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Derailments and crashes have been an unfortunate part of railroading since the very beginning of that technology. Fortunately, they are quite rare.Ěý

Wellington County has suffered its share of them during the century and a half that they have been operating here. A few locations, though, seemed to suffer more than their share of them.

The vanished hamlet of Gourock in Guelph Township, and the stretch of track north of Marden, torn up in 1989, are two locations that have seen multiple incidents. But leading them by a wide margin is the stretch of track between Guelph and Rockwood, and particularly the stretch immediately east of the Guelph city limits.

That line was built by the Grand Trunk Railway as a section of its main line from Toronto to Sarnia, and opened as far as Guelph in 1856. Specifications called for high quality work and good drainage.Ěý

The contractors, a firm headed by Casimir Gzowski and A.T. Galt, son of the founder of the Royal City, executed the work well. In the early years it was spared the frequent derailments and crashes due to broken rails and heaving roadbed that plagued cheaply built lines.

During the 1860s there were three fatal accidents near Rockwood, though none involved trains. The track was the straightest and shortest route between Rockwood and Guelph, and it was free of the mud that made the roads of the 1860s quagmires in the spring and fall of each year.

Consequently, many people used the track as a walking trail. A bridge over a road west of Rockwood had widely spaced ties between the rails. At night, this resulted in a pitfall for pedestrians, who would step into thin air and fall to the roadway below.

Dr. Thomas Parker was a Guelph doctor who was also the MP for Centre Wellington. On Oct. 18, 1867 he was called to visit a sick child in Rockwood. He had intended to stay there the night, but changed his plans, announcing that he would walk back to Guelph that night. Aware of the dangerous bridge, which was virtually invisible in the darkness and had already resulted in the deaths of two men, he told the parents that he would take the road.

After a short distance he changed his mind due to the mud, and headed for the tracks. Neighbouring farmers found him, semi conscious and unable to move, under the bridge the next morning. Dr. Parker died from internal injuries six days later. The Grand Trunk subsequently added additional ties to the trackage on the bridge to prevent further deaths.

Less than a year later there was a major derailment farther west, near the town limits of Guelph, and near what is now Victoria Road. The locomotive of a freight train jumped the tracks and rolled down the embankment. The momentum of the train smashed a half dozen freight cars, scattering merchandise everywhere. One of the cars was filled with brown sugar, and word soon got around. Half the schoolboys in Guelph swarmed over the wreck to get some of the sugar. The astute ones took some sugar home, to placate mothers who had warned them to stay away from the wreck.

The 1868 wreck did not result in major injuries, but it did tie up what was then the Grand Trunk’s main line for two days.

A far more serious wreck occurred 11 years later, half way between Guelph and Rockwood, and within sight of Maloney’s Tavern on the York Road. Somehow, train orders got mixed up or ignored. On the afternoon of Sept. 26 an eastbound freight train, with 15 loaded cars, left Guelph at the same time as another freight train, with about 20 cars, pulled out of Rockwood westbound. A sharp curve in the track obscured vision, and the trains crews did not see danger ahead until it was too late.

The trains were travelling at about 20 miles per hour, but those were the days before air brakes, and stopping a train took more time than there was available.Ěý

The engineers pushed their locomotives into reverse, yanked the whistle cords in desperation, then jumped, as did all the other crew members. One brave brakeman on the eastbound jumped to the tops of the cars and applied the handbrakes on each car, and barely escaped injury when the trains hit one another.

The long whistle blasts from two directions emptied the tavern, and a good half dozen men witnessed the crash. All said that the locomotives seemed to heave at one another like a couple of monstrous animals. Freight cars, made mostly of wood, crashed into one another and splintered into kindling.

About a dozen cars were destroyed, along with most of the freight, including a full carload of crockery immediately behind the westbound engine. Moments after the impact the boiler of one of the locomotives exploded with an earth-shaking boom, scattering pieces of metal in all directions. A piece of one engine, with the entire smokestack attached, sailed between 200 and 300 yards.

Bravely and somewhat foolishly, the crews and bystanders started to salvage what they could. They got most of the flour out of two boxcars, and some barrels of coal oil out of another. By then, the locomotives had set fire to the debris, and the flames soon reached another car of coal oil, shipped from Col. Nathan Higinbotham’s refinery in Guelph. Soon the conflagration outdid the best May 24 bonfire.

As the flames advanced, a crew member noticed a man wedged between the sixth and seventh cars of the eastbound train. Racing against the advancing flames, rescuers hacked away with axes to extricate him. The man was a tramp who had been noticed in Guelph the previous day. He gave his name as George Brackett of Jefferson, Iowa.

The train crews put him on an improvised stretcher and took him to Guelph. He died a few days later of massive internal injuries.

Cleanup work began before the fire had burned out. Both locomotives had been wrecked beyond repair; the Grand Trunk cannibalized their carcasses for spare parts.Ěý

Officials put the loss that afternoon at about $75,000, equivalent to at least three million in today’s dollars. The train crews and the agents at Guelph and Rockwood had a lot of explaining to do over the mixed up orders that day.

A few decades ago pieces of crockery could still be found at the site. No doubt there are still plenty of them for those who know where to look.

A quarter century passed before there was another major crash on this line. At 1:45am on the morning of April 9, 1904, two freight trains collided head on at what was known as Trainor’s Cut, about a mile and a half east of Guelph. The cause, like that in the 1879 wreck, was a mix-up in orders.

(Next week: A flurry of train wrecks)

*This column was originally published in the Wellington Advertiser on Feb. 4, 2005.

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I just rolled my eyes, ignored him and moved on with my day. But then I heard about the petition – signed by 900 residents presumably not inebriated – presented to Minto 91´ó»ĆŃĽ calling for “neutral” public spaces.

The petition is vaguely worded and does not specifically mention Pride banners or rainbow crosswalks. I suspect this was done purposely to garner more signatures of support. In fact, several people have come forward to say they were duped into signing a document they were told was about “safety.”

Clearly, support for the petition has been exaggerated by its proponents – by how much we may never know.Ěý

“This has nothing to do with hate or discrimination – this is about rights,” one petition organizer told Minto 91´ó»ĆŃĽ.Ěý

Then why deceive people? And how can a crosswalk or a banner possibly infringe on anyone’s rights? It’s nonsense. Also, just because someone doesn’t think their own actions are hateful or discriminatory, doesn’t mean that won’t be the end result for others.

A sudden, unquenchable desire for “neutral” spaces is surely not the true impetus for this petition.

As the editor of two newspapers covering Wellington County, I know that every June I’ll receive calls and emails objecting to the raising of Pride flags at schools or other public properties. The complaints always start out with concerns about flag etiquette, fairness or “neutrality,” but if I keep them talking long enough the complainants always reveal their true feelings about the Pride flag and the community it represents.Ěý

One man emailed me in 2020 to cancel delivery of his newspaper due to all the coverage we were giving Black Lives Matter protests and 2SLGBTQIA+ events (of courseĚý that’s not how he described either topic). His email actually concluded with this revealing and supposedly rhetorical question: “Why can’t we just go back to the way things were?”

Whether they admit it or not, I suspect the people who organized the Minto petition, and many who signed it, may share that same sentiment.

I don’t get it. Not once in my entire life, even as a dumb kid, have I been upset about the raising of rainbow flags. Like every other straight person, I’ve never been subjected to hate, discrimination and bullying (or worse) because of my sexuality. That’s the difference.

Ironically, the only thing proven by petitions like the one presented to Minto 91´ó»ĆŃĽ last week is that Pride flags and events are necessary – vital even – for the foreseeable future.

The post Live and let live appeared first on Wellington Advertiser.

It’s his domain and as such he is particular, fussy and bossy. Such a Leo (I say that with love, but like, chill out dude).Ěý

But what kind of partner would I be if I didn’t offer to help? This rural property is our home and our business. We’re in this together. Besides, I’m not a fair weather gal. I’m borderline handy.Ěý

Okay, well, at least I’m super helpful. Did I mention keen?Ěý Positive too. Put me in, coach.

I’m not sure if it was a sympathy-vote-of-confidence, or an “anything to make you leave me alone” chore, but the Carpenter delegated to me a task that even I couldn’t mess up: raking. (Or could I?)

I’m on day three of this task. Day three. We don’t even cut the grass and I’m still out there making mini piles, like little hay stacks. Raking affords me a dangerous amount ofĚý time to think.

It brings to mind a university English class where we learned about the four stages of conflict in a plot: person vs. person; person vs. self; person vs. society, and person vs. nature. Raking brings about all of these conflicts. Let’s discuss.

The Carpenter gave me this task as a test. I’ll be darned if I’m quitting this exercise though. The Carpenter wants me to. I know he does.Ěý

It’s a twisted game we play with one another. Truth or dare. Is it true you can’t handle manual labour? I dare you to try. And for reasons I’m sure a therapist would have a field day with, I’m as determined as ever to prove myself not only capable, but exceptional. Person vs. person. Kelly gets a gold star.

Raking is boring. It just is. Same thing over and over. Person vs. self. So I have to get creative. I draft stories in my mind. I psycho-anayze my life choices. I converse with the chickens, who show up to kick my grass piles about. I secretly believe they like the Carpenter more than me and he’s sent them out to disrupt my progress. He would. They would.Ěý

Nothing bugs me more than, well, the bugs. This brings me to person vs. nature. I don’t know what those tiny bugs are that fly directly into the corners of your eyes, dart into your mouth and sometimes, wander up your nostrils, but they make raking most unpleasant. Bug spray isn’t a deterrent for these flying tyrants, it’s more of a dare.Ěý

I spend a good deal of time slapping myself, or making frantic hand gestures to move these creatures away from my face, but that just encourages them to bite. Long sleeves, long pants, long socks in high boots, a tight hood and gloves; sexy. Suddenly, I miss January.

Person vs. society in relation to raking is easy. People are very judgy about other people’s lawns. We are oddly obsessed with grass – ours and everyone else’s. It’s all about appearances. If anyone drove up the lane and saw me flailing my arms in self-defence, they’d judge.Ěý

The struggle is real, guys.Ěý

Ah, but the lawn looks great. It really does. I love this place. Until Thursday when we get to do this all over again.

I wish you a happy, safe Victoria Day long weekend, everyone.Ěý

Rake in the fun.

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Twilight of Democracy – The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism had sat on our shelf for months. It, along with other such titles of similar sentiment, recommended on one of our favourite Sunday morning news shows, suggests the best days of democracy are behind us. The theory is we are plunging into a time where “strongmen” (in the poorest sense) are taking over and the public is unaware.

We have no secrets when it comes to our times dealing with Americans abroad. Listening is far better than talking or offering opinions on that country’s horribly polarized politics. What we picked up in casual conversations was instructive but, in the end, not at all surprising.Ěý

The vast majority of those chatting poolside and at various receptions have made the conscientious choice to avoid politics. Impatience, distrust, incompetence and lack of inspiration are several factors in choosing to unplug. Add in some talking heads and opinions designed to entertain rather than inform, and we can see plenty of people throwing up their arms in disgust. But, that is how government gets worse and that is how authoritarian operatives take root.

The least surprising point that several guests mentioned was how shallow the pool of candidates for office has become. In the U.S. they have President Biden and former president Trump – in Canada we have Prime Minister Trudeau and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre. Are we to believe these are the best and brightest minds forging the future of democracy, or are they merely managing its decline? Where does wisdom and experience enter the conversation, let alone competence to manage such an unwieldy organization that is the federal government?

A functioning democracy takes work. To meet with success, a free press is a necessity, and an engaged public is paramount.

Let’s all do our part.

Long weekend ahead

Most residents find themselves in a predicament this coming weekend. To vacation or work is the question.

With an unusually wet spring, gardeners and farmers alike are well behind this year. Very few windows of extended sun to work land up and plant are to be found, but hopefully this weekend everyone gets a chance to make good things happen on their property.

Whether one chooses to work or take advantage of a long weekend, we hope people make good choices while travelling. Recognize though that people are busy and that includes the farm community, which shares the roads with travelers. As tempting as a pass might be due to agricultural equipment holding up traffic, be certain of that choice. Similarly, farmers should think a little too, when it comes to navigating between fields on major roads and peak traffic times. Safety concerns everyone.

Here’s to a tragedy-free weekend – enjoy it.

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