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