Staplehurst rail crash
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| Date | 9 June 1865 |
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| Time | 3:13 pm |
| Location | Staplehurst, Kent |
| Country | England |
| Rail line | South Eastern Main Line |
| Operator | South Eastern Railway |
| Cause | Engineering possession error |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Deaths | 10 |
| Injuries | 40 |
| List of UK rail accidents by year | |
The Staplehurst rail crash was a derailment at Staplehurst, Kent on 9 June 1865 at 3:13 pm. The South Eastern Railway Folkestone to London boat train derailed while crossing a viaduct where a length of track had been removed during engineering works, killing ten passengers and injuring forty. In the Board of Trade report it was found that a man had been placed with a red flag 554 yards (507 m) away but the regulations required him to be 1,000 yards (910 m) away and the train had insufficient time to stop.
Charles Dickens was travelling with Ellen Ternan and her mother on the train; they all survived the derailment. He tended the victims, some of whom died while he was with them. The experience affected Dickens greatly; he lost his voice for two weeks and afterwards was nervous when travelling by train, using alternative means when available. Dickens died five years to the day after the accident; his son said that he had never fully recovered.
On 9 June 1865 the daily boat train to London left Folkestone between 2:36 pm and 2:39 pm, having taken on board passengers from the tidal cross-channel ferry from France.Tender locomotive No. 199 hauled the train, comprising a brake van, a second class carriage, seven first class carriages, two-second class carriages and three brake vans carrying eighty first class and thirty-five-second class passengers. Three of the brake vans contained a guard and these were able to communicate with the driver using a whistle on the engine. Just after the train passed Headcorn railway station at 45–50 miles per hour (72–80 km/h), the driver saw a red flag. He whistled for the brakes and reversed his engine, but the locomotive and brakesmen were unable to stop the train before it derailed at 3:13 pm crossing the Beult viaduct, where a length of track had been removed during engineering works.
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