Names and numbers
Casselman
date unknown
Dimensions
as reportedHistory
37 facts
| Date | Statement | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880 | Railway was originally to pass south of Casselman, avoiding bog between Casselman and Moose Creek. Martin Casselman donated land for railway and station within the village, as well as paying $40,000 in extra construction costs. Ties were laid corduroy fashion to fill the bog. | Casselman | |
| 1881 | First train arrived. | Casselman | |
| 1883-09-20 | The Canada Atlantic Railway moved into the new station at Casselman. | Ottawa Free Press 1883-09-20(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1884-07-16 | The little village of Casselmans, which but a short time ago was almost unknown to and had little in common with Ottawa, is now brought in close contact with it by the Canada Atlantic Railway. In one particular alone Casselmans has benefited considerably by the construction of this line: 2,500 cords of hardwood have been cut in that vicinity for use in the Ottawa market. | Ottawa Citizen 1884-07-16(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1885 (?) | Station destroyed by fire under mysterious circumstances. New station to be located on south side of river. | Casselman | |
| 1885-07-14 | Fire at Casselman lumber mill. Two GTR car loads of lumber were burned but sustained little damage. | Ottawa Citizen 1885-07-14(Churcher's index notes a follow-up appeared in the...) | |
| 1888-06-02 | Village incorporated; population 700. | Casselman | |
| 1891 | Casselman lumber destroyed by fire, including 18 box cars, 11 million feet of lumber. | Casselman | |
| 1891-06-16 | Fire at Casselman: a special train was sent out at 11 p.m. with the engine and a relief train driven by Engineer Macdonald, Fireman Kane and Brakeman Keswick, carrying 30 miles' worth of hose (1,200 feet plus 1,000 feet of C.A.R. hose). At Eastman's, South Indian and Bearbrook the train took up hands until there were 200 buckets and some 420 men on board; they left Bearbrook at 11.45 and steamed into Casselman at 11.50. | Ottawa Journal 1891-06-16(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1893-09-18≥ | By September 18, 1893, a "G.T.R. [sic]" freight train had killed a cow at a road crossing near Casselman, on the preceding Tuesday. The clipping as transcribed names the G.T.R.; the transcriber, Colin Churcher, marks this "[sic]", reading it as a slip for the C.A.R., since Casselman is on the Canada Atlantic line. Filed here on that reading at the operator's direction. | Ottawa Journal 1893-09-18(The item says the cow was killed "on Tuesday". Tra...) | |
| 1897 | Village destroyed by forest fire. | Casselman | |
| 1897-10-05 | The village of Casselman, on the line of the Canada Atlantic Railway is in flames. Telegraph and telephone communication with the village was cut off at an early hour today ... The fire started in the bush surrounding the village. ... Fire appliances were telegraphed for from Ottawa but trains are unable to approach the town as the tracks are surrounded by flames. The Boston train is delayed on the other side of Casselman and will have to wait until the fire is under control. (New York Times, 6 October: 'no trains can pass either way.') Part of the October 1897 bush fires along the Canada Atlantic (Casselman, South Indian, Cheney). | Ottawa Journal 1897-10-05(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),New York Times 1897-10-06(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1897-10-05 | The passenger train, which left Montreal on Tuesday morning was hemmed in with the fire all Tuesday and night and only reached Ottawa Wednesday morning. ... the train, of which Mr. Pease was the conductor, reached Casselman about 11.45. ... about two miles west of the village the train was flagged, and ... the conductor was informed by a section-man that the fire had destroyed South Indian and that further progress would be fraught with the greatest danger. ... within an hour we were forced to retreat and Casselman was on fire. (Ottawa Journal, 7 October: the train 'started out at a high rate of speed, and was flagged a short distance outside of the village by a sectionman'.) Account of passenger J. Sage of Ottawa, on the Montreal train due in Ottawa at 1.40 p.m. | Ottawa Citizen 1897-10-06(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Eastern Ontario Review 1897-10-08(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Journal 1897-10-07(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1897-10-12 | Last evening Mr. Donaldson of the C.A.R. received a telegram from the agent at Casselman, which stated that the wind had driven the fire in the direction of the temporary station at the village and advised that an engine be sent down to pull the freight cars that lay on the sidings at that point, out of danger. ... a salvage train with twenty-five men on board started for Casselman in charge of Mr. J.E. Duval. ... At Casselman, all the cars were removed to the south side of the Nation river where they were in safety. | Ottawa Free Press 1897-10-12(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1908-03-10 | Saved by a Conductor. Conductor D.P. Ward, in charge of the regular incoming passenger train from Montreal on the Grand Trunk Railway, made a thrilling rescue at Casselman. A passenger had boarded the train intending to get off at Casselman but failed to notice the station, though the trainmen had called out the next stop distinctly. The train was moving off at a good rate when he discovered his mistake and prepared to jump off backwards, likely to be thrown under the wheels. The conductor ran forward, jumped, and caught the passenger as he struck the ground, an instant before he would have rolled onto the rails. The conductor, without waiting for name or address, or stopping the train, swung onto the rear Pullman after averting a serious accident, and was warmly congratulated by the passengers for his bravery. | Eastern Ontario Review 1908-03-20(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1913-03-10 | The Ottawa-Montreal train on the Grand Trunk Railway, due at Montreal's Bonaventure Station at 11:15 p.m., was derailed at about nine o'clock Monday night half a mile this side of Casselman, about thirty miles from Ottawa. The train, composed of three passenger coaches and a baggage car, left Ottawa at 8 o'clock and, running on schedule, had got half a mile out of Casselman when, from a cause not yet determined, the engine jumped the rails, pulling the coaches with it; two of the coaches turned over on their side, fortunately without loss of life. The only person injured was Mrs. Donald Campbell of Maxville, who was badly shaken. A relief train was despatched from Ottawa, and the Montreal-bound train returned to Montreal carrying the transferred passengers instead of proceeding, the single track making further progress impossible. The 1913-03-11 Ottawa Journal account gives the time as ten minutes to nine and adds that passengers were delayed over two hours, with a special bringing the up-train passengers into Central Station at 1:25 a.m. | Montreal Gazette 1913-03-11(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Journal 1913-03-11(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher, same collection,...) | |
| 1919-07-30 | Big fire in Casselman. About 4 p.m., Mr. Damase Racine, member of the Legislative Assembly for the county of Russell, phoned for assistance to Ottawa, and an engine and equipment from No. 4 fire station arrived on a Grand Trunk special at 5:20 p.m. The engine and crew did marvellous work and credit is due them for practically saving the town from being completely destroyed. | Eastern Ontario Review 1919-08-01(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1921-04-25≥ | By 25 April 1921 (the issue date), the paper reported: Noel la Plante, an old resident of Casselman, was "instantly killed by a G.T.R. train near Casselman station yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock." The Eastern Ontario Review later reported that Noel Leplante, aged 75, was "struck down on Sunday afternoon by the G.T.R. Ottawa-Montreal express" while crossing "at a private crossing near the station", and that the inquest returned a verdict of accidental death with no blame against anyone. Dated by the issue: the Citizen says "yesterday afternoon" and the Review says "on Sunday afternoon" without giving a calendar date. | Ottawa Citizen 1921-04-25(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Eastern Ontario Review 1921-05-06(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1931-05-08≥ | By 8 May 1931 (the issue date), the paper reported: Mrs. Fabian Gratton, 47, of Casselman, "was struck and instantly killed by a Canadian National Railways Ottawa-Montreal passenger train" while crossing the railway bridge over the South Nation River, "early last evening"; she was "hurled 50 feet into the water below". Her sister-in-law Mrs. Andre Charbonneau and her eight-year-old son escaped by lying beside the track. The engineer was H. H. Legate and the conductor George Keeler; the coroner decided that an inquest was not necessary. | Ottawa Journal 1931-05-08(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1933-03-21≥ | By 21 March 1933 (the issue date), the paper reported: "Hundreds of passengers Ottawa-bound from Montreal were delayed several hours en route last night when the engine of the No. 1 Canadian National Railways express due here at 9.20 o'clock broke down near Castleman, Ont." A special train sent out from Ottawa at 10.45 brought the passengers in at 12.55; the stalled train reached Ottawa about three o'clock. | Ottawa Journal 1933-03-21(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1944-12-21 | Two freight trains were in a rear-end collision on a bridge about a quarter of a mile west of Casselman about 2.18 p.m.: "The caboose and two cars of a C.N.R. freight train were destroyed by fire after a second freight train had crashed into them." Both trains were eastbound; no one was hurt and traffic on the main line was disrupted. The Journal first reported two cars of an eastbound freight off the track about 2.30, one on fire; the Glengarry News said members of a work gang riding in the caboose of the first train had to jump to safety. The Journal reports a derailment where the others report a collision; taken as one event. | Ottawa Journal 1944-12-21(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Glengarry News 1944-12-22(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Citizen 1944-12-22(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1948-03-26≥ | By 26 March 1948 (the issue date), the paper reported: "The New York-Montreal-Ottawa CNR train due in The Capital at 12.45 p.m. yesterday, pulled into Union Station more than an hour and a half late at 2.20 p.m. The delay was caused by a breakdown of the huge locomotive at Casselman. Passengers waited while an engine was rushed from Ottawa and coupled onto the stranded train." | Ottawa Citizen 1948-03-26(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1949-06-30≥ | By 30 June 1949 (the issue date), the paper reported: A coroner's jury returned "a verdict of accidental death" "last night" into the level crossing accident of 21 June that killed Onesime Patenaude, 76, and Edmond Tessier, 41, both of Lemieux, Ont.: their light panel truck "was struck by a passenger train on a crossing about 200 feet from the Casselman station". | Ottawa Citizen 1949-06-30(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1963-09-16≥ | By 16 September 1963 (the issue date), the paper reported: "An Ottawa woman was injured, and three other persons escaped with only a shaking-up, when an automobile ran into the side of a freight locomotive at a CNR crossing near here Sunday afternoon." Jocelyn Dagenais, 22, was treated at Cornwall General Hospital; the car, driven by Andre Claude Lalonde of Hull, was dragged along the right of way by the slow-moving Ottawa-bound freight. | Ottawa Citizen 1963-09-16(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1964-02-13≥ | By 13 February 1964 (the issue date), the paper reported: Bernard Charlebois, 61, a retired farmer, "was killed Wednesday afternoon when struck by a train as he crossed the railway tracks near the station here"; a Montreal-Ottawa freight passing at about 40 miles an hour "knocked Mr. Charlebois 95 feet onto the station platform". The engineer was Kenneth Leathern. | Ottawa Citizen 1964-02-13(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1964-08-24≥ | By 24 August 1964 (the issue date), the paper reported: Hector Labelle, 49, of Embrum, swerved onto "the rail track which crosses the road" on County Road No. 3 about two miles from Casselman, blinded by headlights, "and jumped from his car just before" a C.N.R. passenger train "slammed into his car Sunday morning"; the train dragged the car more than half a mile. | Ottawa Citizen 1964-08-24(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1968-09-20≥ | By 20 September 1968 (the issue date), the paper reported: Hector Bray, 85, "was struck and killed by a train at a railway crossing here Thursday afternoon": he was hit by an Ottawa-bound Canadian National Railways passenger train "as he was walking across the Cartier Street tracks at 1.50 p.m." The engineer was Lloyd Henderson. | Ottawa Citizen 1968-09-20(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1968-10-28≥ | By 28 October 1968 (the issue date), the paper reported: Marcel Quesnel, 19, "escaped injury when he jumped from his stalled car seconds before it was demolished by a freight train", on Donald Street at the Canadian National Railway crossing on Friday night; the westbound train threw the car 50 feet and its damage was slight. | Ottawa Citizen 1968-10-28(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...) | |
| 1971-01-23≥ | By 23 January 1971 (the issue date), the paper reported: Damien Clement, 69, of Casselman, died after a car-train accident "Friday morning after his car was dragged 50 feet along the right of way": driving north on Cartier Street, his car "was struck by a westbound Montreal-to-Ottawa freight", an 87-car train doing 52 miles an hour. "Police said all signals and warning devices were working and they could not readily account for the car striking the train. The fatality was the second at the crossing in two years." | Ottawa Citizen 1971-01-23(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Journal 1971-01-23(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1973-07-21≥ | By 21 July 1973 (the issue date), the paper reported: Three persons "died instantly Friday and three others injured when the front of their car was torn off by a Montreal-Ottawa Canadian National passenger train", at an unprotected level crossing a mile and a half southeast of Casselman: Rock Gauthier, 42, his wife Fleurette, and Michael Tougas, 5. A fourth person, Joanne Gauthier, 5, died on Sunday. "Witnesses to the crash said the driver of the car started to cross the unprotected level crossing even though the train was sounding its whistle and flashing its headlight." The two items differ on Fleurette Gauthier's age (30 and 36). | Ottawa Citizen 1973-07-21(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Citizen 1973-07-23(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1986-03-03≥ | By 3 March 1986 (the issue date), the paper reported: "A pickup truck was scraped by a westbound VIA train in Casselman" on the weekend; "The driver drove off without waiting for police." The train, bound for Ottawa from Montreal, "stopped and returned to the scene of the accident to find that the vehicle had disappeared": "It looks like a driver went against a flashing red light and just got his rear end wiped out," said Casselman OPP Const. Langis Lebel. | Ottawa Citizen 1986-03-03(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1993-09-17≥ | By 17 September 1993 (the issue date), the paper reported: Wilmer Urquhart, 65, of Maxville, "was in hospital Thursday after his pick-up truck was hit by an Ottawa-bound VIA passenger train near Casselman": he "was stopped at a crossing on county road 3, about two kilometres west of Casselman, when the train clipped the front of the truck". He was taken by air ambulance to Ottawa General Hospital. | Ottawa Citizen 1993-09-17(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1993-10-24 | "On October 24, two Ontario Provincial Police officers were killed when their cruiser was struck by VIA's Ottawa-Montreal Train 34 at a protected crossing in Casselman." Constables Richard Jean, 23, and Alain Desforges, 30, "died at the scene": driving west on St Isidore Street at about 3:15 p.m., they attempted to cross the tracks "although red warning lights were flashing"; the Montreal-bound train dragged the cruiser half a kilometre and was held for about four hours, none of its 80 passengers injured. Investigators found no evidence they were answering an emergency call and could not say what caused the crash. The papers put Casselman 50, 60 and "50 km" east of Ottawa. The Montreal Gazette gives the date. | Montreal Gazette 1993-10-25(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Citizen 1993-10-25(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Citizen 1993-10-26(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Citizen 1993-10-27(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Citizen 1993-10-28(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1993-11-25≤ | From 25 November 1993 (the issue date), the paper announced: "CN Rail is proposing crossing barriers at an intersection in Casselman where two police officers were killed in an October train crash." Village clerk Gilles Lortie said "the plan calls for barriers at St. Isidore Street and Dollard Street", a third barrier at Cartier Street or the closure of the road being studied; the village would vote by Dec. 6. Follows the crossing crash of 24 October 1993. | Ottawa Citizen 1993-11-25(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1995-12-18≥ | By 18 December 1995 (the issue date), the paper reported: "A Casselman-area man was in hospital with serious injuries late Sunday after the car he was driving collided with a VIA passenger train in Casselman, 50 kilometres east of Ottawa": the westbound train hit his car "at a level crossing on Segault Road at 12:23 p.m." | Ottawa Citizen 1995-12-18(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 2019-10-20≥ | By 20 October 2019 (the issue date), the paper reported: "Casselman Mayor Daniel Lafleur is calling for a pilot project that would see more Via Rail trains stop in the eastern Ontario town during the morning and afternoon rush hour"; the village is "in talks with Via Rail to expand train service between the eastern Ontario community and Ottawa during morning and evening rush hour". Via said it would be discussed as part of ongoing plans to improve rail service in Ontario and Quebec. | CBC News 2019-10-20(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) |