View source for Summit Tunnel fire

{{Short description|1984 railway disaster near Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=December 2011}}
{{Infobox public transit accident
| name                = Summit Tunnel fire
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| image               = Entrance to Summit Tunnel. - geograph.org.uk - 424169.jpg
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| image_alt           = 
| caption             = South portal, Summit Tunnel
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| pushpin_map         = England
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| coordinates         = {{coord|53.6751|N|2.088261|W|type:event|display=inline}}
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| date                = 20 December 1984
| time                = 
| location            = [[Summit Tunnel]], [[Lancashire]]/[[West Yorkshire]] border
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| country             = United Kingdom
| line                = [[Manchester and Leeds Railway]]
| operator            = [[British Rail]]
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| service             = 
| type                = Derailment and fire
| cause               = Defective bearing
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| trains              = 1
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| crew                = 3
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The '''Summit Tunnel fire''' occurred on 20 December 1984, when a [[dangerous goods]] [[train]] caught fire while passing through the [[Summit Tunnel]] on the railway line between [[Littleborough, Greater Manchester|Littleborough]] and [[Todmorden]] on the [[Greater Manchester]]/[[West Yorkshire]] border, England.

==Background==
{{main|Summit Tunnel}}
The tunnel, which is {{convert|2885|yd|m}} in length, was built in 1840–41. Twelve of the fourteen construction shafts were left open to help vent smoke and steam from the [[steam locomotive|locomotives]] that passed through it.<ref name = "RA" />

The incident was one of a series of British railway accidents during 1984, coming only days after the fatal collision between an express passenger train and a train of fuel oil tankers at [[Eccles rail crash (1984)|Eccles]], Greater Manchester on 4 December.<ref>{{cite news |editor1-last=Douglas-Home |editor1-first=Charles |editor-link=Charles Douglas-Home (journalist)|title=Train may have passed red signal |work=The Times |issue=62005 |date=6 December 1984 |page=2|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> One day earlier on 3 December a train guard had been killed after a collision between a diesel multiple unit and parcels vans at [[Longsight Diesel TMD|Longsight]] also in Manchester.<ref>{{cite news |editor-last1=Douglas-Home |editor-first1=Charles |editor-link=Charles Douglas-Home (journalist)|title=Guard dies in railway crash |work=The Times |issue=62003 |date=4 December 1984 |page=2|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> This third serious railway accident in the North West of England in less than three weeks led the [[Littleborough and Saddleworth (UK Parliament constituency)|Littleborough and Saddleworth]] MP [[Geoffrey Dickens]] to call for an inquiry into railway safety, in particular with respect to the conveyance of dangerous chemicals such as those involved in the accidents at Eccles and Summit Tunnel.<ref name="Granada News">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4fVhmSacr0  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/n4fVhmSacr0 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Granada News report on Summit Tunnel Disaster |publisher=LittleboroughLocal |date=27 April 2015 |access-date=20 November 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Fire==
The train involved was the 01:40 freight train from [[Haverton Hill]], [[Teesside]] to {{rws|Glazebrook}} oil distribution terminal near [[Warrington]]. It was formed by [[British Rail Class 47|class 47]] [[diesel locomotive]] 47 125 and thirteen [[tank car|tankers]].<ref name = "RA">{{cite web |url=http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/DoT_Summit1984.pdf |periodical=Railway Accident |title=Report on the derailment and fire that occurred on 20th December 1984 at Summit Tunnel in the London Midland Region of British Railways |location=London |author=Department of Transport |author-link=Department of Transport |date=4 June 1986 |format=PDF, 5.7 MB |publisher=[[Her Majesty's Stationery Office]]}}</ref>

At 05:50 on 20 December 1984, the train, carrying more than {{convert|1,000,000|L|USgal}} or {{convert|835|t|ST}} of four-star [[petrol]] in thirteen [[tank car|tankers]], entered the tunnel on the Yorkshire (north) side traveling at {{convert|40|mph|km/h}}.{{sfn|Nock|1987|p=247}}<ref name="HALL">{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Stanley |title=Railway disasters : cause and effect |date=1992 |publisher=Promotional Reprint Co |location=Enderby, Leicester |isbn=1856480496 |page=160}}</ref> One-third of the way through the tunnel, a defective [[axle]] [[Bearing (mechanical)|bearing]] ([[journal bearing]]) derailed the fourth tanker, which caused the derailment of those behind.{{sfn|Nock|1987|p=251}} 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 ignited by the [[hot box|damaged axle box]].<ref name = "RA" />

The three train crew members could see fire spreading through the [[Track ballast|ballast]] beneath the other track in the tunnel, so they left the train and ran the remaining mile to the south portal (where they knew there was a direct [[telephone]] connection to the signalman) to raise the alarm.<ref name = "RA" />

Crews from [[Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service|Greater Manchester Fire Brigade]] and [[West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service|West Yorkshire Fire Brigade]] quickly attended the scene. Co-ordination between the brigades appears to have worked well, perhaps because they had both participated in an emergency exercise in the tunnel a month before.<ref>{{cite web|title=Report on the Derailment and the fire that occurred on 20th December 1984 at Summit Tunnel|url=http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/DoT_Summit1984.pdf|website=railwaysarchive.co.uk|publisher=Department of Transport|access-date=20 April 2017|page=12|date=4 June 1986}}</ref>

Aided by the Greater Manchester Fire Brigade, the train crew returned to the train, where they uncoupled the three tankers still on the rails and used the locomotive to drive them out.<ref name = "RA" /> Fire-fighters then loaded firefighting equipment onto track trolleys and sent a crew with [[SCBA|breathing apparatus]] (BA) in to begin their firefighting operation at the south end of the train.{{sfn|Nock|1987|p=249}} They also lowered hose lines down one of the [[ventilation shaft]]s to provide a water supply. At the same time, crews from West Yorkshire fire brigade entered the tunnel and began fighting fires in the ballast at the north end of the train.<ref name="HALL"/>

However, at 9.40&nbsp;a.m., the pressure in one of the heated tankers rose high enough to open its pressure relief valves. The vented vapour caught fire and blew flames onto the tunnel wall. The wall deflected the flames both ways along the tunnel, and the bricks in the tunnel wall began to [[spall]] and melt in the flames.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/gallery/remembering-summit-tunnel-fire-30-8315438|title=Remembering the Summit tunnel fire 30 years on|work=[[Manchester Evening News]]|first=Damon|last=Wilkinson|date=19 December 2014}}</ref> The BA crews from both brigades decided to evacuate.<ref name=Times211284/> They managed to leave just before the first explosion rocked the tunnel. The firefighters were saved because blast relief shafts 8 and 9 acted as flame vents (a function their designer never envisaged).

Left to itself, the fire burned as hot as it could. As the walls warmed up and the air temperature in the tunnel rose, all 10 tankers discharged petrol vapour from their pressure relief valves. Two tankers melted (at approximately {{convert|1530|C|disp=or}}) and discharged their remaining loads.

The fuel supply to the fire was so rich that some of the combustibles were unable to find oxygen inside the tunnel with which to burn; they were instead ejected from vent shafts 8 and 9 as fuel-rich gases that burst into flame when they encountered oxygen in the air outside. At the height of the fire, pillars of flame approximately {{convert|150|m|ft}} high rose from the shaft outlets on the hillside above.{{sfn|Nock|1987|p=249}}

The gases are estimated to have flowed up these shafts at {{convert|50|m/s|mph}}. Air at this speed is capable of blowing around heavy items: hot projectiles made from tunnel lining (rather like [[volcanic bombs|lava bombs]] from a [[volcano]]) were cast out over the hillside. These set much of the vegetation on fire,{{sfn|Stephen|2016|p=103}} and caused the closure of the [[A6033 road]].<ref name=Times211284/> In the cleanup operation afterwards, small globules of metal were found on the ground surrounding shaft 9; these had been melted from the tanker walls, swept up with the exhaust gases, and dropped out onto the grass around the top of the shaft.

Unable to get close enough to safely fight the fire directly,{{sfn|Stephen|2016|p=102}} the fire brigades forced high-expansion foam into ventilation shafts far from the fire.<ref name=Times211284/> This created blockages that starved the fire of oxygen. By mid-afternoon the next day, the inferno was no longer burning, though the fire was by no means knocked down. Petrol continued to leak from the derailed wagons through the tunnel drainage and ballast and the vapour sporadically reignited when it came into contact with the hot tunnel lining. Two hundred people were evacuated from their homes and workplaces in [[Walsden]] in response.<ref name = "RA" /><ref name=Times211284>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Homes evacuated as train explodes |first=David |last=Nicholson-Lord |date=21 December 1984 |page=28 |issue=62018 |column=A-E }}</ref> They were allowed back home the next day.<ref name=Times221284/>

The brigades continued to fight the fire for another two days, until West Yorkshire Fire Brigade issued the stop message just after 6:30&nbsp;p.m. on Christmas Eve. Fire crews remained at the site until 7 January 1985.{{sfn|Stephen|2016|p=103}}

==Aftermath==
[[File:Summit Tunnel, North Portal - geograph.org.uk - 60363.jpg|thumb|People walking through Summit Tunnel in August 1985, before the line was reopened to traffic]]
Due to the fire, the line between {{rws|Rochdale}} and {{rws|Todmorden}} was closed. Passenger trains between two stations were replaced by buses.<ref name=Times221284>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Rail disruption for weeks after tunnel fire |date=22 December 1984 |page=2 |issue=62019 }}</ref> Of the {{convert|1100000|L|impgal USgal}} of [[petrol]] carried by the train, {{convert|275000|L|impgal USgal}} were rescued by the train crew when they drove the locomotive and the first three tankers to safety.  A further {{convert|16000|L|impgal USgal}} of petrol were recovered after the fire was extinguished, and {{convert|809000|L|impgal USgal}} ({{convert|670|t|LT ST|disp=or}}) burnt.

The damage done by the fire was minimal. Approximately half a mile of track had to be replaced, as did all the electrical services and signalling. The biggest surprise was how well the brick lining had stood up to the fire.<ref name = "RA" /> Although some bricks in the tunnel and in the blast relief shafts had become so hot that they vitrified and ran like molten glass, most of the brickwork lining of the tunnel was scorched but still serviceable. One of the photographs taken in the aftermath shows a rail tanker directly beneath shaft 9: it is crowned with a mass of vitrified slag from bricks in the shaft that had melted and dripped down.

The last of the wagons was removed from the tunnel on 1 March 1985.<ref name = "RA" /> Once British Rail had replaced the track and electrical services, shored up the bases of vent shafts 8 and 9 and filled the two shafts with inert foam (all this took eight months), locals were allowed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk through the tunnel before train services resumed on 19 August 1985.<ref name = "RA" />

At the Masons Arms [[public house]] in Todmorden, there is a small collection of photographs noting the fire, along with the statistics of the construction,{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} and a quotation by [[George Stephenson]], the tunnel's builder, who said, "I stake my reputation and my head that the tunnel will never fail so as to injure any human life".<ref name=Times010391>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=On track to hail Pennine navvies |first=Peter |last=Davenport |date=1 March 1991 |page=11 |issue=63954 |column=C-F }}</ref>

==Investigation==
A [[public enquiry]] was held into the accident. The hearing was held in Manchester.<ref name=Times090285>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Tanker train crew ran for their lives |date=9 February 1985 |page=3 |issue=62058 |column=B-C }}</ref> A report was published on 4 June 1985.<ref name = "RA"/>

==See also==
* [[List of transportation fires]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
*{{cite book |last1=Nock |first1=O.&nbsp;S. |title=Historic railway disasters |date=1987 |publisher=Ian Allan |location=London |isbn=0711017522 |edition=4}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite periodical |mode=cs2 |last=Lindley |first=J. |title=The Summit Tunnel incident |periodical=Loss Prevention Bulletin |issue=134 |date=April 1997 |pages=14–19}}
* {{citation |last=Jones |first=A. |title=The Summit Tunnel fire |work=Incident Report |issue=IR/L/FR/85/26 |publisher=Health and Safety Executive |year=1985}}
* {{citation |last=Karran |first=G. |title=Research report on the Summit Tunnel fire, Todmorden, West Yorkshire on 20 December 1984 |publisher=[[West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service|West Yorkshire Fire Service]] |year=1985}}
* {{citation |title=Summit Tunnel: A supplementary report on the vent shaft fire |date=1985-08-08 |publisher=West Yorkshire Fire Service}}
* {{cite conference |mode=cs2 |last1=Duncan |first1=S.D. |last2=Wilson |first2=W. |title=Summit Tunnel—post fire remedial works |book-title=Tunnelling'88: 5th International Symposium: Papers |publisher=Institution of Mining and Metallurgy |date=18–21 April 1988 |isbn=1-870706-01-3}}
* {{cite conference |mode=cs2 |last1=Riley |first1=N. |last2=Lelland |first2=A. |title=A review of incidents involving hazardous materials in road and rail tunnels |book-title=Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Safety in Road and Rail Tunnels |year=1995 |isbn=0-9520083-2-7}}
* {{cite magazine |mode=cs2 |title=Summit Tunnel: from fire to ice |date=30 March 2016 |last=Stephen |first=Paul |magazine=Rail Magazine |publisher=Bauer Media |location=Peterborough |issn=0953-4563}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718192513/http://www.link4life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=c.showPage&pageID=736 Summit Tunnel booklet], Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130926120546/http://www.firewestyorkshire.com/summittunneldec20th.htm firewestyorkshire.com], Report and photos

{{Coord|53.6751|-2.088261|region:GB_type:landmark_scale:10000|display=title}}<!--Shaft 9 (now sealed), main chimney for the fire below-->

{{1984 railway accidents}}
{{Railway accidents in the United Kingdom, 1900–1999|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Derailments in England]]
[[Category:1984 disasters in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Train and rapid transit fires]]
[[Category:Railway accidents in 1984]]
[[Category:1984 in England]]
[[Category:1980s fires in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1984 fires]]
[[Category:Tunnel fires]]
[[Category:Chimney effect fires]]
[[Category:Building and structure fires in England]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving British Rail]]
[[Category:December 1984 in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Railway accidents and incidents in Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Railway accidents and incidents in Greater Manchester]]
[[Category:Oil spills in the United Kingdom]]