Hard coal, fuel oil spilled

9 Belt Line cars derailed

Nine freight cars were piled up into a mass of wreckage Wednesday on the old belt line at the foot of Russell Hill Rd., just at the rear of the home of Syl Apps, Toronto Leafs' hockey player. Several coal cars were spilled into the ditch, filling the ravine with tons of hard coal. One tank car was thrown against a tree, breaking one end of the tank. Fuel oil spilled into the ditches.

Railway workers said the cause was not known. The rails were torn up for several hundred feet.

According to Mrs. E. N. Lick, Chaplin Cresc., the foot bridge over the ravine was smashed and pedestrian traffic suspended. "It will take them some time to clean up the mess," she said.

"I was upstairs when I heard a train going past," said Mrs. Lick. "It seemed to be going faster than usual and then I heard a bump, bump. I rushed to the window in time to see everything go up in the air.

"The first portion of the train kept on going and the rear part is still on the tracks. One car is upside down in the valley and others bent buckled," she added.

"We've been wanting coal before but it is the first time we ever had some dumped almost in our back yard," Mrs. Lick chuckled.

Mrs. Lick said: "One of the cars broke off a tree at the back of the house. The impact shook the house and shook me up too." Her husband ran to the scene, but reported that nobody was injured, as the front section of the train continued on its way.

"Three coal cars spilled their load on the tracks," said John J. Tilt, of Chaplin Cres., near whose home the accident happened. "There are eight or nine cars altogether off the track," he said.

"It made a noise just like an explosion," said Mrs. Apps, who was in her house at the time. "I rushed outside just in time to see one of the coal cars falling into the ditch."

A police guard was posted around the wrecked fuel-oil tank car to keep people away. Officers feared a cigarette butt might start a fire or cause an explosion.

C.N.R. officials stated the derailment was due to a brake beam falling down on a transfer train crossing the old Belt Line route. "The train was only going four miles an hour," stated the official. The line is used as a cut across from the Don Valley to Fairbank. It serves coal yards and industrial shops on that line.

Railways: C.N.Rys.

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