Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1929, November 24 - Freight train derails 19 cars at Aultsville station, Kingston, CNR, subdivision.
Part of station demolished

Ottawa Journal Monday 25 November 1929 C.N.R. Main Line Still Blocked BROCKVILLE Ont. Nov 25. Main line traffic on the Canadian National Railways was still completely tied up this morning as the result of a serious freight derailment at Aultsville station yesterday afternoon, when fast freight No. 490 from Brockville for St. Albans, Vt., left the rails. Some of the 22 cars that were derailed crashed into the station building, also wrecking the express shed located to the east. All night passenger trains were routed by way of Ottawa and Napanee and wrecking crews were still engaged at the scene endeavoring to clear the line. Ottawa Citizen 25 November 1929. C. N. R. Main traffic line still tied up Canadian Press Despatch Brockville, November 25 Main line traffic on the Canadian National Railways was still completely tied up this morning as the result of a serious freight derailment at Aultsville station yesterday afternoon when fast freight No. 490 eastbound from Brockville for St. Albans Vermont, left the rails. Some of the 22 cars that were derailed crashed into the station building and also wrecking the express shed located to the east. All night passenger trains were routed by way of Ottawa and Napanee and wrecking crews are still engaged at the scene endeavoring to clear the line. Morrisburg Leader 29 November 1929 Train Derailed at Aultsville causes $50,000 Damage Punging[sic] from the rails as the train passed through the Aultsville yards on the main line of the Canadian National Railway at 3.55 Sunday afternoon, 19 cars of freight train 490, ploughed through the front of the railway station and piled up two or three deep along the tracks. Members of the crew escaped injury. A Montreal wrecking crew arrived at 9 o'clock Sunday night and by 3.40 Monday morning had cleared the westbound track for Toronto-Montreal traffic. The east line was opened at 1.45, but the first regular train did not pass over the section until 4 o'clock. Transshipment of the contents of several of the wrecked cars was completed Wednesday morning and workmen are engaged in clearing up and destroying material which could not to be salvaged.. Soon after the engine of the freight train had passed the railway station, the fifteenth car behind the tender leaped the rails and pulled 18 following cars behind it before the crew could bring the train to a stop. One of the cars crashed through the front wall of the station, demolishing the baggage room at the east end of the building, while a second car toppled over upon the front and side of the waiting room at the west end. Although three cars were piled up within a single car length in front of the station, the agent's office and despatcher's booth in the station were untouched and telegraphic communication was not interfered with. The 19 wrecked cars were heaped along the tracks within a distance of not more than six car lengths and approximately fifteen were completely demolished. In one instance the trucks of one of the cars were torn from beneath it and the body piled upside down on the right of way. Another car, which had apparently been jammed by the derailed train, was smashed to matchwood. Refrigerator cars stood up remarkably well under the strain and were the least damaged. More than half of the wrecked cars contained corn and other grain which was strewn along the tracks. Butter, meats, groceries and miscellaneous goods from other cars was heaped about the wreckage. Detectives from railway headquarters at Montreal arrived upon the scene within a few hours of the wreck and guarded the goods until transshipment was completed. The wrecking crew arrived with derricks and other paraphernalia shortly after 9 o'clock Sunday night and working by the light of searchlights, succeeded in clearing the lines in record time. During the time that main line traffic was suspended, trains between Toronto and Montreal were diverted by Napanee, Ottawa and Coteau Junction. Al. McMillan, agent at Aultsville, was absent from the station at the time of the wreck and as far as can be ascertained, the sole occupant was Bert Cunningham of Cornwall, who was sitting in the waiting room at the west end of the building. Perceiving the break in the train and realising that the cars would pitch into the building, Cunningham made a hasty escape through a window.

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Updated 8 November 2021