Railroaders' Nostalgia > A tragic mistake

My late friend Bob was a skillful and well informed locomotive engineer. He also believed that it is better to talk about tragedies that affect your life than to keep them to yourself.

Bob was born in the copper mining community of Phoenix BC, the son of a miner. There were several other children, including an older brother. The two brothers chose railroading rather than mining as a career.

Today, the young age of railroaders hired before and during WW2 seems unbelievable. Bob was 14 years old when he was hired to be an "engine watchman" at Princeton BC on CP's Kettle Valley Line. His brother was perhaps 15 when he was also hired as an engine watchman at Brookemere BC, a tiny and remote railway community.

On most of the railway, the minimum age to start employment was 16, and then as now the minimum age to become a locomotive engineer or conductor was 18 (the age of majority). However, there were loopholes which allowed younger persons to be hired on a "casual" basis as young as twelve.

Bob was a persuasive fellow, and convinced the roundhouse foreman at Penticton that his brother and himself were mature enough to keep steam locomotives "hot" between tours of duty at some of the outlying engine terminals along the Kettle Valley line. He knew that if he stayed in railroad employment, the time spent as an engine watchman would be credited toward his seniority as a hostler, fireman and eventually engineer.

I knew perhaps half a dozen locomotive engineers who had volunteered to be "child labour", (quit school before the mandatory age of 14 claiming they were needed as family farm hands and would be home schooled).

Bob's task was to keep a locomotive assigned to the Copper Mountain mine run in steam overnight between the two daily trips to the copper mine. His brother's job was very similar, to keep the Spences Bridge wayfreight locomotive hot in the three stall roundhouse while the older and more experienced "chargehand" was off duty.

They received training in the main roundhouse at Penticton. "Whatever you do, there must be water visible in the boiler sightglass at all times". This was accomplished by using the injectors to introduce steam to the boiler from the tender. Also, like a military sentry "Do not go to sleep, your job and perhaps your life depends on you staying awake" and finally "If there is no water visible in the sight glass, kill the fire and pray you haven't damaged the crown sheet". With this stern advice, they went to work as engine watchmen.

Here is Bob's description of what happened to his brother at Brookemere.

He had been working long enough as a watchman to feel confident and relaxed about his job, and had earned the trust of his fellow employees so that he performed his duties alone while they slept or performed other duties away from the roundhouse.

The regular fireman on the wayfreight engine would report for duty a couple of hours before the train was due to depart, and get the locomotive boiler up to operating pressure. The watchman would assist. In the "dawn's early light", the fireman was walking toward the roundhouse from the bunkhouse when there was a tremendous explosion. The wooden three stall roundhouse was totally destroyed and pieces of wood and metal were flying through the air.The locomotive boiler had crashed through the roof and landed some distance away in the rail yard. The fireman was lucky because a nearby boxcar deflected the force of the explosion away from him. He was still blown several feet backwards and landed on his back, uninjured.

He was first on the scene, and found that the wayfreight engine had suffered a boiler explosion. He found the watchman terribly burned but still alive between the remains of the tender and the locomotive. The watchman said that he had fallen asleep and that when he awoke, there was no water visible in the sight glass. He panicked and injected cold water into the boiler. When the cold water contacted the white hot crown sheet above the fire, it caused a massive expansion of steam which caused the boiler to explode with tremendous force. The roundhouse walls and roof contained much of the force within the building until they collapsed, but the destruction within the building was all the greater.

Bob was fifty miles away in Princeton, raising steam on the engine for the mine run when he was contacted by the railway officers and told what happened to his brother. There was only basic logging road access to Brookemere,so the mine train engine and caboose were quickly mustered as a hospital train to bring his brother to hospital in Princeton. A doctor and nurses rode the train to Brookemere.

Bob did get to see his brother before he died and talk with him, and the doctor was able to ease his pain.

It seems all the more tragic because this happened to a 15 year old.

Both of Bob's sons followed in their fathers footsteps to become locomotive engineers. One of them is named for the uncle killed at Brookemere. Time passes, and they are in their last decade of railway employment before retirement. Bob mentioned how the temperament of his sons reflects that of their father and uncle.

It brings to mind a line from one of the Rankin Family folk songs from Cape Breton. "We rise again in the faces of our children, we rise again in the moments of our lives" . Bob's brother lives on in the collective memories of many railroaders and historians, and also in the appearance and character of a nephew he never met.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/12 20:07 by eminence_grise.

Another amazing story--thanks Phil for this look into how dangerous railroading was--and still is.
"A moment's inattention is a lifetime's regret" was one old poster slogan I recall from the old yard office I hired out of.

Great Story!!!

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

thanks for sharing the story. Also, thanks for the lines of the song. A good reminder of the duty to raise three little girls the right way