 According to Brendecke (who survived his fall from the cab and the subsequent crash), as well as motorists on the adjacent Hume Highway, the force of the collision propelled the locomotive of the "Southern Aurora", and several of the goods wagons, into the air.Six of the passenger carriages were derailed, and one was completely crushed by other wreckage.The two leading carriages telescoped into the rear of the locomotive, and two others rode over the top of the wreckage, suspending them some in the air.