Derailed goods wagon at Carrbridge

Image: © Dorothy Carse Taken: 6 Jan 2010

The Tesco train returning empty from Inverness went off the rails after its brakes failed on the descent from Slochd. Some of the wagons landed in the garden of Station House, squashing a shed. Some were removed by crane while a road is currently being built from the A9 to bring in a large enough crane to lift the locomotive. The following text is from the RAIB website: The accident occurred at around 16:03 hrs on 04 January 2010 when the freight train, 4N47, the 13:14 hrs service from Inverness to Mossend Yard, passed a red signal on the single line while approaching Carrbridge station and continued for another 500 metres before running into a loop and onto a short length of track designed to divert trains away from the station (this is known as a ‘run out’). When still travelling at around 60 mph the locomotive and the first vehicle overshot the end of the run out and came to rest down the embankment, close to some houses, with the next five vehicles coming to rest at various angles across the loop and the main line. The last four vehicles did not derail. The driver and a technician who was travelling with the train received minor injuries. Major damage was caused to the railway infrastructure. An initial review of the evidence suggests that the braking performance of the train was below that expected of a train of its type.

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