The Dugald rail accident was a head-on collision between two

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

passenger trains on September 1, 1947, in

Dugald, Manitoba Dugald is a community in Manitoba, Canada, located 10 kilometres east of Winnipeg at the junction of Manitoba Highway 15, PTH 15 and Manitoba Provincial Road 206, Provincial Road 206 in the Rural Municipality of Springfield. It was the site ...

, Canada, resulting in the deaths of 31 people.

Background

A westbound

Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

(CN) train, The ''Minaki Campers’ Special'' operating as Passenger Extra 6001 West, was a seasonal excursion service carrying vacationers from the Minaki region of

Northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is the ...

on the Monday evening of the

Labour Day Labour Day is an annual day of celebration of the labour movement and its labor rights, achievements. It has its origins in the trade union, labour union movement, specifically the Eight-hour day movement, eight-hour day movement, which advoca ...

holiday weekend. It had been given orders at

Malachi, Ontario Unorganized Kenora District is an unorganized area in northwestern Ontario, Canada, in Kenora District. Constituting 98.39 percent of the district's land area, yet only 10.93 percent of its population, it is essentially the remainder of the distr ...

, east of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, to meet train No. 4, the eastbound '' Continental Limited'' at Vivian.Shaw (1978) p. 140 These orders were later changed, so that the meeting point was relocated westward for a meet at Dugald, east of Winnipeg. These second orders had been received at Elma, Manitoba. The eastbound train was led by a CN U-1-d-class

4-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This type of steam locomotive is commonly known as ...

steam locomotive numbered 6046.

Collision and fire

By the

train order operation Train order operation is a system for safely moving trains using train orders, as opposed to fixed signals or cab signalling. In train order operation, a "train order" is an order issued by or through a proper railway official to govern the mov ...

rules then in use, Extra 6001 would use the siding at the east switch of Dugald. The conductor of the train reminded the engineer of the Dugald stop one or two miles beforehand, by the air signal line, and received the proper acknowledgement. However, Extra 6001 failed to enter the siding at the east switch, and collided head-on with the stationary eastbound train No. 4 at 9:44 p.m. at approximately . Extra 6001 was composed of U-1-a class

steam locomotive 6001, two steel baggage cars, nine wooden gas-illuminated coaches, and two steel parlour cars. After the collision, the wooden carriages of the vacation train caught fire. Strict

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution (marketing), distribution of scarcity, scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resourc ...

of steel during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

had resulted in old wooden cars being kept in service until newer cars could be purchased. The collision began a series of events that caused fires fuelled by compressed gas from broken lines and tanks on the wood coaches that gutted the wooden cars and set fire to oil tanks near the tracks. With the exception of the engineer and fireman of Extra 6001, who died in the initial collision, the fatalities of this incident were caused by the fire. No fatalities occurred in the vacation train's two rear cars or on the ''Continental Limited''. Both of the locomotives involved were rebuilt and repaired by CN after the wreck.

Inquiry

An inquiry blamed the crew of the vacationers' train for failing to obey orders. The inquiry also determined that the crew's error had been precipitated by their seeing a "clear"

signal A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

, which implied that the track ahead was clear, and that the ''Continental Limited'' dimming of its headlamp while waiting in the station lessened its visibility to the oncoming vacation train. This resulted in both the acquisition of modern rail cars and the improvement of rules regarding operations on the line.

In popular culture

* "The Minaki Train Crash " - episode about the Dugald rail accident from the documentary ''

Disasters of the Century ''Disasters of the Century'' is a documentary television series that airs on History Television. The program is produced by Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province o ...

'' (2000), aired on Canadian network

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

* {{coord, 49.8856, N, 96.8392, W, source:wikidata, display=title Railway accidents and incidents in Canada Railway accidents in 1947 1947 in Canada Disasters in Manitoba Accidents and incidents involving Canadian National Railway Rail transport in Manitoba September 1947 in Canada Eastman Region, Manitoba