Railway Herald
MK2F DBSO No. 9706 leads an afternoon 'push-pull' service from Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street past the derelict Waverley East signal box on 15th May 1983. On the 30th July 1984 while hauling a similar train, the 17:30 Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street No. 9706 struck an Ayrshire cow just beyond Polmont Station near Falkirk while travelling at around 80mph. 13 people lost their lives in the incident and one of the recommendations to emerge was the installation of a deflector plate under the front bufferbeam of these vehicles to stop them riding over an obstruction between the tracks which all surviving vehicles still carry. No. 9706 was cut up on site at Polmont as was incidentally the second vehicle in this image Mark 3A FO No. 11004.
Bob Woolnough
