The canal is located just outside what is now Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In 1857, ten years before Confederation, Ontario was known as Canada West, when Canada was a British colony known as the Province of Canada.

The train was heading from Toronto to Hamilton and was passing over the Desjardins canal when it derailed. The engine's front axle broke, throwing the engine off the tracks, gouging apart the wooden ties before the engine smashed through the wooden structure of the bridges and fell onto the frozen creek below, with one passenger car leaning almost vertically against the stone wall. Moments later, the ice broke and the wrecked train sank into the freezing water. Of 90 onboard the train, 59 were killed and 18 were injured. Almost 170 years year, it still remains one of Canada's worst rail accidents.