Before Button ordered him to shunt clear, Gilbert saw the Charfield down distant turn to red after his engine passed by it. In the collision, Gilbert and Sutton were both thrown amongst the coals and were injured, Sutton receiving minor injuries whilst Gilbert was more seriously injured. In preparation for the shunting activity, Fortune had dismounted his van at Charfield Station and when the train began to shunt, he walked with the train along the platform before following it beside the tracks and was guiding Sutton and Gilbert (Sutton later claimed that he was unable to see anything outside of the engine due to the thick fog) into the siding when the collision occurred. He was uninjured as he had been standing well behind the GWR Locomotive.