had to go and collect the tickets (although only one passenger had alighted from the train). He did not mention that he had yet to exchange the tablet for one for the Abermule-Newtown section (which he could not have done, because the Abermule-Newtown tablet machine was still locked). Thompson also mistakenly told Lewis that the express was still "about Moat Lane", presumably from having overheard some of Jones's earlier telephone conversation. Lewis assumed that because the express had apparently not reached Newtown, the two trains would cross at Newtown rather than Abermule, and he did not look at the tablet closely enough to see that it was the one for the Montgomery-Abermule section that had just been handed over by the driver of the stopping train. He crossed back to the down platform and, because the driver was oiling around the engine, handed the tablet back to the stopping train's fireman, who did not notice the error either. Lewis gave the "Right away" signal by hand. Jones, who was also on the down platform, assumed that the express had been delayed or held at Newtown for some reason. Rogers, who was still at the ground frame, assumed the same, because of Lewis's actions and because the frame was locked, and so he lowered the down advance starting signal. Lewis, Jones and Rogers did not realise the truth until the stopping train had already departed. The express was travelling at about and the crew were about to begin slowing for the arrival at Abermule, when they saw the stopping train heading for them on the same track. Although they immediately braked, they could not stop in time. The crew of the stopping train did not appear to have seen them, because they continued to put on steam. The crew of the express were just able to jump clear in time, although they were both severely injured. Fifteen passengers, including a director of the railway, Lord Herbert Vane-Tempest, and the driver and fireman of the stopping train, were killed in the collision. After the crash, Driver Pritchard Jones of the express train was desperately concerned that he had made an error, until his fireman, Owen, retrieved both their own correct tablet for the section and the tablet for the Montgomery-Abermule section from the wreckage. The tablets were handed to the Traffic Controller for the Cambrian Railways, who had been travelling on the