On 03 Aug 1873 a northbound "Tourist Special" excursion train, drawn by two locomotives consisted of twenty-five vehicles by the time it left Crewe, derailed at Wigan, colliding with station buildings, killing thirteen passengers. The train was declared to have been travelling at excessive speed. In the sixteenth coach, the one which derailed, was travelling Florence Sutherland Leveson-Gower (age 18) with her companion Miss Braggs.