An overnight sleeping-car and mail train from Manchester to the West of England derailed on the sharply curved approach to Shrewsbury station, killing 18 people and injuring 33.

Those killed were the engine driver and fireman, two guards, eleven passengers, and three Post Office sorters working in the Mail train.

[citation needed] The day after the accident an official enquiry began, coinciding with an inquest into the driver and fireman.

After a detailed hearing into the health and sobriety of the driver, the finding was that alcohol and drugs were not present in his body from post-mortem examination and he had not suffered a seizure.

It had been written by a young Meole Brace woman, Mary Meredith, after she read an account of the accident.