THE age of the train was a marvel of the Victorian era, as tracks were laid and stations opened in a flurry of activity and excitement.

No longer did goods or people have to be transported by the horse - steam took you further and more quickly.

But while this new mode of transport was embraced, passengers discovered, too, that sometimes accidents were waiting to happen.

And in Blackburn, in 1881, such an incident did occur, when there was a collision between two trains at the shallow platform, that led to the deaths of seven people, with many more injured.

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This image is of an engraving which appeared in the London Illustrated News, showing the scene that had unfolded in East Lancashire that day.

At the top, the injured arrive at the Infirmary, which had opened in 1864, by carriage, coach and cart, in the centre is the hospital building and at the bottom is the devastation on the platform.

In the 35 years since it had first opened, significant increases in traffic and more lines, had seen the station being put under significant strain.

This accident prompted the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to build new station, four times bigger than the original one and it opened in 1886.