 Behind it, its tender and two passenger carriages were obstructing the down line.The railway workers involved were badly shaken – some admitted it took them a few minutes to fully gather their wits but the guards (whose duty it was to 'protect their train') were affected to a lesser extent.The guard of the express walked back up the up line towards Wood Walton, laying fog-signals (detonators) on the rails to warn any further trains to stop.