About a quarter past three in the
morning
This hypothesis seemed very admissible ; for although one-half of the bridge lay beneath the ruins of the train , the other half , drawn up to the opposite shore , hung , still unharmed , by its chains . No one could doubt that an oversight on the part of the guard had caused the catastrophe . The accident had occurred in the night , to the express train which left Melbourne at 11:45 in the evening . About a quarter past three in the morning , twenty-five minutes after leaving Castlemaine , it arrived at Camden Bridge , where the terrible disaster befell . The passengers and guards of the last and only remaining carriage at once tried to obtain help . But the telegraph , whose posts were lying on the ground , could not be worked . It was three hours before the authorities from Castlemaine reached the scene of the accident , and it was six o'clock in the morning when the salvage party was organized , under the direction of Mr. Mitchell , the surveyor-general of the colony , and a detachment of police , commanded by an inspector .