[2] About 40 yards (37 m) south of St Neots, a broken rail derailed the train, the coupling of the second sleeping car parting.
The rear part of the train veered to the left and struck a row of goods wagons in a siding to the north of the station.
It transpired that a portion of the left hand rail had broken, derailing the coaches, which had scraped along the platform leaving a trail of debris.
The coupling of the second sleeping car finally parted as it passed over the crossover to the siding, colliding with a row of coal wagons.
The first two carriages were undamaged (and were used to carry the uninjured passengers on to Peterborough) but the Pullman car had damage to its wheels and undergear, while the following coach had lost all its glass on the left hand side.