On 11 May 1944, a military train was hit from behind by a goods train in Copley, 604 km north of Adelaide. Four servicemen were killed and 27 others were injured; two seriously. The 16 carriage train contained several hundred servicemen aboard had departed Terowie in South Australia’s Mid North for an undisclosed northern destination.

The locomotive struggled to haul the carriages and laden trucks. It made several attempts to get over Quarry Hill and eventually made it, however it had to stop shortly after due to injector trouble. The guard saw the headlights of the rear approaching train and attempted to halt the train but to no avail. Despite the driver of the goods train applying the brakes the crash occurred, impacting most severely on carriages 15 and 16.