Off the rails

Last weekend Amberley Museum held their annual Rail Gala, I was there on the Saturday with the Sussex Downs 009 group demo / 009 society stand. There were some good narrow gauge layouts in the exhibition hall, while outside both steam locos operated an intensive service with most of the extensive selection of i/c locos running demonstration trains and generally having fun. There's a collection of photos here.

At lunchtime my son and I decided to eat our sandwiches on a bench at Brockham station, to enjoy the fine weather and the trains going by. This is the mid-point of the line where trains cross, and we watched a goods train set off behind a Hudson Hunslet diesel, before stopping suddenly...



Caught out by the catch point! Oops.



As you can see, the loco is well clear of the end of the rails. Even travelling slowly it takes a while to stop. So, out comes the jack and some big timbers.



And slowly the loco is jacked up to be slid sideways onto the running rails.



"Nothing to see here!"

The passing loop being blocked meant only one train running for a while.



"Problem? What problem?"

Finally re-railed, and with no damage except a slightly bent but functional point operating rod (and perhaps someone's pride), normal service was resumed. Still, it was an excellent demonstration chaps!