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Caption: Something you wouldn't normally expect to see driving through Toronto: a head-on wreck between two Canadian National train on the Oakville Sub, about one mile west of Sunnyside Station. CN GP9's 4531 and 4453 heading westbound met head-on with CN RS18 3725 and GP9 4457 heading eastbound. The road in the foreground is the Gardiner Expressway, giving good access to the site. Two CN "Big Hooks" including 50397, and one CP hook were called in to clean up the wreckage, along with plenty of railway employees. A track loader and crew with shovels works to clean up spilled cargo off the roadway and rail right-of-way.
Both trailing units 4453 and 4457 were repaired and returned to service, but leading units 4531 and 3725 were damaged beyond repair and both were retired.
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Wow… I suspect the highway was closed? Wow.
I can provide a bit more detail – 4531-4453 were hauling train 409; 3725-4457 were on train 424. The precise mileage given in the CN Retirement Forms was 4.27 Oakville Sub. There actually were a couple of freight cars derailed and lying on the westbound lanes of the highway until cleanup began. Both damaged lead engines were written off the following June.
CN 50397 (1st) is an Industrial Brownhoist 250 ton wrecker, serial number 12368, built in 1957. I last captured the crane 40 years after Bill’s photo in Kamloops, BC on January 16, 2003.
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=19735
Would sure like t know what CN wrecker that is behind the wrecked locomotives.