On 20 April 1908, at the junction at Sunshine railway station (in Sunshine, Victoria, Australia) a Melbourne-bound train from Bendigo collided with the rear of a train from Ballarat. 44 people were killed and over 400 injured, almost all of them from the Ballarat train, as the Bendigo train was cushioned by its two locomotives.
A temporary mortuary was set up at Melbourne's Spencer Street Station to deal with the dead and wounded, who were transported from Sunshine by special relief trains. The disaster is Victoria's worst railway accident in terms of deaths, and is Australia's second-worst after the 1977 Granville rail disaster.
The subsequent coronial inquiry found that the two drivers of the Bendigo train as well as the Sunshine stationmaster had a manslaughter case to answer, although all three were later acquitted by the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Crash
thumb|Diagram of track layout and signals at the time of the accident, showing distant (no. 25) and home (no. 24) signals
At 6:30 p.m. and 7:15p.m. on 20 April, two heavily loaded passenger trains left the regional cities of Ballarat and Bendigo respectively. 20 April was an Easter Monday and therefore the end of a long weekend in Victoria. Fine weather had encouraged large numbers of people to leave Melbourne by train on the Saturday, and many were returning on the Monday evening. As a result, both trains were crowded, and the Ballarat train had been extended beyond its normal length.
The Ballarat train was drawn by two locomotives – A<sup>A</sup> 534 and 'Old A' 202, and consisted of a post van, guard's van and 11 passenger carriages. The Bendigo train was drawn by A<sup>A</sup> 564 and A<sup>A</sup> 544,was under instructions to operate the train as an express unless passengers needed to alight.
The Ballarat and Bendigo lines were both controlled by absolute block signalling from the Sunshine signalbox. At Sydenham, the preceding signalbox on the Bendigo line, Milburn was given a "line clear" signal, because the Sunshine signaller had indicated the line was clear up to and through the station. The distant signal, 970 yards from the point of impact, and the home signal, 283 yards from the point of impact, were set at danger.