KS Anand CPRO of SE Railway (India) has said that the train was signalled off the main line in to the goods/platform (yes they still call it goods) loop, already occupied. The second (up) express struck by the wreckage.
Shades of Harrow.
All sort of shades. I was looking at Quintinshill too ... but these are multiple train collisions where the sheer numbers of people are as high. If the report is correct, it's comparison is perhaps with Wetheral
See Wikipedia ReportAt about 4pm on Saturday 3 December 1836, a train was travelling westwards towards Carlisle, drawn by the locomotive SAMSON, with 26 passengers aboard plus a heavy load of goods. About half a mile before the siding the driver shut the locomotive regulator and the train descended the gradient. On reaching a bridge just before the siding, the train driver saw a man upon the line and signalled to him to get out of the way. The driver then saw that the points were set for the siding rather than the main line. He set the locomotive into reverse and he and the fireman leaped off. Because of the downward gradient the train carried on its way unchecked.