The first sleeping car train on the Great Western Railway was introduced at the end of 1877 from London Paddington to Plymouth.

Under BR sleeping cars were limited to just the Penzance service[2] After nationalisation there were two major investments in the sleeper fleet.

The first occurred between 1957 and 1964 when 380 Mark 1 sleeping car carriages were built to replace the fleets inherited from the GWR, LMS and LNER.

However, sleeper services declined in number during the latter half of the 20th century, with the closure of truck routes, and some larger terminus stations, these had disappeared by 1975.

In 1971, British Rail had already withdrew the name Aberdonian from the early evening departure from King's Cross, then timed at 7:55 pm.

[4] In 1977 operation of the Night Ferry sleeper train was taken over from CIWL by British Rail (Southern Region) under an agreement between BR, SNCF and SNCB.

However, it instead concluded a deal with the British transport conglomerate Stagecoach that saw the Mark 2 seating carriages retailed beyond this point.

By 1978, the Mark 1 sleeping car, seen in late 1950s, as an improvement compared to vehicles built during the grouping era were seen as less than luxurious and revenue generated by sleeper trains decline.

In the subsequent inquiry, the crash was deemed to have been caused by driver error, partially due to the failure of gas lit lamps that illuminated the lineside signage warning of the speed restriction.

Approaching Taunton early the following morning the emergency brake was activated and it came to a standstill, just short of the station with one of the carriages on fire.

This had been caused by dirty linen that had been placed near a heater, which had been a standard and safe practice before the recent change from steam to electric heating.