This video a was team effort: I was greatly assisted by Alexander Jamieson, who modeled and produced a number of scenes for the video in Open Rails, the open-source version of Microsoft Train Simulator. Alexander was also heavily involved in discussing the event with me as I was writing the script. Check out his channel here: www.youtube.com/@melbournesparks3828 My brother Cian provided equipment and expertise for recording my voiceover, and he also makes a cameo appearance as the voice of Metrol. Check out his music here: hyperfollow.com/cianbennetmusic All photographs and video (except the ones credited otherwise on screen) were taken by myself, and the North Melbourne/Spencer Street area diagram is my own drawing. If you enjoyed this video, please consider supporting the channel on Patreon - you can get early access to videos, your name in the credits, and exclusive behind the scenes content: www.patreon.com/Taitset *Also: The answer to a very frequently asked question:* People keep asking: 'why couldn't they stop it by getting the driver of 5262 (the train in front) to match speed and allow it to couple/collide, then bring the whole thing to a stop?' So, this is a very reasonable question: This is absolutely possible in theory, and it's exactly what they did with the very famous Crazy 8s runaway in the United States, which is what the film Unstoppable was based on. However in the case of this runaway, it just wasn't really possible. Firstly, the whole thing happened so fast there wasn't time to make complicated plans. 5262 was carrying about 40 passengers, so using it for badass manoeuvres wasn't really advisable. Nobody knew what speed the runaway was travelling at, so the driver would have had to judge it entirely visually - he would have had to do that by just looking in the mirror, remembering that the runaway was catching up with no headlights in the dark. We know that in reality the driver did spot the runaway approaching in the mirror, but that would have been a brief glimpse as it came around the curve, and visibility certainly couldn't be relied on at other spots. The line speed between Newmarket and North Melbourne is 65km/h, and we know the runaway was doing about 80, so it also would have involved driving significantly over-speed while attempting to make the catch. It also wasn't possible to get 5262 behind the runaway, because the last place you could do that was Essendon, and 5262 had already left there when Metrol knew about the situation. So, while it's kind of a fun thing to speculate on, it just wasn't going to happen in this case. One final note: I was right to predict N463 would move onto a new career with a freight operator: it did so in March 2024, being leased to Southern Shorthaul Railroad, and running it's first grain train with them on the night of 16/3/24. You can watch some footage of that run here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/j5ekdrxevZO4cmQ.htmlsi=VnHI_8ljf79abWXz

Sydney bragging about having the first “Driverless Metros” 🙄.

"Gravity is an enthuiastic train driver" is an amazing thing to say.

Far out, that phone call is the most 'tell me your Aussie without telling me your Aussie' moment ever, bloody hilarious.

Found this video as a random recommendation. In 2003 I was working at Spencer Street in the yards as a leading shunter, and had to clean all this up. I still have the photos. We had to drag the Comeng out of Platform 2 back to the Bank Siding and store it out of sight in No. 27 road...no easy feat when it was so dramatically "out of gauge"; as your photos showed. A couple of dwarf signals needed to actually be removed to allow clearance, and the bloody thing derailed 4 times over the course of the snail crawl back to the Bank; as the train's bogies all had limited range of movement because of the damage. Their original idea was to drag it all the way to the Newport Workshops, which should give you an idea of the panicked thought processes at work at the time. That would have been more than a little impossible. 😂 A couple of points: My mate "Steve" (not his real name) was in No.1 Box, and in the early stages of the Inquisition, was the prime scapegoat. We used to joke about it afterwards: "How dare you get in the way of my bullet!" Also, had 5264 ended up entering Platform 4...it would have impacted the 21:35 Geelong departure at approximately 85 km/h. A single sprinter, as you showed in the graphic. The outcome would have been...memorable. Excellent video. Thanks for the PTSD. 😉

I was the train Examiner for the overland passenger train service to Adelaide that night. I saw the runaway coming in at high-speed and colliding into the locomotive. I’ll never forget what I heard and seen that day.

"Oh really? And where am I going to put it?" and the "Righto" are so funny to me. I reckon I've had conversations like that with people, where you just have to accept it's all going downhill (no pun intended) from here. Such an excellent video! The Trolley Problem coming to life was completely unexpected but quite funny, especially seeing the little look of concern on the signaler.

I honestly don't know how you do it.. you make by far THE BEST Melbourne transport videos! Ever since I found your channel, I've learnt so much about Melbournes train and tram network. Incredible video! I very much enjoyed it! 😄

I'll be honest, when this was randomly prompted for me I clicked, saw it was 24 minutes and thought "that's a bloody long time to talk about a train"... Well, I was wrong. That was amazing- funny, gripping and all managed without any blame, well done to you! I'm off to go and watch more of your videos now... 👍

Martin great video i was the leading shunter at Spencer st that night , i had just finished doing the shunt with the motorail some 30 minutes prior the train examiner had just finished brakes and the both of us were chatting to the crew when we heard a loud bang towards Dudley st and saw a large shower of sparks and saw the out of control spark heading our way i got on the radio and asked No.1 box what in the hell is that coming and he replied a runaway spark from Broady i asked where's it heading he said Platform 2 i said the Marsh is there and not far from departure the Yard master immediately contacted the driver to clear the cab i started running down platform 2 an got near the rear of the spark as it collided with the 2135 B marsh train where the glass just exploded i was told to check the spark just to make sure no one was on board

"While Gravity as an inthusiastic Train driver it dioesnt know about red signals" now that line is just Great

One of the key changes from the investigation is that the Comengs were modified so that moving the reverser to OFF (which is the only way a driver can remove their key) automatically puts the park brakes on along the whole train. So it's now impossible to forget to apply the park brakes when cutting out in a Comeng, which is the best possible way to prevent this situation from recurring!

This video brings back so many memories! I was living in Kensington and was walking around the corner of Macaulay Road and Bellair St when this train flew through the station at what looked like 100 km/h. I never saw that the headlights weren’t on, but I saw the doors open and immediately knew that it wasn’t being controlled. From memory I’m pretty sure that the boom gates were closed. Wow, can’t believe that happened 20 years ago. Time has flown.

My attention span is about ten minutes, so I wasn't sure how this would go. About half way through, the phone rang, it was sent to voicemail, I didn't even look at the phone to see who it was, and I couldn't take my eyes off the big screen. This feels like one of the best told stories on KZfaq. On the edge of my seat, the out of control train hurtling down the gradient, with insufficient tools, no one aware of how quickly the pending doom is all happening. Thanks Martin et al, a terrific production, you should be very proud of yourselves.

The Trolley Problem illustrations for number 1 box was a stoke of genius, funniest part of the video (so far!)

N463 was completely derailed, the only warning I had as the driver of 8141 was when I saw the sparks coming off the wheel as the spark was running completely dark as the power had been turned off shutting off all power to the set. The Head end power to the cars was shut down by the impact but the main engine kept running and it took me a while to work out how to shut it down as most of the circuit breakers had tripped in the cab and these controlled the shut down mechanism. $63 also has many scars within the drivers cab that are not readily visible to the traveling public. As an extra the engine within 463 shifted on its mounts cracking the water pump manifold which failed soon after the engine reentered service. This happened at Wallan on an Albury pass and yours truly was the Driver again. I hate 463 and the Albury line! Although this video was very confronting I feel you have done a great job of your coverage and presentation.

the part where you say that the whole experience only took 11 minutes which was longer than the video was really crazy to hear and puts it into perspective how little time they had. amazing video 👏

Excellent video. Thankyou. As a current TC I find it somewhat frustrating that 20 years later Metrol still has "dark territory" where there is no indication of a train's position available to those in control of a line. One of the ATSB's recommendations was that dark territory be eliminated from the train control area. Even though some progress is occurring in this matter, train controllers are expected to control lines with intensive services within dark territory. Dark territory areas exist beyond Camberwell, Darling, Yarraville, Cheltenham, Oakleigh and ironically Essendon. On the first day of Metros operation of their new franchise I was on night shift when the new execs arrived so they could see the first movement of a Metro service which was the first up Frankston a little after 0400. I was asked which screen they would be able to observe the departure on, they seemed a little confused when I stated none, they then asked where the first visible place would be, I stated that if I reconfigured the screens I had, Moorabbin was possible. Needless to say the look of what the hell have we got involved with here came to mind. Frustration sets in when I can observe planes landing at Heathrow, ship transiting the Suez Canal, where my friends are sitting at the AFL Grand Final at the MCG but only theoretically know where are train should be if I have kept my paper train control graph up to date. Without getting too bogged down in politics very little has changed over the time of privatisation. This problem is in the too hard basket as Metro is only an operator using infrastructure provided by the government. Therefore the old blame game still exists. I hope this little rant may be of interest to some and shows a side of train control some may be unaware of.

Was on the way to Dimboola that night. My mate called shift support when we went through Pyrenees loop and they told him what happened. Neither of us could believe it. Apparently the driver on the Overland saw it and wondered why there was a spark coming in.

What a fantastic story you weaved. Well conceived and executed. This should be shown on public television. Most Melburnians would be astounded and enthralled. Extremely well done.

YES! Its finally here! This is probably one of the best videos youve made, i remember reading the wikipedia article a bit after hearing about the accident, and it might have been one of the most thrilling wikipedia articles i have ever read. It is so sad that 394M was scrapped though, it would have been great to have in a museum.

Considering how serious this runaway and crash was, and how badly it could have ended, I remember being surprised at the time how quickly it all seemed to be brushed under the carpet, even after the accident report was released. Incredibly great job here Martin and Team.

The dialogue between Signal Box 1 and Metrol cracks me up. Perfectly displays the nonchalant and care free attitude of Australians even against the worst of adversaries. Glad no one lost their lives after this incident.

Mate without question the best video you've made to date. You've got a real knack for storytelling. I loved "Gravity is an enthusiastic train driver" 😂

This was a thrilling video. I remember this from February 2003 when I was actually living at Moonee Ponds. The train would have rolled through 150m from where I was living. I had not realised this could have been so much worse, the write up in The Age the next day almost made light of it.

“Direct connection to Bacchus Marsh” 😜 Well done to you and your helpers on an excellent and quite a high production video! You told the story well and without afflicting direct finger pointing! Not often a KZfaq video has me at the edge of my seat with the near mating of trains at North Melbourne!

Finally, no more people tormenting me for that crappy video I made all those years ago... TREMENDOUS work here Martin! Another great documentary as always.

Wow! That was an incredible watch, and one of the most thrilling videos I've ever seen. I've never really read or heard about any runaway train stories before so it was fascinating to learn how the situation came together and how it was resolved.

I started working for M>Train in 2003. This unit was being repaired at Newport in the loco shop by EDI, and when it was ready to re-enter service I got the job to do the brake test for it. Made a change from Siemens! I was also involved, a year or 2 later, in specifying, testing and fitting up the automatic spring park brakes (which was done at the same time as the automatic headlights and a few other mods). Later on I worked with the Metrol controller on the night and had a few interesting conversations with him about it.

I was 8 at the time this happened so I was on the edge of my seat for this story! Absolutely wild, i hope you come out with more stories like this. It was like a train campfire tale except it very much happened.

Words fail me. I actually watched this last night whilst travelling on a train (Mernda - up line). An absolute masterpiece. Will definitely give it another viewing. This is your best yet. Congratulations.

This is an incredibly fascinating story, and can I just say - an absolutely gripping video. I've really enjoyed your videos Taitset. You have a superbly confident yet laid back vocal delivery that makes your videos so engaging. I hope that your work is as soulfully and energetically rewarding as it is for the viewer. Kudos to you and your super work!

loved the voiceover, spot on impressions done there. ashame that comeng didn't get a stage 2 upgrade at the least so it could stick around that bit longer it's quite remarkable how casual they were about this whole thing, your videos are very well put as always!

I used to have to travel nightly or on weekends on the broady line to moonee ponds for work. (I worked at the time after hours and weekends). I remembered reading about this on the newspapers and seeing this on the news the following day, then worked out that the train i usually take after work nightly to head back into the city (departing Moonee Ponds about 9:20pm) and change trains for home turned out to be the 5262 train described here in front of the runaway, and I was on board that on the evening of this crash. I somehow recall at the time we were diverted up the Kensington bridge heading to North Melbourne towards the through surburban platfoirms, and I remember we bounced off the seats from going through the Kensington points that fast. I didn't remember seeing the runaway flying down the tracks below on the main broady line as it was pitch black outside save for maybe some flood lights at the Kensington flour mill. I didn't think i noticed anything untoward upon reaching Spencer st either not that i was looking for anything there at the time. Oh how much of a nasty surprise once i saw the pictures of N463 and 394M the following day!

I was standing at the Adelaide platform when this collision happened. I was 7 years old at the time. Randomly I went down a spiral of research after I was on the train today and a young girl made a comment about trains never crashing, and I thought what ever happened to the two trains I saw colliding at Spencer St station all those years ago. Great video!

"gravity is an enthusiastic train driver" is a beautiful turn of phrase.

Great video, I remember this incident being all over the news at the time. It's sheer luck that nobody was killed or seriously injured that night when you think of all the various possibilities such as passengers being on the train or collisions at level crossings etc. I was also shocked that 394M was actually repaired and returned to service. With such severe damage I thought it would be scrapped for sure. It goes to show just how well the Comengs were built. If this was a Hitachi involved it would have folded up like an accordion.

Crikey, you brought back a lot of memories for me. At this time; I was a Senior Forensic Investigator with the PTC, and remember going out to Spencer Street; to photograph the Comeng and the N Class Loco, that was struck by the Comeng. Your report was fairly accurate. That was 20 years ago. How fast time flies. I also remember carrying out the investigation into the Swan Hill N Class train collision, with a semi Trailer, the collision of a V/Line VLocity and a truck carrying a large granite boulder. The accident occurred at Trawalla, 2006.\ On 28 April 2006 a V/Line VLocity train running an Ararat to Ballarat service, struck the trailer of a truck transporting a 14-tonne block of granite, at a passively-protected level crossing. The accident led to the death of two people (Train Driver & a passenger) and injuries to 28 passengers. I also attend to the Steam Locomotive K183 which collided with a truck at Benalla. K183 was carrying a wedding party when it was involved in a fatal level crossing collision on the 13th of October 2002 in Benalla. I took heaps of photos of that beautiful old Loco.

Can’t believe that was 20 years back. I remember watching this on the news. 😲

I couldn't remember this being news (I mean I was only 11 at the time but still) so my assumption right up until you described the impact was that somehow they found a way to stop the train safely. Thrilling to watch, excellent storytelling. You've raised the bar yet again

Wow, this makes me think of the 'swiss cheese model' used in accident/hazard prevention... but it's more line one giant aligned hole. There were virtually no measures to minimise or stop the train under these particular circumstances. We're very fortunate that no one was seriously injured. Thank you for the video!

i already know this but not all of it, real informational content

I couldn't understand why I'd never heard of this... thank you for mentioning the waterfall derailment, that explains it. Absolutely fantastic video!

Used to use this line every day - mind boggling a train can roll all the way into the city, and faster than a regular service, and a very lucky outcome!

Brilliant video! 👍 _"Righto... well where do you want me to put it then?"_ has got to be the most quintessentially Aussie response to a runaway train ever.... I'm still laughing! 👌🤣

That trolley problem slide had me laughing my ass off for a solid minute, 10/10

Amazing video - love the format! More stories like this!

Thanks for posting, some of the detail I hadn’t heard of previously.. awesome!

Excellent video - thanks for putting it together

very good recap on this incident Taitset, well done.

Thank you muchly for that. You have a very good presentation style, and that was really informative.

11:30 I am hoping that gravity pun was an intended, cause it was hilarious. Such a good video! I'll have to check out the rest of them.

Brilliant stuff Martin! Bravo to everyone involved!

Thank you so much for making this video! I'm always curious about train crashes and derailments, so I really enjoyed this.

Fantastic video! I was living in Malvern at the time and remember watching this story in the news the next morning. Exciting stuff!

Great video as always Martin!

What an excellent and well made video! Brilliant, thanks for sharing 👏

Incredible story, really enjoyed the phone call re-enactment. Love ya work Tait

Awesome video, looking forward to more stories told like this!

So interesting! Great video. Your graphics showing crossovers/junctions/platforms are super informative and add a lot of context, they remind me of the graphics geoff marshall makes for his videos showing where old lines used to run etc

Brilliant video :). I have read the ATSB report, however, you explaining in Laymans terms really helped me understand.

Your video narration was casual and captivating. I was rivetted. Fantastic video!

As always I am thankful for how amazing of a job you do helping me and others learn more about Melbourne (or other Australian places). Great video topic and great video production!

Amazing video as always! Quite an interesting story for sure!

Awesome video! Very entertaining - thanks for the upload😺

Very informative. I love the junction diagrams, as well as Alexander's animations.

Excellent video on one of the most outrageous events in our rail history. You should consider making more videos like this. Well done.

Very entertaining video to watch, you never fail to disappoint. keep up the great work

This was amazing. Very well told. What a great story.

Amazing video as always, you're my source for most of the train knowledge I acquire :D

Great Vid man. Comprehensive and well commentated. Thanks for the informative upload 🤗

Oddly enough I think I read that ATSB report a couple of months ago. I'd seen a reference to the Broadmeadows Runaway on a website that didn't go into any detail, so I went digging for the info. In any case, I have to say I really enjoyed watching this. Great presentation. Cheers!

I live alongside the tracks in between strathmore and pascoe vale station on the same side as the city bound line from broadmeadows to the city, the tracks are literally a stones throw away from me. I was outside in the backyard that night and I had heard a train approaching at a tremendous speed however i had noticed that i couldnt see the usual headlights that would usually light up my backyard as the trains go past. I can confirm that this train thundered past at atleast 2 - 3 times the usual 50kmph speed they usually do without a single light on. I also read an article in the paper that the train had planned to roll the train around the city loop back up to broadmeadows but obviously this didnt happen. Scary stuff. Good video. thanks

Can’t believe I’d never heard of this one. Thanks for the upload, mate. Great vid!

Awesome video like always, thank you

Sharing this everywhere. Can't believe I hadn't heard of it. Great stuff!

I love these documentary-story telling videos. They are so informative but still maintain interest!

What a story. Thanks for a wonderful piece of Melbourne railway history.

That was very interesting i enjoyed that. Thanks for the video

That was a hell of a story, thanks for uploading!

Honestly that was the best video you made so far. The reenactment scenes along with the detail just made this video ten times better. Keep it up Taitset, can't wait for the next video ✌

Awesome topic for a video, I read the report of this incident recently for the first time and it's amazing how things could've been so much worse, and also goes to show the flaws in the then operating system across the network.

Great coverage! I'm very familiar with this line as I used to take the Kilmore East V-line train & swap at Broadmeadows to Spencer Street for a course I did in the City. You also have a great voice for narrating.

Love the 3D graphics. Very informative. Excellent video. TY

I just had to comment my appreciation for the concise and entertainingly informative content. Top tier.

This was wild!!! You delivered it well.

Well done! The video (like the runaway) moved along briskly and kept my interest!

Wow. Ive been using the Broady/Craigieburn line for approx 4x decades and had no idea about this incident. Excellent detailing of the incident and attention to detail. Tx for sharing!

Absolutely immaculate video mate!

Great vid and summary Martin. I'd be keen to see you do some more vids about incidents on the Victorian rail system.

Brilliant production, thankyou.

A terrific summary of the incident, your videos are definitely must see viewing for any rail fans out there.

This is the first of your videos I've seen and I will that was excellently written, narrated and illustrated. This was at least as good as a Plainly Difficult train crash video and John is very good indeed. You deserve a much larger audience, well done.

Thanks for such a great video and explaining what happened on the night.

Excellent production and narration!

WOW! What an awesome video! I never expected to be on the edge of my seat watching a video about a Melbourne train but here we are... Can't wait to see more :)

What a great video!!! You killed it with the narration mate!

Brilliant, im going to share this one around! The comms amongst the signalman/controllers was absolutely hysterical!

Nicely done, found it very interesting. Would love to see more (disaster) stories like this.

Wow! What a delivery. As good as any thriller I have seen. Amazing job.