Names and numbers
Saint Polycarpe Junction
date unknown
Dimensions
as reportedSources on this page
History
8 facts
| Date | Statement | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1898-12-04 | A CPR freight train pitched into a CAR freight train at St. Polycarpe Junction yesterday morning and wrecked an engine, a number of freight cars and the station house at the junction. ... six loaded cars belonging to the CAR were damaged. One car loaded with hay was completely demolished and two others loaded with structural iron for the Hawkesbury pulp mills were very badly damaged. None of the CAR train hands were hurt. (Ottawa Citizen: 'Sunday morning at 3 o'clock a C.P.R. train going east ran into a Canada Atlantic freight which was crossing the diamond ... struck the station, moving it about three feet ... probably caused by the failure of the working of the C.P.R. signals.') 'Yesterday' relative to the 5 December issue; Sunday was 4 December. The Star says the station home was wrecked and about ten freight cars. A similar collision at St. Polycarpe is recorded for December 1897. | Ottawa Journal 1898-12-05(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Citizen 1898-12-05(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Montreal Star 1898-12-05(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1899-08-09 | The express train leaving Montreal at 9.40 and due in Ottawa at 12.10, jumped the track at St. Polycarpe, near Coteau. ... George McCuaig, of Canal road, Ottawa East, locomotive fireman, was crushed to death beneath his engine, and one of the passengers killed outright. Three other passengers died shortly after the accident. The train was composed of an engine, baggage car, second class car, one first class car, two parlor cars and an I.C.R. coach and a sleeper. Only the last two cars remained on the track. ... The part of the road where the accident happened is perfectly level, without ditches, and covered with 72 pound rails. Killed outright: George McCuaig (fireman) and one unknown/named passenger; three (later more) died of injuries: Edward Starrs, Wilson O'Connor, Joseph Rocheleau and his daughter. Injured: engineer Robert Orr and several passengers. The train was the No. 2 Montreal-Ottawa express, engineer Robert Orr, conductor James Clarke. | Ottawa Citizen 1899-08-09(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...),Ottawa Journal 1899-08-09(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1899-08-10 | At 4.30 in the afternoon a jury was empaneled by Coroner Edward McMahon of Montreal. The remains of the seven victims of the wreck having been viewed, and the evidence of the train hands and others taken, after thirty minutes' deliberation, the jury brought in a verdict censuring the company for running trains at a high rate of speed over a roadbed not suitable for such purposes. The cause of death of the seven victims was given as scalding. ... Mr. Thomas Stapledon, the station agent at Coteau ... thought the accident was due to the presence of some obstacle in the frog, which caused the engine to jump the rails. The final death toll reached ten: an eighth victim, Contrand Rocheleau, died 10 August; a ninth, Ellen Ryan (per the Almonte Gazette of 18 Aug); a tenth, Ellen McDougall, died 23 August (Lanark Era). | Ottawa Citizen 1899-08-10(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1899-08-23 | The tenth victim of the railway disaster at St. Polycarpe dies at the Water street hospital, Ottawa on Wednesday evening last, in the person of Miss Ellen McDougall, of Maniwaki. See the 9-10 August facts on the wreck itself and its inquest. | Lanark Era 1899-08-23(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1907-11-12 | KILLED IN COLLISION. Engine backed into Gravel Trains at St. Polycarpe. By a rear collision at 11.30 at St. Polycarpe, Que., Fireman A.E. Pope lost his life. Two G.T.R. gravel trains were working at St. Polycarpe Junction when, near the station, engine No. 851 backed into engine 862. Three cars were wrecked and Pope, who was between the tender and engine No. 862, was crushed and died almost at once. The crews of both ballast trains were Montreal men; the first engine, with crew, was going to Coteau for repairs. Traffic was not delayed on the line, the three cars being cleared away by two o'clock. | Ottawa Citizen 1907-11-13(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1907-11-13 | The coroner's jury decided to acquit Engineer Rudolphe Vallee of criminal responsibility in connection with the ballast train collision at St. Polycarpe in which Fireman Pope, of Montreal, was killed. Vallee explained that his engine was going tender first; his lamps had been giving him trouble, having gone out several times between Coteau and St. Polycarpe, causing him to lose his bearings, and, along with anxiety over his gauge indicating low water, he missed the switch, and a collision was inevitable before he realized what had occurred. This frank statement was largely responsible for the jury's decision to excuse him. The Ottawa Citizen of 1907-11-14 reported the same session as the jury 'practically' absolving the engineer of engine 851. | Montreal Gazette 1907-11-15(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1911-10-06 | The G.T.R. train from Montreal was about twenty minutes late yesterday as a result of the derailment of a freight train at St. Polycarpe Junction last night. The freight, which was bound for Ottawa, ran into an open switch. No real damage was done, however, to either engine or cars, and it is not yet known how the accident occurred. | Ottawa Citizen 1911-10-06(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) | |
| 1918-05-08 | The derailment of a couple of freight cars at St. Polycarpe Junction caused a tie-up in traffic on the G.T.R. line, and the Ottawa-bound passenger train from Montreal was held up for over two hours, not arriving until after 2 o'clock. So far as could be learned, no one was injured in the derailment. | Ottawa Journal 1918-05-08(Transcribed by Colin J. Churcher in 'Local Railway...) |