Train E91 pulled in at Ferny Grove at 9.40 am - eight minutes behind time. The engine then headed slowly uphill, topping the range at 9.53 am, before beginning the two-mile downhill run towards Samford.

Ivy Pitman

As the train was climbing the hill, it was going very slowly and some remarks were made jokingly about the speed of Queensland trains as compared with those in Melbourne.

Hector Nickols

As we were coming to the top, my wife was playing with the children. […] You know that you can hear the train rattling over every sleeper when it is going slowly, and she was singing to the children that old refrain that goes like this: "I can do it, I can do it, I can do it", and that is how we went to the top. When we were running along the top she was singing "I did it, I did it, I did it". Then as we got over the top she stopped and looked towards me. That may give you an idea of the speed of the train when we were coming up to the top and over the top.

James McGinn's farm at Ferny Grove, ca. 1912, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland James McGinn's farm at Ferny Grove, ca. 1912, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Albert McCormick

[...] I noticed that the train seemed to gather speed and swayed considerably when negotiating bends in the line. When going around these curves the wheels were screeching and I expected that there would be a slackening of speed as our carriage was lurching from side to side [...] I did not look out of the window as I found it difficult to hold my seat. At this time I was sure that the carriage could not hold the rails and I was waiting for something to happen.

Phillip Melbourne

The party in my compartment were singing a song called "Atchinson, Chopeka, and Santa Fe" to the rhythm of the train, and as the train started to go down the hill the song had to be sung faster and faster. The speed really got too fast for the song.

Thomas Dunn

I heard a bit of screeching after she got over the top, and I said to my mate in the train "This bloody train has bolted". I gathered my child in my lap, pressed my feet against the opposite seat, and said to my mate "hope for the best".

We swung round one short bend - snapped round it - and then on the next bend we had a fair speed up, so much so that the children cheered and waved and were excited and pleased that the going was faster. My little fellow turned to me - bushrangers were chasing us - he said to me, 'we're gaining on them, Dad'. I was worried, and abruptly ordered him to come and sit down alongside me. At that period I heard the engine ahead and I was waiting for signs of slowing down, but she was going flat out. You could hear the driving rods clanking as you hear a train coming into the station. You know the sound - clank, clank, clank - apparently as fast as it could go there.

Colin Woodland

[...] the train gathered speed to a degree that was alarming, and the carriages were swaying violently. I made a remark that there was something wrong. The train seemed to ease down as we approached the rise of the hill. I could feel this because I was forced into the seat - I was facing away from the engine. After passing over the top of the hill, we seemed to again gain momentum and once again the carriages swayed alarmingly. The train took a number of curves and in doing so, passengers were pushed against one another by the sway.

Hector Nickols

My wife was sitting on the same side as me in the corner and the children had been running from window to window to look out one then the other. I put my hand on the wife to hold her down and she shifted half-round in her seat and held the window with both hands, with her arms round both boys. She had her arm on one window and the other on the other window, bracing herself. She was holding the children until we hit. I was sitting in the middle of the seat and gripping with both hands as tightly as I could.

Ivy Pitman

After going over the slow part of the journey, I thought there was a slight curve. While we were going round this curve the train seemed to accelerate and bump madly, throwing Mrs McNamara to the other end of the seat. She was thrown with her head back and her legs up. Then it stopped. We sat and looked at one another and said the driver must have been having a joke with us as we had come up the incline so slowly and we just laughed the matter off. During that episode I saw my husband put his hands to the opposite seat as if to steady himself. He looked at me, and I gathered by the look that he meant all was not right. He was a very wise kind of man in dealing with those kind of things. We women laughed at it.

Suburban brake van, Queensland State Archives ID 18931 Suburban brake van, Queensland State Archives ID 18931

Errol Edwards

The first thing I noticed was that the people had become quite alarmed. At the time I said to myself that the train was travelling much faster than it should have been. On going round the bends you could feel the train hitting the curves, and the next moment there was a decided bump which I would say appeared to be the engine leaving the line just for a second. Then things seemed to right itself and then the second bump occurred and the carriage I was in suddenly came to a stop.

Desmond Balkin

When the train was travelling at an unusually fast rate of speed, my friend, Reg Burns, who was seated next to me said "The Queensland Railways have gone mad", I took from the remarks that he was alluding to the fast speed that the train was then travelling, as I observed also at that moment that all persons in the compartment were finding great difficulty in holding their seats. It was only a matter of about a minute after my friend passed that remark that the crash occurred.

Gladys Heap

The motion of the train caused us to lose our balance on the seats. That is by the swaying from side to side. I remember that there was a jar or sudden pull up and the train stopped altogether. I did not hear any crash, but escaping steam from the engine was like a siren.

James McMurray

[...] going round the curves the train appeared to me to be out of control, as we were flung violently from side to side as it rounded each curve. I could not say how many curves there were. All of a sudden there was a violent crash and I was flung over on to the opposite seat. My wife and son were also thrown out of their seats. All the ports and packages up on the racks fell down into the compartment. I said to my wife "it looks serious".

Phillip Melbourne

We then seemed to hit a bend at a very fast speed - I could not gauge the speed. That motion threw us to the left. The train seemed to right itself although the carriages were swaying very violently and then there was a second bend which gave us a lurch to the right. I gathered my baby boy to my breast and pushed my foot against the seat in front of me. I jammed my shoulder against my wife to hold her back. It would then only be a matter of seconds until there was a bump - a stop, another surge forwards and complete stop.

Leslie McCormick

I can remember the train starting to go around the bend where the crash occurred as the wheels were screaming and the carriages were swaying. Just after starting to go around the bend I heard a loud crash and the sound of grinding and rending of woodwork and just at about the same time the carriage I was in lifted up in the air and came to a sudden stop in the meanwhile I was thrown to the floor in a heap with the others in the compartment.

Joyce Pulham

We seemed to get to the top of the hill and the train gathered speed down the other side. The carriage was rocking and we were unable to keep our seats. The train seemed to run ridiculously fast and we were thrown against one another. Then there was a terrific crash and I went out to it.