Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1908, February 8 - PPJ mixed train derailed by a broken rail at Deschene

Shawville Equity 13 February 1908 A broken rail was responsible for an accident to the Pontiac mixed train which was due to arrive at Ottawa at 6 o'clock on Saturday evening.  While rounding a curve near Deschene a rail broke after the engine and tender had passed over it and four freight cars and one passenger car were derailed.  The cars rolled into the ditch and remained there until Monday morning when they were replaced on the tracks by the wrecking train which was despatched from Ottawa.  No one was injured as there were few passengers in the coach.  They received a severe shaking up as the passenger coach was thrown into the ditch as well as the other cars.  The track was blocked in consequence of the wreck and the express on Monday morning went to Ottawa from Deschene on the Hull Electric tracks. Ottawa Journal 10 February 1908 The Pontiac mixed train, due at Ottawa at seven o'clock Saturday night and which was considerably delayed by the storm, met with an accident near Deschenes at one o'clock yesterday morning, by which several freight cars were derailed and the track blocked for several hours.  Showing up near the switch at the east side of the Hull Electric Company's barns, the train had scarcely passed the siding when the freight cars following the engine jumped the track and scattered their contents, which was mostly lath and cordwood, over the roadbed.  Fortunately the engine and coaches in which a number of pasengers were travelling remained on the track and no one was injured.  Word was sent in for the wrecking train but the latter was also unlucky, for when but a short distance from the scene, it became stalled through the accumulation of snow on the tracks, and it was only after considerable delay that it forced its way through and the work of clearing of the debris was commenced. It is thought that the derailment was caused by surplus snow packing between the rails.

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Updated 26 August 2016