End of the Line

It is an old traveler's cliché that "getting there is half the fun." This is especially true of travel across the vast, varied and beautiful reaches of the Canadian landscape. But when fate intervenes, travel can fast turn from fun to deadly.

Hinton Train Crash: Early in the morning of February 8, 1986, just east of Hinton, Alberta, passengers on the Via Supercontinental from Vancouver to Montreal were just sitting down to their breakfasts in the dining car. They could not have known that a bent rod at a train switch miles away had sent a freight train hurtling towards them on the same track. The freight train smashed into the Supercontinental and unleashed a flood of grain, sulphur and sewage. A 50 foot fireball of ignited fuel destroyed parts of both trains. 76 cars derailed and scattered over the landscape. 23 people were killed in the accident and 82 injured. Although many people speculated that the freight train's frontman and engineer had both fallen asleep at their controls, the men did not survive the crash.

Dryden Air Crash: On the snowy afternoon of Marth 10th, 1989, a Fokker F-28 with 69 passengers aboard crashed just beyond the runway. The plane burst into flames and broke apart, killing 24 passengers and destroying the cockpit voice recorder, of "black box." Investigation revealed that a number of factors had contributed to the crash. Most significant was the deadly accumulation of ice on the wings. The changes recommended by the official inquiry forever altered aircraft safety regulations in Canada.