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Celebrity power car 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange ran into difficulties on tonight's 19:57 London Paddington to Plymouth service.

The train arrived at Swindon with a liberal coating of diesel down the entire length of the coaches after a leak had developed on the leading power car.   As well as obscuring the view out of the windows there was also a strong smell of fuel on the platform and aboard the train.

The train was already 25 minutes late waiting for crew at Paddington and after another 25 minutes of talking to maintenance the service was cancelled and passengers put on the following service to Exeter which made a special call.

Pictures for the record, but not that easy to see the real extent of the spillage.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/oil1.jpg)

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/oil2.jpg)

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/oil3.jpg)

Are we certain that it was diesel fuel that leaked ?
The fuel tank is of course underneath and I would therefore expect any escaping fuel to end up on the track, like the toilet waste.

Looks to me as though this might be lubricant rather than fuel? possibly emitted via the exhaust system, or into the engine room and then via the ventilation system.

I know diesel fuel is neither especially volatile nor particularly flammable in its liquid state, but a combination of fuel and 25kV OHLE sounds potentially hazardous...

Not lube oil as that would contain carbon and therefore would be black
It's diesel fuel as bob said from its colourless appearance,and viscosity that has allowed it to spread so far down the trains side .

The fuel has to get from the tank up to the engine of course, so a split pipe/hose or ruptured connection would probably be the problem I guess? 

I suspect not, since at "normal" temperatures diesel gives off very little vapour and that's what would ignite. The main things not to do with diesel are to spill it onto something hot, like an engine exhaust, or squirt it at high pressure through a little hole and so atomise it. No doubt there is an in-between case of something moderately hot (like electrical equipment of brakes) and sparks (which either could produce).

Train fire at Maidenhead 8th September 1995, this was caused by a ruptured diesel fuel tank and the diesel being atomised and the ignited.

Diesel fuel is not as benign as many think, there numerous diesel car that suffer engine fires.

This HST power car fuel leak could have lead to a fire in the engine compartment.  Having said that a little diesel oil goes a long way so may not have been that much ejected

If anything I would be more concerned with the spilt fuel oil contaminating the brake pads leading to loss of effective braking.

 In the mid 80s well before the Maidenhead fireI was travelling in an HST fro Cardiff to Reading as it was work I was in the First Class at the front when all of sudden the windows were covered in diesel and there was a strong smell of fuel in the coach.

The fuel tank had been ruptured. Expecting to stop we carried on into Newport where I expected to be de trained and have to wait for the next service  which I think was hourly then. However after a short while we set off and immediately turned left onto the Hereford line and stopped at the end of the triangle. The driver probably changed ends and shortly after we took the Maindee West curve and proceeded to Reading where I got off. the footstep was very greasy!

Different culture the train must get through. I got  a bit of unexpected track bashing (no regular passenger trains) plus I had a through train to Reading without hiving to change trains. Can't remember how late we were but it wasn't excessive.

?

I have just turned up a summer 1998 timetable and that's got a regular passenger service shown on that line - indeed I remember travelling on the 07:59 from Manchester Piccadilly and hearing the announcements of all the stations to London Waterloo.

Wasn't it at Taplow?  I remember it as I got on the train in question but is was already too full and I was too tired to stand all the way to Reading so I got off and got the next one instead, which got stuck for a very long time. 

If I remember correctly the train came to a stand partially over Oldfield Road bridge between the river bridge and Maidenhead Station.

Correct.



It would not effect the braking that much if at all, 8 coach train plus 2 power cars that's an a lot of brakes to be contaminated also the diesel oil would evaporate off due to the heat.  The loss of brakes on one or even two vehicles would not degrade the braking substantially   

I saw the power car back out and about today, so no major issues.