 The line ran in a series of curves, limiting forward visibility, the night was dark, there were no lights in the coaches, excursion trains did not have to have a red light on the rearmost vehicle, and smoke was blowing across the line from neighbouring factories; consequently the crew of the second train did not see the runaway coaches until they were about 300 yards away.The second train had virtually drawn to a standstill when the runaway coaches collided with it.The locomotive of the second train remained on the rails and was only superficially damaged; the same was not true of the runaway coaches.