Part 4. Mishaps along the way
Mid 19th century rail operations
were fraught with multiple forms of mishaps, some of which were
humorous in hindsight, others of which were calamitous and caused
death. The Cobourg & Peterborough Railway and its offspring
did not escape these tragedies. A few of these occurrences are
related below.
In these early days of railroading attention to the safety of limb and life was
considered to be the responsibility of the individual and not of the employer.
Personal injury accidents were common and too often attended with loss of life.
Brakeman Anthony Fox had the misfortune of being the first C&PRy
employee to be killed while on duty. At the time of his fatality
in 1855, link and pin couplers were used to join railway cars and
this union required that a brakeman position himself between the
ends of two cars to be linked together. A pin had to be lifted
and a chain link positioned so that the pin could be returned to
its rest and thereby hold the link in a secured location. While
performing this manoeuver at Harwood, Mr. Fox apparently was squeezed
between a flat car and a box car. He did not complain of any injury
at the time but several miles later intense pain compelled him
to be comforted in the passenger car. Once in Cobourg, despite
his agony, and as a testament to his personal constitution, Fox
walked to the Doctor, then continued home. Unfortunately three
days late he succumbed to his internal injuries. (Cobourg Star,
May 2, 1855)
In June 1858 brakeman George Brown became the second employee
to lose his life as a result of injuries sustained while working
for the C&PRy. Brakemen then had to jump, often while the
train was in motion, from one railway car to the next in order
to perform their braking duties. Brown, while jumping from
one car to the next, lost his footing, fell on the track, and
was run over. The car wheels stripped the flesh from his left
arm and shoulder, broke his collar bone and several ribs, and
severed his left foot from his leg. Miraculously he survived
the initial ordeal and was removed first to Dytcher’s Tavern
and then to Toronto. There he died three days later. Brown
was survived by a wife and four children. In all such cases
of injury and death the families were left destitute as there
were no accident or death benefits in those days. (Peterborough
Examiner, July 1, 1858)
Some incidents had a tinge of saturnine humour in attendance.
Cows, unfettered by fences adjacent to early railway rights of
way, held an uncanny ability of derailing the lightweight locomotives
of the era. One C&PRy locomotive suffered slight damage when
it and several bovines contested the privilege of occupying the
right of way between the rail heads. At the heady speed of six
miles per hour, and the sudden application of the hand brakes
to avoid a deadly impact, several freight cars were derailed
with slight consequent damage. The fate of the cows was not recorded.
(Cobourg Star, September 26, 1855)
Even the new railway, the Cobourg, Peterborough & Marmora Railway & Mining
Company was not immune to mishap. Celebrating the opening of the
new extension to the Marmora Iron Mines, the train full of festive
participants suffered an ignominy on the return trip while just
south of Harwood. The Cobourg World in its July 5, 1867 issue,
reported, “We regret to have to announce that after a most delightful
day at the mines, about midnight last night, just after the Cobourg
party, consisting of about 150 of our citizens, had left Harwood
for home, having succeeded half a mile on their journey, the fine
new engine, ‘Marmora’, ran over two cows which lay upon the track,
cutting them to pieces and being itself thrown from the rails,
was precipitated down an embankment of twelve feet, at the bottom
of which it now lies, upon its back, a complete wreck. Fortunately
the coupling attaching it to the tender broke, otherwise the whole
train must have shared the fate of the engine, in all probability
with the sacrifice of lives. As it was, no one has been injured.
A few of the party walked the fifteen miles home; while the bulk
returned to Harwood and will reach home as best they can.” (The
locomotive was eventually repaired and returned to service.)
A most deplorable accident befell Conductor Michael Mulhall
in the fall of 1870 near Harwood. It was customary at the time
to detach the engine from some of the cars at Summit a short
distance south of the village. This allowed the train to run
down the grade into Harwood by gravity. Mulhall had just released
the cars and was stepping away from the tender to the first car
when he missed his footing and fell to the track. The whole of
the fifteen cars passed over his body. Death was instantaneous
as his head was almost severed from his torso. Mulhall was the
oldest and most respected conductor on the line at the time of
the fatal accident. (Cobourg World, October 28, 1870)
The above incidents tell but a very brief history of the travails
and dangers of working on early Canadian railways. Unfortunately
such incidents were frequent and the lack of safety instructions
and appliances led to numerous injuries and many deaths. Despite
these dangers, railways became a vital part of the history of
this area and of Canada in general.