Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1938, July 28 - Runaway Horse Races Down Track to Ottawa Union Station

Ottawa Citizen 29 July 1938 Runaway Horse Races Down Track To Union Station Five minutes before the eight o'clock train was due to arrive from Montreal last (e)vening, a large dapple gray colt, dragging a two-wheeled braking cart behind it, appeared racing down the tracks under the Laurier bridge, headed for the Union station. Suddenly as the high stepping animal reached an open switch, the cart was tossed up in the air and broke clear of the horse. But the horse kept on its way, headed for the station. Red Caps stared. Train crews gasped. Edward Bowen. postal employe standing by a car load of mail awaiting the arrival of the train, jumped from his wagon and raced to meet the oncoming horse. As he reached the big colt, the animal halted, sweat pouring from its body, but beyond a slight scratch on its right hind leg. otherwise unharmed. While yardmen cleared the track of the smashed cart, Bowen stood wondering what to do with the horse. Far down the track came running a man. It was M.J. Gorman, 9 Robinson avenue, owner of the horse. Beads of perspiration were pouring down his face also. It had been a long run for him. Train Thunders By After thanking Bowen for capturing his horse. Mr. Gorman headed back for the street and home, taking the colt with him.  As they crossed the tracks to the road, the train from Montreal thundered into the station, down the same track where only a few minutes before the animal had come racing. Speaking to The Citizen after he had a chance to catch his breath, Mr. Gorman said that he bought the horse just recently. He intended breaking it into a saddle horse and putting it on show. "It's a lovely animal." he said, "although it has had kind of a bad start." Mr. Gorman said that he took the animal out last night for the first time and was running it up and down Hurdman road near his home. The colt took fright at a pony that passed stepping quite high, and just bolted, he said. The reins broke, Mr. Gorman said, and as the horse and cart shot forward, he landed on his back in the middle of the road. "But I was not hurt," he claimed. The horse sprinted down the road, veered off the pavement over to the left and onto the railway

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Updated 4 June 2021