Whilst the platform itself sloped towards the railway tracks quite noticeably, the passageway did not.

They attempted to get the trolley on its side in the "six-foot" between the two lines, but did not succeed and had to jump for their lives as the express neared.

The leading bogie of the locomotive derailed on hitting the trolley, but the driving wheels did not; the engine continued onwards until it hit a diamond crossover at the north end of the station when it became completely derailed, detached from its tender and ended up facing backwards.

The subsequent Board of Trade accident investigation showed that the down platform sloped unnecessarily steeply (1 in 24) towards the track, and that whilst the passageway was not so fiercely graded it still sloped at about 1 in 80 to the track.

Practical experiment showed that this was quite sufficient to allow a luggage trolley to roll away unless the greatest care was taken.