The railway platform was a simple wooden structure on the Doncaster - bound line usually used for the collection of tickets from the many trains arriving in the town for the St. Leger race meeting.

The trial of the driver and fireman at York, before the Lord Chief Justice was the first big legal case in which the newly formed trade union A.S.L.E.F.

The jury returned a verdict of 'not guilty' and the Lord Chief Justice said in his summing up that ".....he could not but think that the railway company was seriously to blame for having had in use a brake which not only was not the best in existence, but which was known to be insufficient and liable to break down".

The management were "thick skinned" over all safety matters and in this case Sir Edward Watkin, the company chairman, said "....it was a misfortune that the Lord Chief Justice should have exonerated the driver and fireman".

Regardless of Sir Edward's thinking the Hexthorpe accident, closely followed by the Armagh rail disaster in Northern Ireland sounded the death knell of the 'simple' vacuum brake.