Tuesday, 27 August 2013

A Lucky Escape for Us

We had another dull start to Bank Holiday Monday, but just like Sunday, by lunchtime the sun had broken through the cloud to leave us with a warm and sunny afternoon.

As any regular readers of this blog might know I enjoy a little bit of steam train photography along with my love of gardening. So for Bank Holiday Monday we decided on a trip to our local heritage railway at Middleton, just a few minutes drive down the M1, to visit the Festival of Transport it was hosting. Although this is situated on our doorstep so to speak, we'd never visited before and didn't really know what to expect. 

It was a much larger organisation than I had anticipated with lots of people turning up to visit the railway and ride on the trains. We were no different and spent a couple of hours riding and photographing some brilliant little locomotives. 
As part of this Festival of Transport the historic Leeds Horse Tram No 107 was making its public debut after restoration and offering rides to the public.
By the middle of the afternoon we decided to have a ride on the tram. We'd already put off having a ride as the Lord Mayor of Leeds had been inspecting the restored tram so rather than wait around with the melee of folk associated with his visit we made better use of our time photographing and riding on the steam trains.

Later we returned, paid for our ticket and climbed upstairs onto the tram. 
No sooner had we taken our seat than the two horses for some reason were spooked and reared up. Out of control the horses and the tram with us onboard set off along the tracks. From our upper deck seats it was impossible to see what was happening around the tram but the reality very quickly dawned that we were in serious trouble. Then from nowhere a man ran in front of the horses with his arms raised above his head attempting very successfully to stop the runaway horses.

The result of all this was that the groom who had been working the horses was trapped under the tram. The fire brigade, police and ambulance were called to the scene to free the woman. She was freed and taken to hospital with what the press are calling serious leg but not life threatening injuries.

It’s amazing how such a great day out can so quickly go wrong. We're hoping that the groom makes a full recovery from her injuries and also a great big thankyou to whoever it was who stopped those runaway horses.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett

Posted by Martyn at 09:38

6 comments:

  1. CJ27 August 2013 at 21:18

    Sounds like a wonderful day until the accident. I have a houseful of boys, and a day of steam and transport would be heaven to us! Thank goodness things didn't end too badly.

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    1. Martyn28 August 2013 at 07:30

      Now I've had more time to think about what happened I'd really like to know what safety measures are incorporated into the tram that should in my opinion have stopped the situation arising. Are there any measures? Did they fail to work? I think I've had my last horse drawn ride.

      Delete
  2. David Ford28 August 2013 at 18:58

    Martyn the right hand horse looks spooked in your picture, I love the little loco picture by the way, glad you both got back safe and sound, all the best David

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    1. Martyn28 August 2013 at 20:14

      Now I've looked at the pictures and video the horse do look a little bit spooked. Easy with hindsight though.

      They've got some nice little locos but not really enough track to get them working really hard. Great for almost the middle of Leeds though.

      Delete
  3. BilboWaggins29 August 2013 at 12:49

    Glad you are both OK, and that the horses were not hurt and that the groom will be alright.

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    1. Martyn29 August 2013 at 20:20

      Did some rather gentle bird watching today at RSPB Old Moor. Thought that would be pretty safe.

      Delete

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