Wominseebahn Derailment

The Health and Safety Executive had completed their interim report on the Wominseebahn freight derailment (see yesterday’s entry). The derailment was caused by a collision between the pantograph of the Minitrix Ae6/6 locomotive hauling the train with a Kato dummy catenery mast. The recoil from the sudden stop caused two wagons from the middle of the train (a Roco SBB Hbis van, and a Minitrix FS Hbis van) to derail and overturn on the mid-point of the 180deg curve at the end of the layout. The SBB van appears to have suffered no damage, but the FS van has cracked between the roof and the end. The damage is assessed to be repairable with a bit of superglue. Their recommendation was the immediate purchase of some foam-core board to be fixed to the ends (and ultimately sides) of the layout, and to remove the dummy catenary poles.