Friday 9 August 2013

Fifteen Years Later


On time and in a hurry at 08:12, GO Train 158 with F59PH-3 numbered 558 in the lead, is charging eastward with a load of impatient morning commuters toward downtown Toronto.


November 10, 1994.

Rolling along the steel strips of CP Rail's Galt Sundivision and having just departed from Erindale GO station in Mississauga, the next scheduled station for the passenger train is Cooksville.
 
This day between Erindale and Cooksville, GO Train 158 will uneventfully cross Mavis Road and then continue on to its destination. 

Fifteen years earlier, however, eastbound CP Rail freight Train 54 travelling between the same locations met with disaster. Twenty-four cars of the one hundred and six car train derailed. Of the twenty-four derailed cars, twenty-one were tank cars. Most, if not all, of the derailed cars caught fire and three tank cars exploded.

On November 10, 1979, a few minutes before midnight, the Mavis Road crossing was the scene of the infamous Mississauga derailment. Chlorine gas leaking from one of the damaged tank cars resulted in the largest evacuation in Canadian history.


The Oddblock Station Agent


Addendum August 28, 2013

A very well-written, easy to read report. The cover photo needs no explanation.



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