Friday the Ninth of June in the present year, Mr and Mrs Boffin (in their manuscript dress of receiving Mr and Mrs Lammle at breakfast) were on the South-Eastern Railway with me, in a terribly destructive accident. When I had done what I could to help others, I climbed back into my carriage — nearly turned over a viaduct, and caught aslant upon the turn — to extricate the worthy couple. They were much soiled, but otherwise unhurt. [...] I remember with devout thankfulness that I can never be much nearer parting company with my readers for ever than I was then, until there shall be written against my life, the two words with which I have this day closed this book: — THE END. Afterwards Dickens was nervous when travelling by train, using alternative means when available. He died five years to the day after the accident; his son said that 'he had never fully recovered'. References Footnotes Sources Available online at railwaysarchive.co.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2012. Further reading Lewis, Peter Dickens and the Staplehurst Rail Crash, The Dickensian, 104 (476), 197 (2009). External links Charles Dickens survives a train crash (text of a letter sent by Dickens after the Staplehurst rail crash of 1865) Railway accidents and incidents in Kent Charles Dickens Railway accidents in 1865 1865 in England Borough of Maidstone Bridge disasters in the United Kingdom 19th century in Kent Derailments in England History of mental health in the United Kingdom Accidents and incidents involving South Eastern Railway (UK) June 1865 events 1865 disasters in the United Kingdom