Summit Tunnel fire
South portal, Summit Tunnel
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 Location within England
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| Date | 20 December 1984 |
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| Location | Summit Tunnel, Lancashire/West Yorkshire border |
| Coordinates | 53°40′30″N 2°05′18″W / 53.6751°N 2.088261°W |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Rail line | Manchester and Leeds Railway |
| Operator | British Rail |
| Type of incident | Derailment and fire |
| Cause | Defective bearing |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Crew | 3 |
On 20 December 1984 a dangerous goods train passing through the Summit Tunnel on the Greater Manchester/West Yorkshire border, caught fire on the rail line between Littleborough and Todmorden, England.
The tunnel, which is 2,885 yards (2,638 m) in length, was built in 1840-41. Twelve of the fourteen construction shafts, at intervals of approximately 220 yards (200 m), were left open to help vent smoke and steam from the locomotives that passed through it.
The incident was one of an unfortunate series of 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, Greater Manchester on 4 December. 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 also in Manchester. This third serious railway accident in the North West of England in less than 3 weeks, led the Littleborough and Saddleworth MP Geoffrey Dickens to call for an inquiry into railway safety, in particular with respect of the conveyance of dangerous chemicals such as those involved in the accidents at Eccles and Summit Tunnel.
The train involved was the 01:40 freight train from Haverton Hill, Teesside to Glazebrook oil distribution terminal in Merseyside. It was formed by class 47 diesel locomotive 47 125 and thirteen tankers.
At 05:50 on 20 December 1984, the train, carrying more than 1,000,000 litres (220,000 imp gal; 260,000 US gal) (835 tonnes or 822 long tons or 920 short tons) of four-star petrol in thirteen tankers entered the tunnel on the Yorkshire (north) side travelling at 40 miles per hour (64 km/h). One-third of the way through the tunnel, a defective-axle bearing (journal bearing) derailed the fourth tanker, which caused the derailment of those behind. 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 damaged axle box.
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