Colwich Junction lies between Rugeley and Stafford and is where the four-track West Coast Main Line from London splits into two routes.

In this respect railway nomenclature had unwittingly set a trap; he had after all seen a 'Junction Indicator' illuminated and thus assumed that his train had been routed across the junction.

[7] The public inquiry centred on whether the driver had had adequate training on the recently introduced flashing yellow signals and the implications at multiple junctions.

[8] The driver admitting to signing for, but not actually reading, the Notice that referred to the installation of flashing yellows at Colwich the previous month.

This lesson was not learnt; lack of flank protection would again prove a significant factor in a head-on collision, at the Ladbroke Grove rail crash in 1999.

[10] The Inspector's report recommended changing the signalling system so that a flashing yellow sequence could only occur when the route was set across the whole junction, as the driver was expecting.

A second recommendation was to inhibit wheel slide protection (WSP) during an emergency brake application – practical tests suggested the train could then have stopped before fouling the junction.

Local resident Alf Taylor created a memorial to Eric Goode at the site of the accident, which he looked after until his death in 1997.