At 6:20 pm on 5 October 1853, the piston rod on a locomotive snapped, stranding the newly introduced noon express train from Cork 975 yards (892 m) south of Straffan Station, towards Baronrath, in a dense fog and gathering twilight.
The victims came from Cork, Mallow, Kenmare, Birr, Laois, Kildare and Dublin, and included Jesse Hall from County Kildare, Daniel and Anastasia McSwiney of Kenmare, TW Jelly of Straboe, John Egan of Birr, Emma Pack of Birr, Kate Hamilton Haimes, (the wife of a mill owner from Mallow, originally identified from a note in her pocket by her maiden name, Kate Smith), Christopher McNally, a solicitor of Dublin, Claire Kirwan from 82 Lwr Abbey St in Dublin, Margaret Leathley from 62 Eccles St in Dublin, Joseph Sherwood a servant boy of the household of Richard Stokes, Cherry Agnes Knapp from London, Margaret Palmer, a cousin of Mrs Knapp, William Bateman a solicitor from Cork, Mrs Latham Blacker from London and four children.
Commenting on the accident, an editorial in The Times of London called for clockwork event recorders to be carried in locked boxes on all trains in the United Kingdom.
[citation needed] The magic car of modern skill, Nor hour nor distance heeds; With heat and roar and whistle shrill, On through the dusk it speeds.
Love's self, however true and warm, Might fail to recognise The dear, the well-remember'd form, If set before its eyes 'Mong twisted metal, splinter'd wood, Half buried in the ground, 'Mong heaps of limbs crush'd up in blood, Must wife, child, friend he found.