Journal I

Initial research stage. I talked to many people this last month trying to find out if anybody knew of any salvage efforts. No one I have talked to could prove to me that it has been taken out of the river. Time to get the ball rolling!

This story will intrigue most of you who have a thing for local historical events. This article won’t give you all the answers pertaining to locomotive No. 508 but will at least make you aware of its past existence and its colorful history.

Last fall I received Margaret Marceau’s book entitled “Grand Falls Yesterdays” for my birthday. Margaret Marceau was fond of Grand Falls history and dedicated much of her life documenting historical events in the area. Needless to say it’s a very addictive book for people interested in our Town’s past. It can be purchased for only $25 either by clicking here or in Grand Falls at the Merritt Press, Lucky Luke's & Dave's Mini Mart stores. I came upon one very interesting event that occurred back in the year 1900. Mind you there are plenty of eventful moments described in the book but this specific one caught my eye. When I came to the Railroad section of the book, I saw a picture of an old collapsed railway bridge over the St.-John River. What was interesting about this photo was that there was a train on it at the time of the accident! This photo showed most of the train submerged with the remainder dangling from the top of the pier.

A couple of weeks ago (January 2003) a co-worker and I were talking to a couple of Department Of Transportation (DOT) inspectors and we started speaking about old trains. I had the book in my truck so I went to get it. I wanted to show them the photo of the collapsed bridge thinking they might find it interesting. I mentioned that some of the local rumors suggest it was never salvaged and still laid at the bottom of the St.-John River. I also told them that a local resident reported that two men were diving and exploring the bottom of the river in search of it a couple years ago. He even went on to say that before they left, they had found it. The bridge he was referring to isn’t the one that is currently being used as a walk / snowmobile trail. This older bridge was located closer to the dam than the current one. This bridge crossed the river approximately where the town’s municipal garage stands on one side and behind the new Canadian Tire store, at the river’s edge, on the other side. One of the DOT inspectors also mentioned that a huge barge was coming to the area this summer. The barge is needed in order to complete the work currently being done on the new Trans Canada Highway bridge crossing the St.-John River. We all agreed it would be nice to see the old locomotive taken out of the River and perhaps even restored as a tourist attraction (if applicable). The barge could possibly be available for salvaging the locomotive because of its close proximity several hundred meters up river. A barge of this capacity with a 250 ton crane doesn't come along every year.

I first needed to find out a few answers before proceeding. 1) Is that locomotive still there or was it salvaged? 2) If it is still there, is salvaging it worth pursuing? I tackled my second question first. I needed to know if this was going to intrigue some of the town’s more influential people in order to stand any chance of materializing. Question 1) on the other hand was going to require a lot more time and effort in order to answer. I talked to about a dozen people over the last few days wanting to know from them what they thought of this idea so far. I told them of my plans to find out the facts of the event and also asked them if needed would they help me form a committee dedicated in trying to raise money for salvaging and perhaps even restoring it. I’m glad to say that all of the people I've approached have been fully cooperative and accepted to help me. Most of them were also unaware of this accident because it happened 103 years ago. Now that question 2) was out of the way, I decided to attack my first question. Are those “stories” true or false? It should be noted that there were also reports from some residents, stating that the locomotive was probably removed from the river, but which ones are fact and which are fiction?

The more I read about the accident the more interesting it became. The following was taken from of Margaret’s article, which contain some extra text that did not make it to the printing table for reasons of cost.

“We paused for several minutes in our stroll along the beach to look at the cribwork and abutments of the old railway bridge. Until that moment I hadn’t realized that the railway bridge was not always where it is now, though I had vaguely noted that in old pictures of the town, the railway bridge seemed much nearer. Several people had remarked to me that the bridge actually collapsed twice, so the other day when I had a spare moment I looked it up. The railway reached Grand Falls in 1877 and work on this first bridge was completed the following year. It was of course at that time the New Brunswick Railway. The first bridge collapse was in 1896 when part of it washed away with the spring freshet in April. Rebuilding was completed by midsummer and I believe at this time the site chosen was slightly up river with a firmer rock base, though the river at the new site was slightly wider than the one originally chosen.

Four years later the bridge collapsed again.” At this point she quotes the following from The story of old N.B. Railways. “On the 21^st of June, 1900, the bridge over the St.-John River at Grand Falls fell when the train from Edmundston was crossing. The train crashed into twenty feet of water. The engineer was Walter Matthews; fireman, William McCluskey; brakeman, Gabriel Poitras; Baggageman, Archille Pelletier; and the conductor was Charles Henderson. The locomotive was CPR No. 508. The following account of the accident appeared in the Railway news, June 28^th, 1900:

The terrible accident which occurred at Grand Falls, N.B. on Thursday by the giving way of the CPR railway bridge has so far, we are happy to state, been unattended by loss of life, although Hiram I. Smith, traveler for T. McAvity and Sons, Saint John, James McKenna, traveling passenger agent of the CPR and conductor Henderson of the CPR train went through the bridge were very seriously injured.

There were six passengers in the car at the time of the accident: Hiram Smith; James McKenna;J. O”Neil, an Englishman who is buying lumber in New Brunswick; Dr. C.A. Kirkpatrick of Woodstock; Miss Kierstead of Machias, Me., who was returning home from school; and Harry Henderson, the auditor of the Dominion Express Co. The train which broke through the bridge was made up of seven freight, one first class, and a combination baggage car which went down with the broken span. The locomotive with Engineer Matthews and Fireman McCluskey in the cab sank to the bottom. Neither of them knew how they escaped, but did so almost without a scratch. Mr. McKenna is one of the most seriously injured, one of his arms and one finger are broken, and he is hurt internally, but at the last report was improving.

Smith was severely crushed but no bones broken. Miss Kierstead escaped with a scratched hand. Dr. Kirkpatrick had a cut head, Mr. O’Neil had his left side injured and an arm and ankle sprained. The river where the accident occurred is twenty feet deep and the level of the bridge twenty five feet above water. Friday night about 10 o’clock a CPR engine with crew left Temiscouata Railway to Edmundston and from there over the CPR to the bridge. This engine will assist in transfer of passengers and freight at the Edmundston side of the bridge and assist in raising the wreckage.

I was told at the time by Ralph Kirkpatrick that there was a seventh passenger on the train, presumably unknown to the others. He was a tramp that had hitched a ride and at first, on finding himself in the water, did not dare cry for help for fear of being discovered. He was lucky enough to get hold of timber from the train’s cargo, but as he was carried down river toward the falls, one of his fears overcame the other. He began to cry for help and was rescued before he reached the brink of the falls. Undoubtedly, it being June, the rush of water was less than it would have been earlier in the spring when nothing might have saved him”

So already there is mention of salvage efforts but why did Margaret Marceau find nothing on it. Back in 1900 such a retrieval project would certainly have been of interest to local residents or at least documented somewhere for her to discover. Apparently Margaret could never find out if the locomotive was removed from the river or not. Could it be that plans to salvage locomotive No. 508 were in the works but after further inspection of the damage and the complexity of such work, it was scrapped for cost and/or feasibility reasons and left there? Back in those days, heavy equipment necessary to salvage a 35 ton (77,000lbs) locomotive wasn’t easily available like it is today. Furthermore, how did they get it out even if they had such equipment? No one in their right minds would set up a crane on the edge of a collapsed span to retrieve a considerably damaged locomotive and risk causing another disaster. Did they drag it out to shore and if so, with what?

So it would seem that the next logical step would be to try to contact somebody from the CPR archives that might be able to assist in my search. After a few hours of searching the internet for contact names and phone numbers I found a CPR corporate historian listed on the website and contacted him via phone in Calgary. I asked him to search historical document for locomotive No. 508. He did confirm to me, by fax, that the locomotive in question had indeed served in this area.

He writes: “Here’s what we know of locomotive No. 508: The 4-4-0 standard type locomotive was built in 1885 at Manchester locomotive Works in Manchester, New Hampshire for the New Brunswick Railway (NBR) as their locomotive No. 34. After CPR took over the NBR in a 990 year lease, July 1, 1890, CPR renumbered the locomotive to No. 508 in September 1890. CPR must have fished the locomotive out of the river, because it continued to serve CPR until being disposed (likely scrapped) in February 1910. But this only after it was modified and renumbered as CPR locomotive No. 62 in November 1908. We have the locomotive assignments for July 31, 1904. Locomotive No. 508 was assigned to and maintained out of Edmundston, N.B.”.

I started thinking that maybe a hundred year old document could be false. It might have been locomotive No. 503 or some kind of typo like that. I called him back when I got home that night and this time asked him to look for local locomotives of that era which were scrapped in 1900. He did find one that had been scrapped in 1901. This could perhaps correlate with our sunken locomotive if they had plans on retrieving it but abandoned the idea later on and officially scrapped it in their 1901 records. This would explain why Margaret did not find any documentation on the event.

I also learned that in British Columbia there is a sunken locomotive in a lake. CPR records show it as being scrapped and not lost or abandoned. The level of detail pertaining to information of this sort was not recorded back then. Another thing to mention is that locomotive No. 508 shows no records of such an incident (1900 bridge collapse) in CPR records. Is it still underwater in the St.-John River or not? This is why I decided to inform local residents by writing this story of my findings. Perhaps somebody will recall the event (unlikely) and/or might have valuable information to solve the mystery. If this story goes nowhere from here, it will at least have informed local people of this event which occurred right here in Grand Falls, N.B.

Bernard Lord (New Brunswick Premier) is in town. He gets a free copy of Margaret's book and all the research I have gathered to date on the Locomotive story. The book copy was donated by the Grand Falls Historical Society. I just wanted Mr. Lord to be aware of this historical event and what my intentions are if I find the locomotive.

I arranged a meeting to meet Andy Savoy before Parliament sessions resume in Ottawa. I also gave Mr. Savoy a copy of Margaret's book with all the same information I had given to Mr. Lord the week before.

Locomotive 508 story is printed in the "Victoria County Record" and "le Madawaska" newspapers.

I have been in contact with Karl Butler for the past few weeks now. Karl is a professor at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton in the Geology department. He was referred to me by Daryl Demerchant (my boss) as being potentially interested in helping me out. A magnetic survey of the river at the broken span area (old bridge) would help detect any remnants of heavy metal debris (Locomotive? .... Cars? .... Bridge deck?). I wanted to know if the magnetic survey could be done on the ice and if so...could I borrow a magnetometer from them before the ice breaks up?

Karl was intrigued by the project and agreed to help by lending me an instrument for a few weeks. If this was going to materialize, there was no time to waste. I needed to find out quickly where to search on the river. I knew where the North abutment for the old bridge was located but I still didn't know exactly where the south abutment had once stood. I got a good lead from a lawyer in town that knew who I should talk to concerning the exact location of the south abutment. The tip paid off and the South abutment was located.

I now needed to try and locate the collapsed span area on the river. Having a couple of pictures of the old bridge I scaled off my measurements from the pictures in order to be able to locate the broken span on the river with a reasonable amount of accuracy. I was now ready for the magnetometer survey.

After learning how to collect my data with the magnetometer and how to set up a search area (Grid), it was time to get hold of a couple of brave souls to help me get it done. Andrew Mulherin and Paul Lavoie where the brave ones I managed to convince. My dad (Viateur Ouellette) wanted to come lend a hand but at the last minute he came down with the flu . However he did agree to lend me his handheld GPS device.

We first located what I have called pier #2 and Pier #3 on the ice. We then measured a 60 meter (200 feet) by 40 meter (130 feet) rectangular grid on the ice and surveyed 4 lines (20 meters apart) perpendicular to the bridge alignment and 3 lines (20 meters apart) parallel to the bridge alignment. On those seven lines, five readings were taken at 5 meter intervals. This would cover enough area to detect any possible debris at the bottom.

The bridge in the above picture (left picture) is the last CPR bridge to cross the St. John River in Grand Falls. The CPR line in Grand Falls has been abandoned for a while now but the bridge still serves as part of the New Brunswick trail system.

The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick post the Locomotive story on their website.

The thumbnail bellow is the result from the magnetometer survey (April 6, 2003) after tentative interpretation from Karl Butler (UNB). Click on it to view these interesting results.

It would seem that there is considerable metal debris at the bottom of the surveyed area. This debris could possibly be bridge deck remnants or maybe even the train and some other cars. The debris field seems to be approximately 30 meters (100 feet) long with another possible magnetized body of approximately 15 meters (50 feet) in a different orientation. There is no doubt that something is there now. The next step is to get divers to check it out when the flow of the river slows down in the next month or so. The location of the surveyed area has been tied in with a handheld GPS device which will be fairly easy to relocate in due time.

The thumbnail below is a map of the Grand Falls area showing where the old CPR bridge used to be located. The four little squares on the map show the North abutment, the South abutments, Pier #2 and Pier #3. The abutments are accurately located but the piers have been positioned using a handheld GPS device and are a little out of alignment.

I received a very interesting article dating back to the year 1950. Exactly 50 years after the bridge collapse accident. Click on the thumbnail below to read it. The story does confirm that the locomotive did fall on its side. This might explain why nobody saw it in the early 80's when they lowered the river. Assuming it's still there, that is! Mr. McCluskey was the Fireman on the locomotive and mentions in the article that the bridge collapse was the highlight of his career.

I contacted the crane and barge companies today. I wanted to know if they could send me technical specifications on their equipment (i.e. dimensions, capacities etc.). Preparations at the Trans Canada bridge construction site are underway to accommodate the arrival of the 80 square foot barge. The crane is owned by Irving Equipment and the barge is from Quebec and is owned by Group Ocean. The 230 ton capacity crane and barge should be arriving in the next few weeks.

I also went out to measure the clearance under the existing CPR bridge (NB trail) to see if the barge and crane could safely pass under it to get to the wreckage site. It would seem that there is no problem to get it thru. This is relatively good news. If the barge and crane could not pass under the bridge it would have been a costly issue.

I left a message on Luc Pelletier's answering machine today. Luc is the diver, from Edmundston N.B., which volunteered his personal time to help me in the search for locomotive 508. I wanted to tell him I had found interesting results from my magnetometer scans. I also wanted to know if he was still interested in this project because our first conversation was nearly a month and a half ago.

Luc Pelletier called me back today. He is still interested. We talked about a possible time frame for the underwater search efforts. We agreed that I would monitor the water conditions and report back to him when the time is right (possibly end of May). We need to wait for the flow to slow down considerably. We have 5 gates open at the dam today. I have seen them all open in past years before they close up again. We also want to have relatively calm waters for grater visibility underwater. Now we wait!

Click on the thumbnail below for those who have never seen our beautiful Falls in the spring. The dam consist of nine gates (48 feet wide each) with two smaller ones at one end(20 feet each).

I am meeting tomorrow with the Crane people (Irving Equipment) to look over the retrieval project possibilities.

I also talked to the local environment department. They gave me the contact to get hold of in Fredericton that deals with environmental permits. I left him a message saying to read over my story and call me back in the next few days.

It has been decided that I will be the guest speaker at the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick (A.P.E.G.N.B.) North West branch meeting to be held at the end of May 2003. The presentation topic will be concentrated on the Locomotive 508 search and findings to date and possible salvage retrieval efforts in the near future.

I met with the Irving Equipment people today and things went really well ! Rough estimates were thrown in the air but its not yet the time to be talking money $, we need to find the train first. Upon visual observation of the area, they found no limitations concerning the feasibility of this project if need be.

A couple more snapshots from the "Grand Falls" today. At Grand Falls the St. John River drops 23 meters (75 feet) and during the spring freshet, one and a half million liters (1.5 million liters or 396,000 gallons/second) flow down the falls every second. WOW!

The NEW Town of Grand Falls Website is up and running. Check it out at www.grandfalls.com .

I will be giving a conference on Monday May 12, 2003 at 18h00 (in French) for the Richelieu Club at the Pres du Lac Inn in Grand Falls. Interest for this project is growing everyday and local people are realizing I'm not going to give up on this project until I get to the bottom of the mystery. If divers find the locomotive, it will be a very interesting summer to say the least!!! :)

The thumbnail above is a picture of the old CPR Train station (behind Roger's Muffler in Grand Falls) that used to operate by the old CPR line in Grand Falls. The old train station has been abandoned for a while now. It's a fact that locomotive 508 never reached this station on June 21, 1900. She was only a few minutes from her arrival before plunging into the river! If the locomotive is found, I was thinking it would be really nice to make that arrival finally take place 103 years later. It could be moved and restored at the final resting place of the engine making the two a part of our history. It would also look pretty cool as a new tourist attraction in Town. Just imagine the attraction as an 1885 locomotive parked at an original train station dating back to that era. Something to look forward to, isn't it?

The Richelieu conference tonight went really well.....I didn't put anyone to sleep! They paid for my dinner and even gave me a nice "Richelieu" letter opener. I'd like to thank them for asking me to explain my project which may well be part of our local history one day.

The 230 ton crane has arrived!!! The construction workers have started assembling it at the rivers edge. According to my dad (who works at the bridge construction site), the crane required 7 tractor trailer loads to get to the site.

Crane cab (1 truck)

Crane tracks (2 trucks)

Boom & counter weights (4 trucks)

The boom has not yet been attached to the crane in the picture below. Find the construction worker in the picture below to get a better idea of the size of this crane.

The barge is still not arrived but is scheduled to roll in tomorrow! The river is still flowing quite rapidly. The two small gates at the dam were open today along with two full size ones. It's still hard to tell when the diving will take place but if we send divers now it might be dangerous and we may also have poor visibility with the heavy flow.

I also had a phone interview today with Melissa Mertz (Director of Communications for the A.P.E.G.N.B) concerning an upcoming article (train related) to be released next month in the June edition of "Engenuity" newsletter. This Quarterly Newsletter is distributed to all types of media, local government offices and engineers (who pay dues) in the province of New Brunswick.

Barge pieces have started arriving today. The 230 ton crane will be assembling them at the rivers edge. Here is a couple of pictures I took today.

We are lined up to go searching the river next Saturday (May 24). The gates at the dam are almost all closed (one left open) and the flow is considerably less than even a couple days ago. The long term forecast is sunny and now that the crane and barge are here it seems even more rushing to get some definite answers! Luc Pelletier confirmed via phone tonight that next Saturday is good for him. There will be a minimum two divers and tentatively even up to four searching for the train. We plan on getting the services of a local boat owner for diving assistance which will be confirmed in the near future.

I received some good pictures today from Maggy Lebel. She also sent me picture # 1 in the "picture" page. Here are the ones she sent to me this time.

The following picture is different angle shot of the CPR bridge crossing the St-John River in Grand Falls at very low water level. The shot is facing down river. Notice the man sitting on the rocky shore.

The Northwest branch A.P.E.G.N.B. conference will be held at the Pres du Lac Inn in Grand Falls on June 5, 2003 (Thursday) at 18h30. I will be the guest speaker and will be talking on the locomotive search efforts and by that time we should also know if the train has been found or not??!!

Geatan Poitras has generously accepted to assist us on Saturday with his pontoon boat. He will be at the Grand Falls marina at 10h00 to pick us up (me and the divers).

The local radio station in Grand Falls (K93) is going to be broadcasting a short message on the air all week, informing local residents of the scheduled dive this weekend. So to say the least, Saturday is going to be a very exciting day!

I met with the Director of Operations for Ocean Group (barge company) early this morning. He mentioned that they were in charge of the salvage efforts for the west jet disaster in Nova Scotia a few years ago (big projects are what they do). He could see no major pitfalls associated with the retrieval efforts if we find the locomotive. As a matter a fact he said they can help us considerably if the train is found. When I left we shook hands and he told me he would have a hard time getting this "train" story out of his head! (Good)

The barge is all assembled and I wanted to take a few pictures today but I found out that digital cameras don't work well when the memory card is at home! hehe

For those interested in viewing many more interesting historical pictures of Grand Falls, you absolutely need to check out the CD the Grand Falls Genealogy club have put together. I watched the preview and was really impressed with the time, effort and quality of the show. Excellent job! See a preview and get your copy by clicking HERE ! : )

INTRO	FUN STUFF	POLL	SOUNDS	CONTACT ME	LINKS
RESEARCH DOCUMENTS					HOW TO GET MARCEAU'S BOOK
GUEST MAP	www.locomotive508.nb.ca				GUEST BOOK