Frozen Ham on the Track - Part 2 of 3

Read part 1 first.


Strange as it may seem, the front wheels of the tractor stayed on the ground but the duel drive wheels stayed with the trailer and ended up in a vertical position. The frame of the tractor was badly twisted.

The twisting of the tractor frame caused the cab to unlatch so that when the vehicle came to an abrupt stop, the cab fell forward with the driver behind the wheel and the co-driver still in the bunk. As the front of the cab hit the ground, the co-driver’s window was impaled by a guard rail post. Had anyone been sitting in that seat, they would have been killed instantly. The two occupants of the cab walked away from the accident with a few bumps and bruises, and a sense of utter amazement when they looked at the cab of their vehicle.

Not only was the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway blocked by the accident, the tracks were seriously out of alignment and would have to be repaired before railway traffic could continue. A passing car contacted the police, who in turn notified the trucking company and railway that the line was blocked with wreckage.

The trucking company advised me of the accident and we arranged for another truck to offload the cargo and another tractor with a lowboy trailer to recover the damaged truck.

The railway soon had a Section Gang on the scene, ready to repair the tracks. They were unable to start work until the wreckage was out of the way. Nothing could be done until all the cargo was moved by hand, from the damaged trailer, into the replacement trailer.   Continued on Part 3

A Man and his Dog.

On one particular day in August of 1966 I was in the town of Dryden, Ontario, on business, when I came upon the scene of a serious traffic accident. It was between a pick-up truck and a dump truck.

Dryden sits on the south side of the Trans Canada Highway which runs east and west. Between the highway and the town, and running parallel with the highway, runs the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. A bridge was built over the tracks as a safety measure because of all of the traffic between the town and the highway.

I was driving north over the railway bridge and as I reached the highest point, I could see an accident had occurred at the intersection of the bridge road and the highway, directly in front of me.

After parking my car I walked around the wrecked vehicles and the intersection. I talked with a number of people who had witnessed the accident. I also took a number of photos. The driver of the pick-up had already been taken to the hospital where it was determined he had died instantly in the collision.

The driver of the empty dump truck reported that he had been going north, towards the highway, and after he came over the crest of the bridge, he found he had no brakes.

It had been his intention to stop at the stop sign, and then turned right to leave town. This was a T intersection so he had to turn left or right. He pumped his brakes continually but the truck would not slow down. In fact the bridge slope caused the truck to pick up speed as he approached the intersection.

A pick-up truck with camper on the back was pulling a small house trailer and was heading west. A cedar strip, canvas covered canoe was on the roof of the camper.

The husband was driving, and had his large black Labrador dog with him in the front seat. His wife was riding in the house trailer. It would appear that the pick-up driver did not see the dump truck coming from his left. If he did, he had no time to apply his brakes or avoid the collision.

The dump truck smashed into the left front corner of the truck and punched it into the north ditch. Both vehicles then came to a stop, side by side, when they hit the bottom of the ditch. The trailer smashed into the back of the pickup that was towing it, and was torn open. The canoe tore loose from the roof of the pick-up and landed in the ditch in front of the vehicles.

The dump truck driver had minor injuries and walked away. The woman in the trailer was injured but she survived the accident

The driver of the pickup was killed instantly. His left leg had a compound fracture and the upper leg bone was exposed. It showed it had been fractured some time in the past as it had steel plates and screws holding it together. The dog was killed instantly, and was lying in the ditch beside the canoe.
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The truck driver was found responsible for the accident, for failing to stop at the stop sign, and for failing yield the right of way.
　
It was another terrible example how a life can be lost in a matter of seconds, without warning.