The engineer of the Federal Express stayed at the controls of his locomotive, sounding the horn as a warning when the brakes of his train failed. A brake cock between two of the passenger cars behind him had been left closed and there was nothing he cold do to slow the train as it headed for the dead end at Washington Union station. It crashed through the stop block and onto the station concourse. The weight of the loco caused it and two of the cars to fall through the floor into the basement.