Passengers travelling on the West Coast railway line Dave Clark Five singer Smith dies ...
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Murderer wins right for IVF baby ... can expect severe delays after containers from two freight trains fell onto tracks in high winds.
The winds, which battered much of England overnight, blew freight onto track at Shap in Cumbria and on to a stretch of the line in Buckinghamshire.
Engineers are working to remove the containers and to check for any damage to the track and infrastructure.
Virgin customers are being advised not to travel or to use alternative routes.
Track damage
A spokesman for Network Rail said he could not estimate what time services would get back to normal.
He said: "A freight train passing through the Shap area lost some containers. These containers are now lying on the line."
The containers are thought to be empty.
The blockage means trains are being replaced by buses between Lancaster and Carlisle.
The incident will mainly affect Virgin passengers on the West Coast mainline, which runs from London to Glasgow.
Services between Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire and Bletchley in Buckinghamshire are suspended.
Virgin Train services travelling to London Euston will terminate at Milton Keynes with replacement bus services operating between Milton Keynes and Watford Junction.
A shuttle service will operate between Hemel Hempstead and London Euston.
Cranes damaged
Meanwhile, cranes at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk have been damaged after a ship broke free from its moorings during the strong winds.
And, four people in a yacht had to be landed ashore by the Whitstable Lifeboat after the craft broke its mooring and went aground at Harty Ferry in the Swale, Kent.
Firefighters across England have had a busy night due to the strong winds.
In East Yorkshire, a driver was taken to hospital after a car was hit by a tree which fell on the A165 Beverley to Driffield Road.
Chimney stacks
And in Scunthorpe, a woman was treated in hospital for neck pains after part of a stable was blown onto a car.
Emergency services were also called to homes in Broadheath, Altrincham, Cheshire, after gusts of wind threatened to bring down chimney stacks.
Residents living in up to 25 homes nearby were advised to move to local authority accommodation but only a few actually did so.
Staff from Trafford Borough Council are due visit the homes during the day to assess any damage.
Humberside Fire Service was also called out to dangerous chimney stacks and roofing at properties in Bridlington, Hull, Grimsby and Cleethorpes.
(BBC)
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