The disaster occurred at 1:45 pm when the express failed to negotiate a 183 meter radius curve in a deep cutting known locally as Straw Cutting, shortly after crossing the Six Mile Creek between Hyde and the Rock and Pillar Range. The train derailed, with the locomotive coming to rest against the side of the cutting 60 meters from where it derailed; the boiler burst, extinguishing the fire in the firebox but severely scalding the fireman. The carriages piled up around the locomotive; all seven passenger carriages had left the tracks, with the second overturning and coming to rest in front of the locomotive while four of the other carriages telescoped together. The guards van and two goods wagons at the rear failed to derail.