Words omitted from order to troop train, causing it to proceed rather than pull onto a siding.
Statistics
Trains
2
Deaths
21
Injured
61
The Canoe River train crash occurred on November 21, 1950, near Valemount in eastern British Columbia, Canada, when a westbound troop train and the eastbound Canadian National Railway (CNR) Continental Limited collided head-on. The collision killed 21 people: 17 Canadian soldiers en route to the Korean War and the two-man locomotive crew of each train.
The post-crash investigation found that the order given to the troop train differed from the intended message. Crucial words were missing, causing the troop train to proceed on its way rather than halt on a siding, resulting in the collision. A telegraph operator, Alfred John "Jack" Atherton, was charged with manslaughter; the Crown alleged that he was negligent in passing an incomplete message. His family hired his Member of Parliament, John Diefenbaker, as defence counsel. Diefenbaker joined the British Columbia bar to take the case, and obtained Atherton's acquittal.
After the accident, the CNR installed block signals on the stretch of track on which the crash occurred. The railway later realigned the main line in that area, eliminating a sharp curve that prevented crews from seeing oncoming trains. Diefenbaker's successful defence of Atherton became an asset in his political rise. A number of monuments honour the dead.
and 22 Related for: Canoe River train crash information
The CanoeRivertraincrash occurred on November 21, 1950, near Valemount in eastern British Columbia, Canada, when a westbound troop train and the eastbound...
125–129. Halliday 1997, pp. 130–135. "Railway disaster: The Spanish Rivertrain wreck". Soo Today. 22 July 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2020. Halliday...
CanoeRivertraincrash: A Canadian National Railway train carrying Korea-bound troops is given incorrect orders and collides with a passenger train at...
1950 – Two Canadian National Railway trains collide in northeastern British Columbia in the CanoeRivertraincrash; the death toll is 21, with 17 of them...
response to the North Korean invasion of South Korea. The new battalion trained in Calgary and at CFB Wainwright, before boarding the USS Private Joe P...
the worst disasters in Newfoundland history. // CanoeRivertraincrash. On 21 November 1950, a train with 388 Canadian soldiers en route to the US for...
included the Lheidli T’enneh and the Mountain Metis. In 1950, the CanoeRivertraincrash occurred south of Valemount Station. Valemount was incorporated...
claims another life in Toronto". english.people.com.cn. "Canada's worst bus crash". Montreal Gazette. April 17, 2009. Retrieved April 7, 2018. Pruden, Jana...
before another train is allowed to pass. The CanoeRivertraincrash in Canada in 1950 also involved two trains, controlled by telegraphed orders, authorized...
incident was compared to a September 2016 traincrash at Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey, wherein a train also overran a bumper block. The National...
train slows down enough for passengers to get close-up looks and get a photo op. South of Valemount, the train passes a memorial to the CanoeRiver crash...
water table four years after the crash. Notable people from the Onaping Falls area include Olympian Joe Derochie (Canoe, 1960 Rome), National Hockey League...
Huron River in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Gallup Park is the busiest park in the Ann Arbor parks system, and features multiple amenities including a canoe livery...
riverside communities along the route, traders come out by canoe and small boat alongside the river barges and transfer goods on the move. Most waterway routes...
River. Trying to transport their extensive fur collection down the Sweetwater and North Platte Rivers, they found after a near-disastrous canoecrash...
constructed on the river, including Fort Edmonton (1795) and Rocky Mountain House, the uppermost post reached by canoe navigation. The river's importance continued...
Australian traincrashes". The Daily Telegraph. AAP. 6 June 2007. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. "Eleven Die in Western Australian Crash". AP NEWS...
deaths". The New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 7 January 2012. "Hot air balloon crash near Carterton kills 11". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 7 January 2012. "Cyclone...
deaths by motorcycle crash List of professional cyclists who died during a race List of racing drivers who died in racing crashes Lists of people by cause...
of the gorge. The other four head towards the upper course of the river in a canoe. However, on their way there somebody interferes with them. Elsewhere...