On the 5th October an accident occurred on the Croydon Railway to the last up train from the Croydon Station, which started about - a quarter before one o’clock. The front part of the train running to London Bridge was just starting from the Anerley Station, when the hind part, running to Bricklayers’ Arms, came into violent collision with it, severely shaking and bruising many of the passengers, and throwing part of the front train off the line, and greatly injuring the carriages.

The superintendent states that he is unable as yet to give the full particulars of the case, but he is led to believe that the red tail light had gone out, while the train was on the road.
That as soon as the carriages were got on the.line, the front part of the train was on to 
London, with all the passengers of both trains, about eight or ten, however, refusing to 
proceed in the train. One female, severely shaken and insensible, was taken to the Anerley 
Tavern, where the assistance of a surgeon was obtained; and all the passengers who arrived in London with injuries were attended at the waiting room by Mr. Cock, of Guy's Hospital; 
those also, who were unable to walk, were sent home in cabs. The superintendent further 
states that he has been unable to ascertain the number of those injured, or their names, but as 
nearly as he can judge, he thinks there must be two or three with severe sprains, and 15 or 20 with bruised shins and ankles, &c.

The collision that took place on the 5th instant, between two trains of the Croydon Railway 
Company, I read an account of the accident last Sunday in a weekly paper, which seemed to 
be so serious, that I requested Captain Coddington to go immediately, and make arrangements with the officers of that Company to enable me to inquire personally into the particulars next morning, which he did accordingly; and I then proceeded by appointment with Mr. Gregory, the resident engineer of the Company, to his office at the New Cross Station, where he had assembled the enginemen, firemen, and guards of the two trains, and other servants of the Company who knew the circumstances, whom I in their turns in the presence of that gentleman, as well as of Mr Benjamin Cubitt and Mr. Pulford, two other officers of the Company. From the result of this examination, I have to report as follows:- .
Croydon Fair had been going on for three days, of which Friday was the last, during which 
trains went in both directions every half hour, that is, double the ordinary number, and of 
course much more numerous than usual, for I was informed that 14,000 persons were carried in one day. The accident happened to the last train of the whole, which left the Croydon Station between 12 and 1 o'clock on Saturday morning in two divisions, the London Bridge train consisting of all carriages starting first, and the Bricklayers' Arms train of 9 carriages following it, at an interval of about five minutes, as had been usual during the fair time. The rule is to place two red lamps behind the last carriage of every train by night; but on this occasion one lamp having been  broken by accident at the Croydon Station, where there was no other to replace it, only one red lamp was attached to the hind carriage of the foremost train. As the lamps at this station proved to have been in charge of a boy, I apprehended some neglect on his part; but several other witnesses assured me that this solitary lamp was well trimmed and burning brightly when the train left Croydon. The signal man at the Jolly Sailor Station observed, that it had become dim when it passed that Station, and it must have gone entirely out before it reached the Anerley where the accident occurred. 

The second tram passed the Jolly Sailor Station about three minutes after the first, the green 
light being then exhibited there as a signal to go on with caution; and on approaching the 
Anerley Station, the engineman of this train observed a red light on the signal post, which 
was the signal to stop at that station ; but not seeing the red light that ought to have been 
exhibited in the rear of the preceding train, he considered it was gone. and just as it was 
slowly quitting the station he ran into it, but with diminished speed, for he was preparing to 
stop there, and just before the collision took place he observed that it was still there, and 
reversed his engine whilst the fireman was working the break, but too late to prevent the 
accident.

Though this collision would have been avoided if the two trains had been combined ia one, 
yet I consider the arrangement that was actually adopted to be more prudent upon the whole. 

There is reason. to doubt whether the second train might not have overshot the Anerley 
Station a little, even if the other had previously quitted it; but as the rule was for every train 
not to stop short of the station, but opposite to it, no blame can justly attach to the engineman of this train.

After this examination I proceeded to Anerley Station, the scene of the accident, and from 
thence to Croydon, where the injured carriages were collected.

I was happy to find that the first alarming accounts were exaggerated. Two females were most injured, one of whom remained all night at the inn near Anerley Station, and was sent home in the morning. Another had her forehead severely cut, besides bruises on her limbs, and was at one time delirious; but on my inquiring the same at the' inn, her medical attendant gave me a favourable report of her case, and said that m a few days she might be taken home in safety. 

Mr. Gregory informed me that eighteen other passengers were more or less injured, but none 
so severely as these two. Their was ascertained on quitting the several stations for which they had taken their places, from whence those who required it were sent home in cabs, and 
received medical advice at the expense of the Company.

The buffer irons of a locomotive engine were broken and one of the carriages was thrown off the rails, which caused considerable delay, during which several passengers went off without waiting till the trains were able to proceed. At Croydon I examined the carriages that were injured. One of them, a first class carriage, had the side pieces of the under frame as well as the panels cracked. The other, a second class carriage, which received the shock, had its side pieces also cracked, and a central partition between two compartments inside broken and forced out of its place, though not thrown entirely down, and it was here that the most severe accident happened. Mr. Gregory, who with laudable zeal had been continually travelling along the line during the fair time, to see that the servants of the Company were attentive to their duty, experienced a shock himself, being in the Bricklayers' Arms train in a first class carriage. He informed me that the passengers in the front carriages of that train felt the collision more than those in the centre, though by no means so severely as those in the rear, and that the passengers in the centre compartment of each carriage felt it more than those in the ends. As the want of lamps was the immediate cause of the above accident, I inquired into the arrangements of the and was informed that the lamps of every train are examined, and if defective, replaced or trimmed again at Croydon, New Cross, and London.
It is to be regretted that the signal man at the Jolly. Sailor Station did not warn the of the 
second train on its arrival, that the tail lamp; as it is called, of the preceding train was likely to go out; but this was no part of his written instructions, though an intelligent  man might have done so of his own accord; nor is it likely that he should have anticipated a.n accident. In future, when successive trains run within five minutes of each other on the Croydon Railway, which can only be necessary at the time of fairs or races, the rule should be for the engineman of the following train to stop short at a certain distance from each station, when he sees the red lamp exhibited at the signal post, and wait there till an additional signal is made, before: he moves his train up to the platform.

Conclusion

That their Lordships request that the Directors will cause their lamp department to be better 
arranged ; and that in the event of fairs or races hereafter it expedient to divide their 
passenger trains into two or more sections. or smaller trains, starting at intervals of about five minutes after each other, that the enginemen of succeeding trains shall have strict orders to shut of their steam on approaching every station, so as to be able to stop short of the platform if required, whether they see the red tail lamps of the train, or not.