Impact

On Wednesday, 12 June 1889, a scheduled passenger train travelling from Armagh to Newry collided with a packed Sunday School excursion train on the outskirts of the city, resulting in the loss of eighty-nine lives and hundreds injured. It is hard to comprehend a disaster of this magnitude, with the loss of so many young lives from one small community.

Its legacy was profound, leading to the introduction of hydraulic brakes on all locomotives preventing similar catastrophes the world over.

This play interlaces the real testaments of witnesses at the Public Enquiry with fictionalised versions of personal testaments of local people affected by the tragedy.