I was just googling about the class 52 ahead of using it in the scenario planner on GWE (when it's out obviously) when I read about the Ealing Rail Crash of 1973. I hadn't heard of it before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ealing_rail_crash Just goes to show how the smallest thing can cause major accidents, in this case a battery compartment door on the loco itself fell open and hit the points while the train was crossing them, causing a derailment, 10 fatalities and many injuries. Shocking.
This reminds me of an incident that occurred on the ECML in the 70s. An express train was travelling north from York when sometime after departing a traction motor cover was knocked off the deltic hauling the train. As it flew off it somehow hit the brake valve, closing it, on the brake pipe connecting the loco to rake of coaches. When the driver tried to slow down to stop at Darlington, he found he had no train brakes. The train subsequently went over a set of points into the station at twice the maximum speed, but managed to not derail, it then SPADed and crashed into the back of a DMU derailing it, though luckily the DMU was on an empty stock move. The express continued to travel without a further incident for nearly a mile before managing to stop. Miraculously nobody was seriously injured or killed in this instance, but it could have easily ended much worse. As you say, incidents like these show how the tiniest of things can start a chain of events eventually leading to a freak accident. https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=808
The 1973 Ealing crash which occurred slightly east of West Ealing station followed by another ever so slightly west of West Ealing station 16 years later in 1989. This time it was a deliberate act of vandalism (object on the line) that derailed a NSE Class 50 and Mk2s which I believe was on a Oxford to Paddington service.
