The Bourne End rail crash occurred on 30 September 1945 when a sleeper train from Perth to London Euston derailed, killing 43.
[1] Because of engineering work in Watford tunnel, it was scheduled to divert from the fast to the slow lines at Bourne End, near Hemel Hempstead.
The morning was fine and sunny, and the driver, who was highly experienced with a particular reputation for being conscientious, had read the notice about the diversion before leaving Crewe, although he may not have appreciated its significance.
He had worked 26 days consecutively due to post-war staff shortages and it was possible that he had either experienced micro-sleep momentarily or gone into "autopilot" through fatigue.
"The inspector pointed out that this arrangement was ambiguous and evidently did not alert the driver to the approaching low speed turnout, but it was unclear why he failed to notice the diverging route indication of the splitting inner homes.