It was the first French railway disaster and the deadliest in the world at the time, causing between 52 and 200 deaths, including that of explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville.

By the late afternoon of Sunday 8 May 1842, the public celebrations being held in honour of king Louis Philippe I's saint's day in the Gardens of Versailles[1] had finished and many people wished to return to Paris.

[3] Travelling at 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph) between Bellevue and Meudon,[1] one of the axles of the leading locomotive snapped and the vehicle derailed, scattering the contents of its fire-box.

[6] A chapel named "Notre-Dame-des-Flammes" (English: Our Lady of the Flames) was built in Meudon in memory of the victims; this was listed as a Monument historique in 1938, but delisted in 1959 and demolished soon after.

[8] The French government appointed a commission to investigate the derailment; this recommended testing axles to determine their service life and monitoring their usage so that they could be replaced after travelling a safe distance.