GREAT RAILWAY SMASH.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2480, 10 May 1909, Page 5

GREAT RAILWAY SMASH.

UNCONTROLLED TRAIN WRECKS A STATION.

The most sensational and spectacular railway wreck that has occurred in Canada for many years took place in Montreal on March iltli, when the incoming Boston express on the Canadian Pacific Railway, running at the rate of forty miles an hour, dashed into the Windsor street terminal station, wrecking the building, killing live people, and injuring twenty-six others. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the disaster was the fact that the express ran at full speed, absolutely uncontrolled, in consequence of the driver and fireman having been blown from the engine cab two miles from the station. Immediately after the train left Westmount Station the plug of the engine blew out, throwing the driver and fireman from the cab and killing them instantly. The train was on a down grade, and gathered speed every second as it approached Windsor street.

The horrified occupants of the station who were awaiting the arrival of the train scarcely had time to realise the impending disaster before the express crashed into the platform, through the granite walls of the building, into the ladies’ waiting-room, and then through to the general waiting-room, where the engine,'tender, and luggage van were piled up in a mass of wreckage. The walls of the station crumbled like cardboard, and the heavy granite pillars toppled over in all directions. An eight-year-old girl was instantly killed by one of the failing pillars. Mrs Nixon, wife of the driver of the express, and her little son were waiting on the platform. Both were killed. Twenty other persons who were in the waiting-rooms were injured, one girl being thrown thirty feet. Police and firemen were summoned to extricate the injured, some of whom were buried under the granite debris, and the work of rescue was extremely difficult.

Windsor street station is located in the heart of the city, and tlie accident caused complete suspension of business. It was thought at first that the building had been wrecked by an earthquake. The damage is estimated at £20,000.