Ten passengers were killed, and eleven people (including the driver and fireman of the special train) were seriously injured.
After the fast goods train had passed, the signalman moved the pilot engine back to the down main line – while this movement was taking place, at 1:23 am, the up boat train was offered to the signalman by the preceding signal box.
[3] The driver and fireman of the goods train managed to jump clear before the accident, but were unable to give any signal in the short time they had.
[4] The Board of Trade enquiry ruled that a contributory factor was the premature change of the goods train's headlamp from red to green; it was possible that the driver of the boat train would have noticed a red lamp ahead of him in time to apply his brakes.
[6] Crash report and photos Archived 26 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine at John Speller's web pages - GWR Broad Gauge - B&ER