Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1958, December 16 - 6 freight cars derailed west of Maxville, Canadian National, Alexandria subdivision, tank cars leaking gas.

From the Ottawa Citizen  16 December 1958 Gas Spills As Freight Derailed Near Maxville Bv Fred Inglis Citizen Staff Writer MAXVILLE (Staff) Six cars of a 56-car freight train left the rails on the CNR line just west of Maxville early this morning. Two of the cars contained high octane gasoline, two of them kerosene which spilled out, filling the ditches on both sides of the track. Two empty box cars were partly off the main line track. No one was injured in the derailment which occurred at 5.20 a m.  A defective truck under the leading tank car is believed to have caused the accident. The truck snapped out from under the car. flew 40 teet into the air, smashing a Bell Telephone pole carrying scores of telephone lines between Montreal and Ottawa. Tracks Ripped The main line track and a siding were ripped up for about a quarter of a mile west of the main street where it crosses the CNR track. The derailment occurred just west of the station and the tracks were damaged to ? a western limits of the town. OPP Constable Bill Potter of Maxville detachment and four other constables brought in from Cornwall closely patrolled the area covered with high octane gas to prevent fire or explosion which might result from careless smokers. A CNR wrecking crew arrived from Montreal at 11.30 and worked in drifting snow and biting cold to clear the torn tracks. It was expected that the repairs could be completed by late this afternoon. Firemen Alerted Fire Chief Merton Casey and volunteer firemen had the town fire truck and hose laid out in case fire breaks out during the removal of the highly dangerous tank cars. It was planned to pump the tankers dry before setting them back on the repaired tracks. The noon train from Montreal to Ottawa proceeded by way of the CPR tracks. Two locomotives and. 20 cars ahead of the four tankers stayed on the tracks and were taken to a siding at Greenfield. Bell Telephone men made temporary repairs to the broken pole near the Borden Company milk depot.

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Updated 21 March 2019