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By Al Sholund
Port Moody resident and Freedom of the City honouree |
From the Spring 1999 Focus Newsletter
On display at the Port Moody Station Museum is a train bell. It was received from long-time resident Ernie Morgan, a retiree of Flavelle Cedar. Ernie found the bell in 1962 when a ten foot deep ditch was being dug for the main sewer line on Esplanade St. in front of Flavelle Cedar near the CPR line. The mystery bell was found at least six feet below the surface. Upon detailed examination, no identifying marks could be found on the bell.
It was known that a terrible accident had taken place in 1913. A cattle train, proceeding east from Vancouver under full steam, entered the Canadian Pacific Lumber Co. site through a main line switch which had inadvertently been left open. The huge CPL mill (no connection to CPR) was located just west of what is presently the Flavelle Cedar site. What followed was a catastrophe.
The steam engine pulling the train plowed into a string of box cars on the mill railway siding. Unfortunately a number of immigrant employees were piling lumber inside the cars or were working alongside. Tragically fourteen of the workers were killed and many others injured. Subsequently, a memorial service and cremation was held at Pigeon Cove which is located on the Eastern shore of Burrard Inlet.
On checking the files at the museum for this story, this ghostly (double exposed) picture of the engine was found. You can tell by the photo that the engine had been totally demolished during the collision. It is apparent that during the massive cleanup operation following the accident, the bell fell off the body of the engine when it was being moved and became buried until it was finally recovered from the ditch by Ernie forty-nine years later. |
