcastle many times over the years and i never knew about this next time I'll definitely be thinking about this video haha
live at peth, you would be fine
The journey will still be about a thousand times safer than if you went by car, and about ten times safer than if you went by plane.
A true "dead man's curve". We had one on the roadway for a long time in my city, so many people crashed on that curve it got that nickname and it sticks to this day.
Are you from Cleveland?
We have one in my park of Australia. We refer to it as Darwin’s bend, and not after the town…
@@Picolinnirail or road?
Incredible, a simple AWS magnet way ahead of the curve, with an advance warning indicator would have prevented at least one accident. And tpws speed restrictions could also prevent trains from speeding at the Morpeth curve. And indeed a short cut of the line for high speed trains would be better.
Exactly what I said modern roadside speed indicators show the driver his feed back speed approaching the radar derived speed readout dont even need magnets unless you want to link it to a brake application .
Just a series of red lights at 50 M intervals that stay illuminated whilst the train remains above speed limit and a circular illuminated readout of the train MPH the on the drivers left side would probably be enough to alert the driver ( on the occasions this has occurred night time darkness )
@@andyrichards2569 Ok but having the driver to actually confirm that he/she has seen the lower speed area approaching by pressing a button is always better than just show him/her that the train is approaching the curve too fast by lights. And if still missed, an emergency brake should apply.
@@Ztbmrc1 I was taking this as a site specific issue , where on three occasions all in the black of night trains have sped into the curve ( I surmise from driver concentration or loss of spacial position on the route which is all fast running . ) At night alone in a cab peering into mostly virtual darkness is no fun especially if there are no route features such as girder bridges to alert you to where you are .. whilst this may not have been specifically highlighted in any of the enquiries held , without doubt the drivers did not intend to enter the curve at the speeds they did !!
So by deliberation nothing had alerted them to shit Im about to enter the curve at 70 -80 mph which is generally route speed ..
@@Ztbmrc1 this combined with the fact the network is using older and older drivers to fill operating services , does not bode well as we get older holding concentration and recall of immediately previous info becomes difficult Im 65 and I notice a distinct drop off of concentration at night in the dark .
I surmise temporary lack of concentration and route possition was a big factor . Fitting a system which links to the AWS TPS is complex. Probably classed as Cost prohibitive in installation .
Where as as a trial this upgrade of a stand alone idea is cheap and can be installed at lineside without a full occupation .
I agree that linking may be good but no action at all is not good !!!
@@andyrichards2569 The driver of the Royal mail train was pissed, so I guess no amount of warnings would have made any difference. Automatic braking may have helped though.
Excellent work my friend. Love your insight and compassion to all of your videos.
This was very informative. I'm enthralled, as Autistic people often are, by railways and rolling stock. Especially the historical significance of the British railways.
'Red for Danger' by LTC Rolt is an old classic but a most basic 'Bible' for how the railway rule book and safety systems learned from accidents and incidents. it is enthralling and eminently readable.
@@johnjephcote7636 Thank you!
@@dorian4534 is it common the interest in trains? My 6 year old is autistic and absolutely loves trains especially steam, have had to travel to York multiple times just to see the mallard (his favourite).
@@admiralsnackbar69 Yes, very! We love predictable routines, objects we can organize. Also, trains run on tracks, straight lines. It's visually soothing, which helps when the world is an incredibly unpredictable and overwhelming place.
Whoops hello, I'm on the spectrum and have been scratching my itch for public infrastructure disasters
Great quality video, thank you so much once again!! BTW, the UK's "abysmally slow" rail development still looks amazing compared to us here in Canada. When I visit the UK, I am so envious of the rail service. I know Canada's geography is less conducive to rail networks, but even in places where more train connections would make sense, we are years behind.
Congratulations for you reaching 100k subs although I am a recent subscriber. Your content is superb not only the visual, but also your description of the events. Finally it is very kind of you to share your sources.
Wish you all the best and keep up your outstanding work
Hey mate, congrats on 100k!
Wish you the best for lucks!
Hey, thanks!
Amazing video, as always. Had to pause and see whether the LNER journey I took last month went through Morpeth (it did).
Congrats on 100k subscribers!
An excellent video!!!
I forget the date but here in NYC 4/5/6 IRT Line there was a major derailment at 14th Street / Union Square station due to the driver's use of drugs and alcohol while driving the train nearly 100mph. Like this Morpis Curve, the curve at Union Square is very tight. You should do a video on this one as well.
Yay yay!!!! You deserve every single one of those subs. Congratulations on reaching such a milestone. Your channel is amazing!
Hard to believe in the 1969 incident that any train could round that curve at a speed of 80mph and still stop in the station.
The reason for a lot of the twisting and turning of British railways was that the railways companies of the day had to ngotiate with the locallandowners to buy the land upon which to build their railway infrastructure.
If the landlord refused to sell, then the railway had to wind around his land borders.
In other countries, a different approach was taken : comulsory purchase of the land needed for the laying of the railways.
A great channel .... congratulations .... a well-deserved thanks for your videos
Brilliant video's , thank you for the work and research you put into making them 😊👍.
Such a thoroughly researched, well made and very interesting video. You deserve a lot more subscribers than mere 100k. Congratulations and big thanks from me!
Congratulations on 100K subscribers, Chloe!
Congratulations on hitting 100k. It is indeed a large milestone.
It’s always a real treat when you upload. I see it pop up and think yes!!! I’m entertained throughout and find it so interesting. The way you deliver it so factually and clear is perfect for me. Thankyou for all you do, from all of us fans!
Impressive video as always! Congratulations on reaching 100k subs! You deserve it, and more!
wasn’t expecting to see my home town on my recommended page but i’m glad i did! great video :)
Love the train videos and a huge congratulations on reaching 100k subscribers! Hope the channel continues to grow.
Congratulations on 100k!
Congrats on 100k! Well deserved and know you will only keep growing!
congratulations on 100K, I hope you enjoy to plaque, you deserve the recognition
Train Protection Warning System (TPWS) would prevent this from happening. Overspeed Sensors (OSS) can be spaced to set the linespeed speed limit. Any excessive speed causes the onboard train equipment to issue a brake application which brings the train to a complete halt. The driver cannot override the system once the brake application is in progress.
Love Your Videos
Well done on that first major milestone of 100K subscribers. The professionally produced quality of your content is superb, and your voice is a delight to listen to (if I'm honest). Here's to the next hundred thousand. 🎉
Man, 1 in a half years, congrats on 100k man! You deserve it.
I can remember both the 1984 and 1994 derailments happening. I regularly drive past the houses at Duchar Park where the passenger train came to rest and it's always in mind. The 1984 crash in particular shocked the whole town and is still well remembered by long term residents.
given the amount of times ive been on this track myself, i had no idea about this. i live literally 5 mins out from the train station, and pass it every time i go into morpeth. to be fair it did always shock me that even 50mph was allowed round that bend. definitely going to be holding my breath going round the bend from now on!
Congrats on 100k subs. You deserve it and your content is always high quality and informative to watch. Please keep it up.
Congratulations on 100k subscribers!!
Congrats on 100K Subs! You've grown so fast and I've seen and enjoyed every video.
Congrats DB! Well deserved
Congrats on 100K 🥳
The history of British railway accidents & the introduction of safety measures is very well covered by L.T.C. Rolt; Michael Foley & Christian Wolmar.. Rolt’s ‘Red for Danger being one of the best.
Really enjoyed this week’s video. I love learning about history and how the world has changed through disasters and how they change the course of history through learning. B
Congrats on 100k! 🥳
Congrats on 100k subs... well 108 now. Keep em coming!!
love the channel and really enjoying the rail breakdowns
I'm not sure why this was recommended to me, but it was fascinating. Good work
Congratulations on reaching 💯k subscribers. 🏆🥇🎇🎈🧨🎊
Thanks so much for sharing. 😉👌🏻
I wish Saturdays would come more frequently, so that we would be able to watch more episodes of Disaster Breakdown.
Terrific production.
This was a great video! Neat that you could travel to Morpeth as well and found several stories to knit together to a really splendid video. This is why I'm a patreon of yours! :)
Very good vid. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 Reaslly surprising the Morpeth curve had SUCH a history, BUT no one has laid new track and closed it down. Its like mycountry's MD DC-9 cargo door design. Saving money is more important than people's safety in the eyes of the people on charge.
I HOPE 🙏 NO MORE PEOPLE ARE INJURED OR KILLED!
Patty from America
Great video, I'd love to see more about railroad accidents. And congratulations to 100.000 subscribers!
I watched so many of your videos, one thing I just have to say, love the way you say “devastation” there is just something about it
Very interesting video.
Just FYI the Class 55 `Deltic' locomotive featured not one but two Napier Deltic 2 stroke high speed Diesel engines each rated 1,650 bhp (1,230 kW), total 3,300 bhp (2,460 kW) which I understand operated in series, i.e. one ramped up to maximum power while the other idled and then on further power demand the second engine ramped up. This resulted in problems (exhaust fires due to a build up of lubrication oil) on low power demand duties (e.g. Heritage railways) so that sometimes the locos were operated with only one engine running when not on the main line. 4:17
To be very picky it would have been fitting for the Ammeter to show some traction motor current e.g. 1,750 Amps instead of zero as the train accelerated north of Newcastle 5:21
True, but this footage was taken from a game that came out around 2008 originally, called Train Simulator Classic (or Railworks).
The locomotive is by Kuju, and it dates back to around at least 2010-2011, so inaccuracies for it aren't that surprising.
I never expected someone to mention, let alone produce a video about Morpeth! I’ve been on that line multiple times and didn’t know about how bad the curve is, or it’s fatal past. The more you learn!
WOW! CONGRATULATIONS ON REACHING 100K SUBSCRIBERS! 🎉🎉😊😊 IT'S NO WONDER YOU REACHED THIS MILESTONE CONSIDERING HOW WELL YOU PRODUCE AND NARRATE THEM! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK, AND LET'S CELEBRATE 200K AS SOON AS POSSIBLE 😊😊❤❤
Congrats on hitting 100K!! 🎉
And thanks for another great video!
Congratulations on 100K!!
Hey, congratulations on 100 thousand subscribers!
This is a great video, I never knew about the latter two accidents. Very well done mate. Subbed
Good job. Interesting how good ideas never seem to go away, even 150 years later.
You have such a lovely style of narration and presentation of info. Keep it up! Also I’ve been very much enjoying the Twitch content, just checked out your channel and having a blast watching past streams.
Nice work! 👍. Very interesting.
I recently found out that the original ECML route would have by passed Morpeth, taking a route over the River Wansbeck near Ashington. Morpeth was chosen due to money and potential customers. I've often wondered if they would ever dig a bypass route, for future faster services, which would allow slower local trains to go via Morpeth opening up more capacity. I guess the cost of such works would be very high and probably not in Network Rail's minds, plus we're not in London...
Congrats on 100k
Congratulations and thank you for the great content, friend
I live near there and some times LNER does stop there some times
Congrats on 100K!!! Well deserved! 🏆
Congrats on 100k!
Rerouting the railway as shown at 12:41 would likely require expropriating land from every property on the route. Expropriations are major legal proceedings involving high-powered lawyers, politicking, weeks-long hearings, and significant public backlash. They can drag on for literal years and cost millions of dollars in compensation and legal costs. Perhaps this is why the new route was never built. (Maybe some lawyers want to chime in?)
It does cost unbelievable amounts of money, friend if mine was stubborn to move for a road expansion.....got paid way more then her house was worth and she stayed put for years.
@@admiralsnackbar69 The thing about roads and other "linear properties" like pipelines and railways is that if it goes through three pieces of land, owners A and C may sign but owner B now has a major bargaining chip because he can stop the entire project by stalling.
In Canada, allowances for future public roadways, railways and utilities were baked right into the land ownership system from very early on. If you buy land with a road allowance going through it, you'd best be prepared for someone to build a road there someday. Legally, you should have known about the allowance when you bought the land (it's in the land title). Allowances don't fix every issue but they are good for essentials like interprovincial highways and public utilities (power, water, communications, etc.).
In the US,there are several curves,that come under that rubric,of excessive speed,plus an extremely tight radius! One accident that stands out was the Chicago Transit Authority's derailment on the Loop,which literally had one of the cars,fall on the street; that was on a 50 foot radius curve,as the rolling stock on the CTA,is patterned after the original elevated cars[50ft.length,9ft.width,12ft.height
Good job on 100k and more to come.
That was a fantastic video, very interesting mi really liked it , thank you and congratulations on your 100,000 sub
Very interesting video, beautifully executed. Thanks !
Today, we have ATP. If a driver misses a speed reduction a loud alarm will sound asking the driver to take action. If the driver still fails to slow the train the computer will break for you. The alarm is loud so you can't miss it as it sound like an aviation master alarm.
It is very interesting to hear about these cases for me, since I am not invested in trains at all. Keep it up!
One accident you should talk about in the future is the train crash in Eschede in Germany. It is the most devastating in German history
Congrats on 100K❣🎉🎊
Keep up the amazing work ❣
100k Congrats 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Thank you!!
I love learning about my home town. It's a wonderful history, well except specific moments...
Grats on the 100k! Been following you for a year and a half or so now and am so very excited to see you reach this milestone! You deserve it and more.
This is one of my favourite subjects- the other two being flying & marine topics. They have, as an interest, the advantage of being shared with a very large cross section of society. Aside from that I like your videos, because they are very well researched and presented. Reflecting on the content, they’re all encompassed by four words (in Western terminology); engineering;; science; mechanical and industry. Speaking of which, curvature is often referred to by the measure the radius of a circle both ends of the cure were to continued until both ends of the circle were completed.
Well done on your subscriber base new milestone.
If you take requests, would you look into the 1990 Back Bay Massachusetts train collision.
Congrats on 100k! Knew you'd be there before too long~
Congratulations on 100k! Show off the Play Button when you get it.
Very enjoyable video! Astonishing that on every occasion, the infamy of the curve was believed sufficient enough to keep drivers safe on it, and repeatedly this was clearly insufficient.
There was a similar menace in the town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire called the Charlestown curve. It forced drivers to brake their trains hard for an unusually wiggly piece of line that was snaking its way around a hillside. Like with Morpeth, decisions to include bends like this were taken by the engineer (the very same George Stephenson) as he was under pressure to keep line costs down, and only had to concern himself with the speeds and sizes of locomotives from the 1830s.
Eventually there was a fatal accident on the curve in 1912, and for once the rail company actually did something. They hacked out a section of the hillside in order to flatten out the curve of the line and as far as I can tell, that put an end to any further mishaps.
What a brilliant vlog ,, Thankyou and very well done
Good video. Enjoyed the commentary.
Fun Fact: At 14:26 you see a german rail sing. The orange triangle warns of a upcoming speed restriction (of 20 km/h)
Very interesting video on a stretch of track I have travelled over numerous times - the first occasion being 1952 !