Unit Oil Train Runs Away, Incinerates Québec Town
JUST AFTER 1:00 A.M. on July 6, 2013, a summer’s evening reverie turned into hell on earth in Lac-Mégantic, Québec, a peaceful town of 6000 souls located about 155 miles east of Montréal and ten miles west of the bor- der with Maine. An unattended Montréal, Maine & Atlantic unit oil train loaded with light crude from the Bakken fields had run away from Nantes, about eight miles west of Mégantic and at the top of a 1.2 per cent east- bound grade. At press time three weeks after the incident the investigation continued, but this much is known: The eastbound train had been secured at about 11:30 Friday night at Nantes to await a fresh crew (MMA used one-person crews on this line). Four of the five locomotives were shut down and the engineer claimed sufficient handbrakes had been applied. After the engi- neer left by taxicab to take his rest in Lac-Mé- gantic, a fuel fire broke out on the lead unit, C30-7 No. 5017. The Nantes fire department responded at about 11:50 after a resident near the tracks reported the fire. The locomotive was shut down and the fire was extinguished about midnight. An MMA employee, appar- ently a track foreman, responded to the en- gine fire, apprised the dispatcher in Farnham of the situation, an left. At about 12:56 a.m., the train began moving as a neighbor noticed it drift past his house with no lights on. After reaching 63 m.p.h. on the 1.2 per cent, the train piled up at the Rue Frontenac crossing in Lac Mégantic, just west of the station. The locomotives broke away and came to a stop about half a mile east of the wreck. As the train derailed on the curve near the Lac-Mégantic freight yard, it exploded into a river of flaming oil which coursed downhill to the lake and ignited everything in its path. 30 to 40 businesses and residences were burned to the ground as the oil found its way into storm sewers and basements. Many of the wreck’s 47 victims were found in the Musi- Bar, a popular nightspot located next to the
tracks on Rue Frontenac. In late July, five vic- tims had yet to be accounted for. In a press conference in Lac Mégantic on
the Wednesday after the wreck, MMA Chair- man Ed Burkhardt said while it’s been con- firmed by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada that the locomotives’ handbrakes had been applied, he said it is “questionable” that the engineer had followed company policy re- garding the application of handbrakes on the following cars. By July 19 the TSB had deter- mined that “the braking force applied was in- sufficient to hold the train on the 1.2 per cent
Union Pacific Acquires A Big Boy
LAST WINTER, THE RUMOR MILL SPUN WILDLY with talk of a deal between the Union Pacific Railroad and the Southern California Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive His- torical Society which would result in UP’s re-acquisition of 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 and its restoration to service. In late 2012, the story said, an un-named individual had come to UP with a propos- al to return one of the eight existing 1941 Alco Big Boys to operating condition to mark the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike in 2019. While at the time UP and the R&LHS confirmed that the subject was under discussion, no hard information was forthcom- ing and the speculation died down by the middle of April.
But then on July 23, UP issued a press release which confirmed that the railroad would re-
acquire the locomotive from the R&LHS. It will be moved to the railroad’s Cheyenne, Wyo., steam shop for restoration to operating condition and conversion to oil firing. UP had donated the locomotive to the group on December 7, 1961 and it arrived for display at the Rail Giants Train Museum in at the Pomona, Calif., fairgrounds on January 8, 1962. UP Senior Manager — Heritage Operations Ed Dickens said, “Our steam locomotive program is a source of great pride to Union Pacific employees past and present. We are very excited about the opportunity to bring history to life by restoring No. 4014.” The R&LHS said, “Our Board of Directors decid- ed to return the locomotive to Union Pacific . . . because it will be the best way to preserve [it] for future generations . . . The Chapter’s goals to encourage interest in railroad history and to preserve railroad equipment would be manifested by Union Pacific’s operation of . . . No. 4014.” The locomotive is not expected to leave California before the end of the 2013 Los Angeles Coun- ty Fair on September 29.
22 AUGUST 2013 •
RAILFAN.COM
descending slope” and asked Transport Cana- da to review Canadian Rail Operating Rule No. 112, which says “a sufficient number of handbrakes must be applied” when equip- ment is left unattended. TSB notes that the rule “is not specific enough in that it does not indicate the number of hand brakes necessary to hold a given train tonnage on various grades” and leaves it up to the operating em- ployee on the scene to determine how many brakes to apply. TSB also said that “not all handbrakes are effective even when properly applied.” In addition, the agency notes that
THREE PHOTOS: TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD OF CANADA
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