Names and numbers
Maxville
date unknown
Dimensions
as reportedDate: Event
History
29 facts
| Date | Statement | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1882 | H. P. Howell recalled a bad wreck "half way between Maxville and Alexandria" in 1882: a special that had left Ottawa about one o'clock bound for Montreal "continued on its way" instead of waiting at Maxville for a mixed train, and the two trains "met head-on and there was a terrific smash-up. The two engines piled up, several of the cars of the mixed train were hurled into a deep ditch, many passengers were injured and fireman Clarke of the mixed train was killed." Howell's coach was uncoupled and ran back to near Alexandria station. Filed on Maxville, where the special should have waited; the wreck was midway between Maxville and Alexandria. | Ottawa Citizen 1939-03-25(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1890-12-13 | The Maxville station of the Canada Atlantic railway is being considerably enlarged in order to meet the demands of the rapidly increasing business there. It is said the station agent will shortly have an assistant. | Ottawa Free Press 1890-12-13(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1893 | Recalled in 1939: early one spring morning in 1893, freight train No. 15 of the Canada Atlantic, with 35 cars and Harry Brown as engineer, was about two miles west of Maxville when a woman was seen "frantically shaking her skirt" on the track. The train stopped "only a few feet from a great gaping hole in the roadbed", where the dam of a lake on the hill above the track had broken and washed the roadbed away. The company presented the woman, who lived near Maxville and whose name was forgotten, with a life pass on all Canada Atlantic passenger trains. Filed on Maxville, the place the item gives (two miles west of Maxville). | Ottawa Citizen 1939-10-04(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1900-11-10 | Jacques White, engineer on the Canada Atlantic Railway, died at 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon at St. Luke's hospital as the result of injuries that he received in a collision between two trains at Maxville at 11 a.m. on the same day. ... White was an engineer on a ballast train that was backing into a siding at Maxville. A freight train was coming into the station at the same time. The brakes on the latter train did not act promptly and the two engines came together. White had stepped to the foot plate of his engine to see how his train was progressing. ... his ankles were broken and one knee was crushed. ... He died soon after reaching the institution. The accident occurred 10 November 1900, per the inquest verdict quoted in the Lanark Era. | Ottawa Citizen 1900-11-12(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Lanark Era 1900-11-14(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1900-11-12 | This jury decides that Jacques White came to his death through injuries sustained on the morning of the 10th day of November, 1900, the ballast train of which he was driver having been struck by train No. 11, and we are of the opinion that the accident would not have occurred if such train No. 11 had been properly supplied with air brakes. The coroner's jury's verdict. | Lanark Era 1900-11-14(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1904-04-13 | A small sized wreck occurred on the C.A.R. this morning at Christie's ballast pit, 46 miles east of Ottawa near Maxville. A through freight train was delayed three hours by two cars leaving the track. The derailment was caused by a bent axle. A wrecking train left the city to clear the track. Both cars were loaded with lumber and escaped serious damage. | Ottawa Journal 1904-04-13(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1911-07-07 | The little town of Maxville on the Grand Trunk Railway in Glengarry County was almost destroyed by fire on Wednesday night, with the loss in the neighbourhood of $100,000 and less than half that amount of insurance. The chief losses were: Smiley & Robertson, sash and door factory, saw mill and lumber yard, $30,000; J.W. Smiley, residence and granary, $7,000; W.H. Dwyer & Co. Ltd., Ottawa, two granaries, $3,000; R. Woodroffe, residence, $2,000; D. Duparent, residence, $1,500; D. McMillan, stables, $1,500; Grand Trunk Railway Company station platforms, five box cars loaded with pressed hay, rails etc., $20,000; A.J. McEwen, logs, $1,200. Assistance was sent from Ottawa but the fire was under control when it arrived. The fire broke out in Smiley and Robertson's factory about 9 p.m. from some unknown cause, and quickly spread to surrounding buildings. The initial 1911-07-07 Eastern Ontario Review report said the G.T.R. station itself had burned; the fuller 1911-07-13 Chesterville Record account gives the station's loss as its platforms, rails and stored freight cars rather than the building itself. | Eastern Ontario Review 1911-07-07(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Chesterville Record 1911-07-13(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher, same collection,...) | |
| 1913-03-27 | Grand Trunk train No. 23, Montreal to Ottawa, was wrecked about a mile east of Maxville station at 11:45 a.m., derailing completely at Christie's Pit between Greenfield and Maxville. Stopping dead in about twenty yards from a speed of about thirty miles an hour, the wrecked train tore up the rails, one of them piercing the second car along its full length; the three passenger coaches, baggage car and tender left the right of way and turned over on their sides, but the engine, though turned almost at right angles, did not leave the track. About a dozen passengers were injured, mostly thrown from their seats by the sudden stoppage, including several senators travelling in the parlor car; remarkably, no one was killed. The cause was supposed to be the washing away of the ballast by recent wet weather. Conductor A.J. Leamy, though badly cut about the head, walked to a farmhouse to phone Maxville for help; doctors from Alexandria and Maxville were sent in special trains, and a relief train under Superintendent Coleman brought the injured to Central Station at 4:05 p.m. The event is widely reported; the Ottawa Journal's 1913-03-28 account of the same wreck gives the same essential facts and additional passenger testimony. | Ottawa Citizen 1913-03-28(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1915-01-14 | The winter sitting of the high court before Justice Lennox was concluded by an action brought by John A. Hamel of Cornwall against the Grand Trunk Railway for injuries sustained while assisting in loading cattle at Maxville in October. An engine shunted against a car in which he was working, instead of on another track, causing serious injury to Hamel. A verdict was returned against the railway company and damages assessed at $1,000. | Kemptville Weekly Advance 1915-01-21(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Eastern Ontario Review 1915-01-22(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher, same collection,...) | |
| 1920-07-27 | Thomas Blaney, a prosperous farmer living near Maxville, was instantly killed and his son William, aged 14, died in St. Luke's hospital shortly after midnight, when a motor car in which they were driving with Mrs. Margaret Blaney, another son and a nephew was struck by the Montreal-Ottawa express two miles east of Maxville at Donald Allan Cameron's crossing at eight o'clock in the evening. The other three occupants were seriously injured but expected to recover. Dr. W.B. McDiarmid of Maxville, called to the scene, described Cameron's crossing as one of the worst in the country, with a stone fence on one side and the tracks hidden from approaching traffic by large trees. An eyewitness, Mr. J.A. McLeod of Maxville, said the engine struck the automobile a tremendous blow, throwing two of the boys fifty feet; the car was turned completely around and left a total wreck. A passenger on the train, Harry Conley, said he felt the engineer apply the brakes and heard shrill whistle blasts before the tender struck the rear of the auto; Conley believed Blaney had been trying to beat the train across the crossing, remarking afterward, 'another yard and he would have made it.' The Ottawa Citizen and Winchester Press reports name the train the Montreal-Ottawa 'C.N.R.' flier/train; the later 1920-08-19 inquest into William Blaney's death instead calls the same train 'G.T.R. westbound train number 1' -- press naming of the ex-CAR Eastern Division's operator became inconsistent following the June 1920 GTR/CNR operational unification. | Ottawa Citizen 1920-07-28(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Eastern Ontario Review 1920-07-30(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher, same collection,...) | |
| 1920-08-17 | The inquest jury investigating the death of William Blaney, who died in an Ottawa hospital from injuries received when the auto in which he was driving was hit by G.T.R. Montreal-Ottawa train number 1 on July 27, returned a verdict that he died as a result of several fractures and shock caused by the collision, at Cameron's crossing in the county of Glengarry, a mile and a half from Maxville, at the intersection of the G.T.R. right of way and the public highway. The jury made no additional comment on the crossing itself, having already condemned it as very dangerous at the inquest into Thomas Blaney's death on August 11. The jury was out about ten minutes. | Ottawa Citizen 1920-08-19(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1925-02-16 | The inquest into the death of Louise Audrey Allen, three-months-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Allen of L'Orignal, "who died from injuries received on November 1, [sic] when the auto in which she and six others were riding crashed into a C.N.R. train at Maxwell's crossing, was finally closed last night after three previous adjournments." The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, "but attributed the cause of the fatal accident to the lack of precaution taken by the child's father, who drove the car." Date discrepancy: Churcher files this under 16/02/1925, but it describes the 1 November 1925 Maxville crossing accident, so the issue cannot be February 1925 (probably 1926). Dated as Churcher has it. The Citizen of 1925-11-03 calls the child the daughter of Wellington Allen; this item says Stanley Allen. | Ottawa Journal 1925-02-16(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1925-11-02≥ | By 2 November 1925 (the issue date), the paper reported: A Ford sedan carrying seven people from Cassburn was struck by the C.N.R. Montreal-Ottawa train at the crossing just east of Maxville station; the car caught fire and its occupants were taken on the train to Ottawa. The Journal says the crossing on Main Street "is protected by an electric bell which was ringing", the train was No. 47 and its speed 15 miles per hour, and that the train "was slowing for the station about 100 yards farther on". Dated by the issue. The Citizen names the injured as Stanley and Wellington Allen and their families, of Cassburn. | Ottawa Journal 1925-11-02(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Citizen 1925-11-02(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1925-11-03 | "One death has resulted from the automobile accident at Maxwell, on Sunday morning, when a Ford sedan in which seven people were riding, was struck by the C.N.R. train from Montreal... Baby Louise Allen, three months old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wellington Allen, of Cassburn, Ont., died at the Civic Hospital this morning as the result of injuries she received." Follows the 2 November 1925 crossing accident. Churcher's 16 February 1925 Journal item on the inquest is held for a date problem; see held/1925.json. | Ottawa Citizen 1925-11-03(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1929-06-28≥ | By 28 June 1929 (the issue date), the paper reported: A man who had been at "the Bennett rally at Alexandria" and was bound for Maxville was still asleep on the C.N.R. Montreal-Ottawa train as it left Maxville station; Conductor P. T. McGovern "pulled the emergency cord, and the train glided to a standstill" so that he could be put off. "Well, that's what I call service. We have actually saved him a long walk, for his farmhouse is just across the fields there." An anecdote, dated by the issue ("last evening"). | Ottawa Citizen 1929-06-28(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1933-12-17 | "Her view hindered by an umbrella she carried to protect herself from a pelting rain, Mrs. Ross, wife of J. Archie Ross, local baker, stepped into the path of a Montreal-Ottawa C.N.R. freight train and was instantly killed tonight", about 7.30 p.m., on her way to church. Coroner J. H. Munro was to hold an inquest. | Ottawa Citizen 1933-12-18(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1937-06-03≥ | By 3 June 1937 (the issue date), the paper reported: The C.N.R. Montreal-Vancouver express, westbound, "crashed into the rear cars of a freight train near here last night", about a mile west of Maxville, as the eastbound freight No. 402 was moving into the long siding; the express "crashed into the last two cars". William Roach, master mechanic of Ottawa, who was riding in the locomotive cab, jumped and suffered a fractured right wrist; none of the passenger train left the rails. The Citizen says it happened about 10.30 daylight saving time, the Journal at 9.35 standard time; the wrecking train was sent out from the Bank street yards. | Ottawa Citizen 1937-06-03(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Journal 1937-06-03(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1939-08-31 | Thomas McDougall, "one of Maxville's best known citizens, was killed when his sedan was struck by an east-bound express train at the Borden plant crossing about 150 yards west of the depot this morning." The car "was carried about 100 yards on the engine pilot". | Ottawa Citizen 1939-08-31(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1948-07-20≤ | From 20 July 1948 (the issue date), the paper announced: A special C.N.R. train would leave Ottawa at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday, July 31, for the Highland Games in Maxville, returning from Maxville at 11.30 p.m.; "the return fare on special CNR train is $1.40 and not $2 as announced in a recent advertisement". On 30 July "a strong demand" for tickets was reported, the train leaving Union Station at 10.30 a.m. daylight saving time. Announcements of a special train to come. | Ottawa Citizen 1948-07-20(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Citizen 1948-07-30(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1951-03-02 | "One man was killed and his father miraculously escaped serious injury when the CNR No. 2 flyer from Vancouver smashed into a milk truck at a level crossing here at 9.15 this morning." John Cuillerier, 22, was driving; "both wig-wag and bell signals were working at the crossing". The train, two hours late and not stopping at Maxville, was estimated at 50 to 60 miles an hour; the engineer was Robert J. Eno. | Ottawa Citizen 1951-03-02(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1955-07-18 | Advance 401, a C.N.R. freight of 32 cars from Montreal, "thundered through an open switch at the station and turned over" at Maxville at 11.35 p.m. on Monday: the 250 ton locomotive No. 6101 plowed through the yard cinders, smashed through a coal and feed storage shed, and came to rest tilted half buried; 24 cars were demolished. The five-man crew escaped unhurt, Engineer Thomas Bradley having shut off steam; some 25 pigs in a car on a siding were killed. Damage was put at $250,000; the main line was blocked, a passing track kept traffic moving, and Superintendent G. T. Dunn investigated. Churcher adds a note of 1955-07-18 that the derailment was on that date. Counts of cars, weight and pigs differ between papers. | Ottawa Citizen 1955-07-19(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Journal 1955-07-19(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Glengarry News 1955-07-21(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1958-12-16 | "Six cars of a 56-car freight train left the rails on the CNR line just west of Maxville early this morning" at 5.20 a.m., two carrying high octane gasoline and two kerosene, which spilled into the ditches; a defective truck under the leading tank car was thought the cause, and the main line and a siding were ripped up for a quarter of a mile. The noon train from Montreal to Ottawa went by way of the C.P.R. tracks. | Ottawa Citizen 1958-12-16(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Journal 1958-12-17(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1959-10-19≥ | By 19 October 1959 (the issue date), the paper reported: John Everett Maloney, 18, of Maxville, "died yesterday afternoon when his car stalled on Prince Street railway crossing in the center of Maxville, and was hit by the CNR's Supreme Continental"; he was alone, "trying out" his brother's car. | Ottawa Citizen 1959-10-19(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1961-01-26≥ | By 26 January 1961 (the issue date), the paper reported: Philip Michaud, 63, of Maxville, "was killed instantly in a car-train collision last night." His 1960 sedan "was struck, by the engine of the CNR's 'Supercontinental' passenger train about 6.30 p.m. at a level crossing which passes through the town"; the train, of 10 passenger cars and three diesel engines, carried it three-quarters of a mile west along the tracks. Eye-witnesses said "the wig-wag signal at the crossing was working at the time of the accident"; police put the train's speed at 60 to 80 miles an hour. | Ottawa Citizen 1961-01-26(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1970-11-21≥ | By 21 November 1970 (the issue date), the paper reported: "Canadian National Railways has been given permission by the Canadian Transport Commisson to remove agents from seven stations in Ontario and Quebec"; "The points affected are St. Anne de bellevue and Pointe Claire in Quebec and the Ontario stations in Maxville, Casselman, Vars, Renfrew and Eganville." The commission noted that each station, as long as it is serviced by passenger trains, "shall be 'kept clean, heated and lighted.'" One item about several stations; filed once for each of the five Ontario stations it names. | Ottawa Journal 1970-11-21(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1977-04-09≥ | By 9 April 1977 (the issue date), the paper reported: Harriet McGillivray, 80, of Maxville, "died on the way to hospital Thursday after being hit by a CNR passenger train as she walked across a level crossing"; the Journal gives it as an eastbound train at 11 a.m. on Maxville's Main Street crossing, where she, deaf, "apparently didn't hear the level crossing warning signals". The Ottawa-to-Montreal train was delayed 32 minutes. The Citizen calls it a run from Montreal to Ottawa; the Journal says eastbound. | Ottawa Citizen 1977-04-09(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Journal 1977-04-09(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 2000-03-31≥ | By 31 March 2000 (the issue date), the paper reported: "A man was killed near Maxville last night when he was struck by a VIA Rail train enroute from Montreal to Ottawa"; the train was delayed for an OPP investigation and passengers were sent to Ottawa by bus. | Ottawa Citizen 2000-03-31(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 2005-05-03≥ | By 3 May 2005 (the issue date), the paper reported: "A railway car carrying ethanol, a volatile flammable liquid, bumped another car and broke open, leaking gas into an area behind the seniors residence" in the Maxville rail yard just before 3 a.m. yesterday. About 200 residents, including 120 of the Maxville Manor, were evacuated to the sports complex; "Maxville Mayor Bill Franklin declared the area in a state of emergency about 5 a.m." and regional roads 20 and 22 were closed. Rail workers transferred the ethanol to another tanker; residents returned about 1 p.m. VIA cancelled trains between Montreal and Ottawa, affecting about 330 passengers. | Ottawa Citizen 2005-05-03(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 2006-01-18≥ | By 18 January 2006 (the issue date), the paper reported: "The township of North Glengarry has learned that it is facing an arbitrary 'deductible' of $96,000 before the province will help pay for the costs of the Maxfield train derailment emergency which happened last May": "an Ottawa Central Railway tanker containing ethanol was derailed and started leaking its contents". Council voted to accept an offer from Ottawa Central Rail of $23,410.59 toward the township's costs, $4,207.98 short of its invoice. Follows the ethanol spill of 2 May 2005. The item spells the place "Maxfield"; it is taken as Maxville. | Eastern Ontario Review 2006-01-18(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) |