Details of Railway Accidents in the Ottawa Area

1959, May 12 - Five boxcars and a caboose runaway on the Canadian National Walkley Line

Ottawa Journal 12 May 1959 Runaway freight cars. Six C N R freight cars, one of them a caboose, were moved out of the Walkley yards by the force of the wind. Some of the cars had been braked, but they skidded along with the rest of the rolling stock and on to the main line. The caboose broke loose and started on a two-mile mile downhill run toward Hawthorne under wind power. One of the other cars derailed and stopped the remaining four. The Super Continental, coming in to Ottawa from Montreal, was safely stopped by the railways traffic control system and delayed one hour and 25 minutes. Passengers were brought in to Ottawa by taxi cabs. Boxcar topples over. On another siding at theWalkley yards, an empty box car was set rolling by the wind until it toppled over. Ottawa Citizen 12 May 1959 "Train Runs Wild" Spills At the CNR Walkley Road yards the wind sent five box cars and a caboose rolling along a siding and into the main line where a boxcar was derailed. In the Central Control office flashing lights on the dispatcher's office warned of the run-away train. The cars rolled down to Hawthorne Avenue where a car was derailed and the run-away cars stopped. But it blocked the main line just before the Super Continental, Montreal bound (sic) passenger train arrived. Ottawa passengers were brought to Union Station by taxi but the crack passenger train was held up for 90 minutes

Return to Main Page of Railway Accidents

Updated 13 April 2019