St-Hilare Train Disaster
Canada's deadliest wreck occurred at St-Hilaire, Québec, at 1:10 AM on 29 June 1864.
A Grand Trunk train with 458 passengers, most of them newly arrived German and Polish immigrants, was unable to stop for an open swing bridge over the Rivière Richelieu. The train plunged into the gap and the coaches piled on top of one another. Estimates of the deaths ran as high as 99, with another 100 injuries.
Near Beloeil, a bridge crossed the Richelieu River. On June 28, 1864, there was a terrible railway accident on this bridge; it would be the worst catastrophe of its kind in the history of Canada. Around 1:30 in the morning, a train made up of a locomotive, a tender, two baggage cars and 11 wagons filled with passengers, cruised speedily ahead. Just as the train was about to cross the bridge, the locomotive engineer noticed that it had been raised to let boats on the river pass through. Too late! The train fell into the Richelieu River. At least 99 people lost their lives.
On June 29, 1864 a Grand Trunk train carrying between 354 and 475 passengers, many of them German and Polish immigrants, were travelling from Quebec City to Montreal.
At around 1:20 a.m. local time the train was approaching a swing bridge known as the Beloeil Bridge on the Richelieu River. The swing bridge had been opened to allow the passage of five barges and a steamer ship. A red light a mile ahead of the bridge signalled to the train that the crossing was open and it needed to slow down. However the light was not acknowledged by the conductor, Thomas Finn, or the engineer, William Burnie, and the train continued towards the bridge.
At 1:20 a.m. the train came onto the bridge and fell through an open gap. The engine and eleven coaches fell through the gap one after another on top of each other crushing a passing barge. The train sank into an area of the river with a depth of 10 feet. 99 people aboard the train were killed and 100 more were injured. Among the dead was Thomas Finn and the fireman aboard the train. The engineer was slightly hurt in the accident but was able to escape the wreck. The disaster was blamed on the conductor and engineer for failing to follow the standing order to stop before crossing the bridge. The engineer, who had only recently been hired, claimed that he was not familiar with the route and that he did not see the signal.
