Vol. 17 No. 8
August, 1987
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Stay Safe in 87
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OPP Corporal Nabs
"Runaway" -
Captures National Headlines Too
Changing
Hats: OPP Corporal John Carson has been made an honorary locomotive engineer after halting a runaway
train.
Chatham Ontario - An OPP corporal
who halted a runaway train here in May was recently treated to an award he could really sink his teeth into.
Corporal John Carson dined with an appreciative host Glenn Swanson, vice-president operation and
maintenance CP Rail East, and London Division superintendent Pat Pender aboard the business car Lacombe.
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Acceptance: Corporal John Carson says a few words
as CP Rail's glenn Swanson, vice-president operation and maintenance East, and Pat Pender London
Division superintendent (right) looks on.
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The police officer was presented with an engraved railway watch. "CP Rail thought it might be better if you had
something to carry with you", Mr. Swanson said, in making the presentation.
The officer also received an engineer's cap and a plaque declaring him an honorary locomotive engineer.
"It was really quite an honor", Corporal Carson told newsmen.
The 32-year-old corporal made national headlines when he grabbed onto a runaway freight train
3 May 1987 and brought it to a halt on the CP Rail line, two kilometres east of here.
The incident began when Corporal Carson took a radio call advising that an unoccupied freight train was moving out
of the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) railway yard here.
The radio call resulted from a telephone call to police from CP Rail operator Mike Berak who knew there were no
C&O movements scheduled at that time. The two railways intersect not far from Mr. Berak's office. The employee
was also commended by CP Rail for his vigilance in reporting the incident.
The train - actually two C&O locomotives at first - ran a switch and began travelling along the CP Rail line
towards London, Ontario, where it picked up 13 empty rail cars along the way.
Although it was travelling at an estimated speed of only 24 kilometres an hour, it was moving faster than Corporal
Carson could run and board safely.
The officer raced in his squad car to the next crossing and waited for the train. He said he watched the cars chug
past him, thought about backing away, then ran and grabbed a ladder on one of the engines.
"I had never been in an engine before, but I had worked with heavy equipment and I simply tried several levers
until I found the one to stop the train", he said in an interview.
"If I tried one and nothing happened, I put it back in its original position and tried another one".
It took all but three minutes for the OPP officer to bring the train to a halt. It is suspected that vandals had set
the locomotives in motion.
ACTION APPLAUDED
Corporal Carson's action drew a hearty round of applause from members of all three parties in the Ontario
Legislature.
Kent-Elgin MPP Jim McGuigan had risen in the house and cited the corporal's "bravery in putting the
call of duty above the risk of personal injury. Tackling a freight train I suspect is not in the training manual at
Alymer (police college)".
This CP Rail News article is copyright
1987 by the Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with
their permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Company.
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