Railways around Coventry

The picture is the north end of the viaduct (roughly this view). Trains into Coundon Road sidings had to stop on the viaduct and reverse into the sidings (diagram) so the accident could only have happened whilst shunting in the yard.

I think my photo with the red car is virtually at the same point as Peter's but nearer to the viaduct. You'll see the car place Paint Junky Garage on Google Maps

Thanks Cliff and Peter though looking at old Maps the siding in to Coundon Road Goods Yard was north of Holyhead Road so I can't see how he came to come off the line there?

Coming from Hawkesbury, the train would have drawn up past the wharf, to reverse in

The sidings were north of Holyhead road, but the "headshunt" (a line to shunt the sidings without blocking the main lines) ran across Holyhead Road to the end of the viaduct. The span for the third track with its newer brickwork is still in place. You can see the headshunt on Old-maps.co.uk.

I'm loving this discussion, even though the incident was sad. Thank you all. Headshunts are often missed on models. The line from Coventry to Nuneaton, although described as secondary, carried a lot of traffic, so avoiding shunt onto running line scenarios was needed. End of branch lines, often had mainline shunting, but the rules were so involved. The shunt loco had to be in possession of an area shunt tablet, issued by the area controlling box, which locked all of the access signals, the rules for one engine in steam applied. The Foleshill line was just too busy for that. Please carry on, thank you.

I would be interested to see how they managed to get the train back onto the tracks. Maybe one of you steam buffs can explain

This will give you an idea

Hi all, Somewhere, there's a photo of an 8F being jacked back onto the rails in Coventry North yard, having come adrift by splitting point work. 8Fs, along with the similar wheel arrangement Austerity 7Fs, were for ever in trouble when used for shunting. Poor visibility from the footplate, a long rigid 2-8-0 wheelbase, made them disasters waiting to happen. The 7Fs even more so, as their 4 axle tenders were forever coming off when shunting tender first. An 8F came to grief in Longford, reversing oil tanks into Charringtons yard.

Hi Phil, The railways have special "Traversing Jacks" to assist with re-railing. Up-across-down. Simple

The "Midland Pullman" HST heads south out of Coventry this evening after its trip to the Settle & Carlisle.

Monday saw only my second visit to Coventry since Nov 2019 - just a quick dash up the M40 as I wanted to see, in particular, the progress on the redevelopment of Coventry railway station. It's certainly an impressive structure compared with the present building, and the bright colour makes it stand out very well. I photographed it from Stoney Road, Warwick Road and in Station Square (Eaton Road and Park Road in old money!)

It's caused a right headache getting around town and the school run in the mornings - especially when they decided to leave the crane they used for the work lying on one of the lanes on Warwick Road outside King Henry's - and at the same time they closed Albany Road off for the work on the flats where the old Spencer Club was. Moan, moan, moan

A classic picture of Foleshill Station coming up. A serious question for our railway members. Why have a distant signal for the colliery sidings, isn't that extravagant? The same applied in the up direction with a distant for the south siding & Courtaulds. The picture may have been posted earlier, but it's the operational aspect that intrigues me.