Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1956, March 11 - Crossing Accident, Russell Road, CNR Alexandria sub, no injuries

From the Ottawa Citizen 12 March 1956 Train Demolishes Car - Couple Escapes Unhurt A frightened and badly-shaken Hull couple walked away from their completely demolished 1956 model car Sunday after it was hit by the CNR's Super-Continental at the Russell road crossing near Hurdman's Bridge. Mr. and Mrs. Amende Matte, 14 Chauveau Street, Hull, escaped uninjured as their stalled car was hit by the diesel flier, travelling at 35 miles-an-hour, as it was braking on the approach to Union Station from Montreal at 5.50 in the afternoon. The train was running on time. Mr. Matte told Constable Andrew Hanna that he didn't see the train until he was approaching the tracks. He applied his brakes and the car skidded onto the right-of-way and stalled. "The car stalled. I shouted to my wife to jump but it was too late. Next thing I knew there was a crash and we were being pushed along by the train," Matte said. "I didn't have time to get scared then, but when I got out and saw what was left of the car I really got freightened (sic). I was pretty lucky at that," he said. There are no barriers or mechanical signals at the crossing. Engineer of the train was Thomas Brennan, operating out of Montreal.

Return to Main Page of Railway Accidents

Updated 11 November 2019