New book revisits deadly 1942 Almonte train wreck

An eastern Ontario historian has released a new book documenting an Ottawa Valley train wreck that became one of the deadliest in Canadian history.

A train carrying soldiers to Halifax crashed into a passenger train at the station in Almonte, Ont. on Dec. 27, 1942.

Thirty-eight people died in the collision and more than 150 people were injured, according to Jaime Bramburger, the author of "Sudden Impact – The Almonte Train Wreck of 1942."

Almost all the victims died within 24 hours of the crash while others died in the following weeks, Bramburger said in an interview with CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning.

Bramburger said articles written over the years about the crash did not delve into the stories of passengers, nor the investigation into what caused the collision.

This photo was taken the day after the train crash. (Submitted by North Lanark Regional Museum)

The military train crashed into the passenger train from behind, destroying two rear wooden coaches and stopping halfway through the third last coach, Bramburger said. The weather on the night of the crash was a mix of sleet, snow and freezing rain.

"The impact was sudden and devastating…the scene was chaos," he said.

Residents opened up their businesses and homes to treat the injured and set up temporary morgues — an "incredible community response to a devastating incident in the middle of [the Second World War and] in the middle of Christmas holidays," he added.

A life-changing crash for survivors

In researching and writing his book, Bramburger learned about the life-changing impacts the crash had on survivors — some of whom kept mementos of the disaster for decades.

One of those victims was Thomas Lynn, who was 19 at the time of the crash and, as Bramburger tells it, eager to serve in the military.

One month before the accident, the Royal Canadian Air Force informed Lynn he was being accepted as a firefighter with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Story continues

The crash left Lynn's leg badly broken and stopped him from taking on the new position, Bramburger said.

Lynn lived to 73. After he died, his family found his train ticket in his wallet.

"They didn't know he had been holding on to it all those years," Bramburger said.

This photo shows the military train that was carrying the soldiers on their way to Halifax. (Submitted by North Lanark Regional Museum)

While the train tracks and station are now gone, a local historical society in Almonte has memorialized the crash by inscribing the victims' names, along with a description of the collision, onto two rocks.

"You just have to read the names on that stone to understand what a significant historical event this was in that small community," Bramburger said.