Canadian Railroads > BCR M420 #640 follow up

In response to Perklocal's post of 640, here's some pictures of it and M420B 686 out behind the Squamish shops in August 1996 after the derailment that took them out of service.  I remember BC Rail's Chief Mechanical officer showing a photo of it at the derailment. He stated the power set on the train had been broadsided by a loaded logging truck which caused quite a pile up. One of the train crew members unfortuneatly lost an eye in the accident. 684, 686, and 688 were the other units involved. The units sat around Squamish for a few years pending settlement of an insurance claim. They were all eventually scrapped.

Mike N.

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One more of 686.

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WOW !  Thanks for posting these. I only knew the date of the wreck, but not the details. It's a shame because otherwise there's a good chance they might still be around working for a living somewhere.

perklocal Wrote:
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> WOW !  Thanks for posting these. I only knew the date of the wreck, but not the details. It's a
> shame because otherwise there's a good chance they might still be around working for a living
> somewhere.

​Part of the 688 did survive. It gave up it's prime mover to Doyle McCormack's PA that is currently under restoration as NKP 190.

​http://www.nkp190.com/gallery.html?albumid=5431640439508409793

Image of the 640, a much better paint scheme and definately in better shape.  May 1974, chetwynd BC

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Something else I never knew. Nice gallery of photos showing the prime mover transfer from BCOL 688 to NKP 190. Nice heart transplant ! Thanks for the link.

  I remember BC
> Rail's Chief Mechanical officer showing a photo of
> it at the derailment. He stated the power set on
> the train had been broadsided by a loaded logging
> truck which caused quite a pile up.

After reading a message from HoggerDoug and looking back through issue 16 of "The Cariboo", It seems it was a lowbed with a D8 Cat that hit the train. I don't know why I had "logging truck" stuck in my head. The issue also states that the truck hit 686, and 8 log cars derailed along with the locos.  Thanks for the correction Doug.

Mike N.