Frozen Ham on the Track - Part 3 of 3

Read parts 1 & 2 first.

The Railway employees wanted to bulldoze the damaged vehicle off the track but common sense prevailed, and they agreed to help unload the trailer with their section gang.

When the trailer was empty it was lifted into an upright position, which aligned the frame of the tractor at the same time.

When the wreck was off the track the section gang instantly went to work to re-align the tracks and open the right of way.

During the recovery process it was observed that a number of people were slipping away to hide hams in the trunk of their vehicles or hiding them in the woods for later recovery. It was at this time all work was called to a halt and all the individuals that were working at the scene were called together.

It was explained to them that the driver of the truck was responsible for the first $500.00 damage to the tractor and an additional $500.00 dollars damage to the trailer.

Since all the hams were frozen rock hard, not one of them were damaged but a number were missing.
It was pointed out that the first $500.00 worth of missing hams would be paid by the drivers. At this point recovery and reloading of the hams continued and when it was completed all 1,760 hams were accounted for.

All the damaged equipment was recovered and hauled to Thunder Bay. The Section Gang re-aligned the track and the main line was quickly re-opened to railway traffic.

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