Photograph of the disaster by A. Bazinet & Co Montreal[1]
Details
Date
June 29, 1864; 159 years ago (1864-06-29) 1:20 a.m.
Location
Beloeil, Quebec
Country
Province of Canada
Line
Grand Trunk Railway
Incident type
Swing bridge open
Cause
Signal passed at danger
Statistics
Passengers
354–475
Deaths
99
Injured
100
The Beloeil train disaster occurred on June 29, 1864, at the present-day town of Beloeil, Quebec. A passenger train fell through an open swing bridge into the Richelieu River after the crew failed to obey a stop signal. The widely accepted death toll is 99 people.[2]
The disaster remains the worst railway accident in Canadian history.[3][4]
^A sketch based on this photograph appears in magazine "Harper's Weekly" July 23, 1864 p.477
^"Grand Trunk Railway of Canada". Historica Canada. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
^Halliday, Hugh A. (18 September 2014). "Railway Disasters". Historica Foundation of Canada. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
^
Thompson, John (July–August 1999). "The Immigrant Special, June 29, 1864" (PDF). Canadian Rail #471. pp. 91–110. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
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