The CP Dining Car Museum on Brown Street stopped a nearly
quarter of a million pound loaded rail car as it coasted out of
control from McShea siding almost two miles away.
(photos/David Deschesne)
The car full of grain was completely off its tracks
The derailed grain car, loaded with over 200,000 pounds
of oats slammed into the CP museum dining car, at Brown
Street. In the background is Ed Bourgoine's apartment house
that was saved from certain destruction by the fateful placing
of that dining car several years ago.
Even with its brakes set and angle iron welded to the
track, the dining car museum was still pushed over thirty
feet from its resting point (see red stairs on the ground,
that used to line up with black stairs on the train.)
The hitch on the rail car was pushed down and back nearly 18
inches and the 14" I-beam was bowed upinto the floor of the car.
The track was sheared in several places.
Even with its brakes set and steel blocks welded to the track,
the dining car was pushed up a two-foot tall birm for about
thirty feet.
By: David Deschesne
At about 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, a rail car carrying
about 200,000 pounds of oats slammed into the Railroad Museum's
dining car at the Brown street location in Fort Fairfield.
"I was outside snow blowing at the time," said Mark Giberson, who
lives next door to the dining car museum display. "All I heard was
a loud BANG!! when the two cars hit." Because trains are very
quite on the tracks, there was no noise or warning of the nearly
quarter-million pound mass hurtling down the tracks through the
darkness of an early March evening.
"There were kids outside playing in the snow bank in my yard,"
said Giberson. "Not fifty to sixty feet from where the collision
took place."
According to Giberson, a Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway
locomotive came down with at least three people to inspect the
damage about fifteen to twenty minutes after the collision occurred.
"About forty-five minutes after the crash the Fort Fairfield Police
Department showed up," said Giberson. "They informed us that the
train had gotten away from the crew at McShea siding about two
miles up the track."
The location where the train car departed was at the McShea siding
on Route 1a where Cavendish Farms (formerly Nutrite) have a fertil-
izer facility. The approximate elevation of that location is 470 feet
above sea level. Nearly two miles away, at Brown street where the
train came to rest, is about a seventy-foot drop. The loaded train car
was traveling at an uncontrolled speed of approximately thirty to
thirty-five miles per hour.
About half-way through its voyage, the rail car crossed Currier
Street, where a brand new railroad signal lighting system had just been
installed with the help of the Maine Department of Transportation.
The signal light system operates on a voltage that exists on the two
tracks. When either a locomotive, or a caboose comes within a
predetermined distance from the rail crossing in either direction, either
car will complete the circuit between the rails and cause the rail signal
lights to activate. "Individual cars are also grounded to the tracks, the
lighting system is designed to activate in the event of a lone car
approaching an intersection," said Tom Klemm, an engineer with
MMAR.
Just before hitting the dining car, the runaway train broke through a
small barrier of steel welded to the track and bolted to the ties. It
then when on unimpeded.
The force of the collision caused the grain car to leave the tracks on
impact and forced the dining car out of its position up a sand birm
for nearly thirty-five feet, stopping within feet of Brown street.
Because the dining car had been plumbed with water and sewer, and
had an opportunity to hook up LP gas, its brakes were set and wheels
blocked by 1-1/2 inch angle iron welded to the tracks. Those
precautions did little to hold it in place in this instance, however.
A few years ago the CP rail dining car had been relocated to the
Brown street location from its previous home on Main Street, across
from Hillside IGA. Had it not been in position in this instance, the out
of control grain car would have easily jumped the birm, crossed Brown
Street and smashed into an Apartment house, owned by Ed Bourgoine,
that currently hosts three occupied apartments. "The conductor has
admitted to a rule violation," said Norma Griffiths from the Montreal
Maine and Atlantic Railway. "The air brake was on, but the hand
brake was not set. While it is apparent the air brake failed, whether
there was a malfunction or an air leak is still under investigation."
The dining car is owned by the Frontier Heritage Society in Fort
Fairfield. "A lot of loose items, like dishes, tables and a microwave
were damaged," said Wayne Troicke, from the FHS. "But all of the
museum artifacts were packed in Rubbermaid cartons for the winter
and survived undamaged."
"Montreal Maine and Atlantic will take the damaged dining car to
one of their facilities around the middle of March," said Troicke.
"They will repair all damage and return it to us sometime in Spring."
"They are working very hard to put us back where we were; I believe
we can have a good partner in MMAR for helping us to maintain and
expand our railroad museum in the future."