11 October 2005
Derailment Kamloops
Kamloops - The derailment did not block Highway 1 at all. Emergency crews, who were
on the scene almost immediately, stopped traffic until they
determined the seriousness of the derailment and whether dangerous
commodities were involved.
Train 268 left Kamloops on the North track and crossed over to
the South track at Kamloops East. Going over the crossover, it
appears as if a wheel of an empty glycol tank car climbed the rail,
road on top of the rail for a short way and then dropped down on the
other side. It skidded along on top of the rail until it reached the
first crossing east of Kamloops, commonly known as Kelly Douglas
crossing.
The derailed set of trucks hit the cement planks at the crossing
and derailed completely. An RCMP officer happened to be driving by
as it happened. He stated that when the car hit the crossing planks,
it went airborne for quite a ways. He immediately radioed for
assistance and emergency vehicles were at the site before the crew
arrived.
One interesting note... there was a westbound train leaving
McCracken at the time. As it approached the intermediate for
Kamloops East, the signal went red. He began to slow down when the
crew on 268 notified him that they were in emergency and asked him to
check for a break in the train as he went by. The westbound pulled
slowly past the stopped train, looking for a gap in the train when
the engineer looked up and saw a tank car lying foul of his track.
He brought his train easily to a stop. If that westbound train had
only been a minute earlier, he would have probably been right at the
site at the time when the derailment happened. There is no doubt
that it would have been a more serious mishap.
Once again, Lady Luck shines on the CPR.
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