Correspondence with Mr Raymond Burrell

The rail crash was a derailment at Staplehurst, Kent, on 9 June 1865 at 3:13pm. The South Eastern Railway Folkstone 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. Charles Dickens travelled on the train with Ellen Ternan, his mistress, and her mother. Returning from a short trip to Paris, they all survived the derailment. Dickens tended to the victims, some of whom died while he was with them. The experience affected him 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 never fully recovered.