The Summit Tunnel fire occurred on 20 December 1984 on a dangerous goods train passing through the Summit Tunnel on the Greater Manchester/West Yorkshire border, on the rail line between Littleborough and Todmorden, England.
The tunnel was built in the late 1830s and the construction shafts, at intervals of (approximately) 200 metres (220 yd), were left open to help vent smoke and steam from the locomotives that passed through it.
The fire occurr...
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The Summit Tunnel fire occurred on 20 December 1984 on a dangerous goods train passing through the Summit Tunnel on the Greater Manchester/West Yorkshire border, on the rail line between Littleborough and Todmorden, England.
The tunnel was built in the late 1830s and the construction shafts, at intervals of (approximately) 200 metres (220 yd), were left open to help vent smoke and steam from the locomotives that passed through it.
The fire occurred at 5.50 a.m. on 20 December 1984 when a goods train carrying more than a million litres (835 tonnes) of four-star petrol in thirteen tankers entered the tunnel on the Yorkshire (north) side. One-third of the way through the tunnel, a defective axle bearing derailed the fourth tanker, which promptly knocked those behind it off the track. Only the locomotive and the first three tankers remained on the rails. One of the derailed tankers fell on its side and began to leak petrol into the tunnel. Vapour from the leaking petrol was probably...
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