Saturday 15 January 2022

Car vs. Train at Cataraqui - August 31, 1951

 

Once again, photos meet news! George Lilley photographed his fair share of car vs. train collisions. Usually at night, with flash equipment! This Queen's University Archives image (top photo) caught my eye because of the interaction of police, a member of the locomotive crew, and bystanders. Looks like he's giving a statement. 
Documenting the scene at all angles, it's Lilley's last photo (below) that made the Whig on August 31, 1951. Non-fatal, the article below gives the details of the 10 p.m., August 30 incident. The Heyman vehicle was stopped at the Princess Street level crossing (now an overpass) in Cataraqui. The Eves vehicle collided with it, pushing it clear of the tracks, and the Eves car's two occupants were directly in line of an onrushing steam-powered westbound freight train barrelling towards them at 50 mph. Imagine the sheer terror! The car was demolished, carried one-third mile down the track, impaled on the cowcatcher of CNR 5158. In fact, its coupler struck the driver's side door directly!
Reproduction and newsprint ink did not do justice to Mr Lilley's photography. This photo (below) shows CNR 5158 at left, the unfortunate auto (not the fortunate occupants, though!), and an eastbound diesel-powered freight with CN 9046 (only one month old!) on the other track. Perhaps this train was the one used to un-impale the car with chains.
It was great to have this photos-to-news correlation. The article adds additional information. The statement-giving CN engineer was A.G. Bishop of Belleville, almost back to his home terminal when misfortune struck. Lucky Roy Eves was married the next day; his passenger sister two weeks later! The 'people' photo was so cropped to fit into the newsy page that it lost lots of its drama. 
Interestingly, Mr Lilley returned to the scene the next day, taking a couple of contextual photos, giving us a nice view of a steam-powered westbound freight passing the current site of Kingston's VIA station. That wooden house is on the north side of the tracks, apparently near the Counter Street crossing, also now an overpass!
I enlarged the view of the negative (above) to show the train to advantage. The wider shot is below:

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