Well, that was a nightmare 'peak' in the Powerbox ! Urgent call from 1P44 @ 1740 to say, he saw 'sparks' and debris fly from under 1P55, and now his train was loss of power and loss of air. 1P55 examined at East Suffolk, bent metal plate, however this was not service stopping as such, terminated at Colchester due to late running.
1P44 however different story, seems a bit of damage was done, brakes seized 'on', and needed a fitter to assist, location of 1P44 was not the best ! Various options looked at, including using 1P48 to go and grab it
(was looking forward to a 20 car 321 !)
In the end they spilt the 8 car 321, and the passengers were transferred from the front 4 to the rear 4, and set back to Ipswich, so that they could carry on their journey
Fitters attention was required, and would be a long job, so SLW was planned, this was implemented as soon as the staff were in place. Traffic from London, was given preference
but of course at this time of night it was always going to be messy ! Took a bit of time to get staff for SLW in place.
In the end, the 4 car that was detached to bring the passengers back to Ipswich, was sent back as 1Z99, and once the fitter had made the failure, moveable, (leading coach ended up with no brakes) was reattached, pushed it into Claydon loop at 5mph, then ran round the train to bury the damaged coach, and then when there was a gap in traffic, ran back to Colchester.
Hectic from 1730 right up to 2330 ! must be the biggest incident we have had on this part of the GEML for some time !
Not sure if stock out of place will impact the morning peak, GA trundling units about over night, although they will be at least 1 x 321 short.