This video report commemorates the 40th anniversary of a railway ‘mishap’ involving ten runaway wagons. Events could have ended catastrophically were it not for the knowledge and experience of Bill Taylor, the signalman on duty in Carlisle Power Signal Box on the morning of 1st May 1984. He diverted the wagons onto the now-defunct Goods Avoiding Line.
A bridge over the River Caldew was badly damaged by the resulting derailment and was later demolished, but this was a far better outcome than the explosive possibility brought by the runaways if they had continued into Carlisle Station – with their petrochemical contents – where passengers were boarding an early morning train.
