TRAINS COLLIDE AND VANCOUVER WHARVES ERUPTS INTO...

By CHRIS LLOYD

Vancouver Wharves trainyard erupted into
flames early Monday morning when a tanker car
of methanol was struck by another train and
started a fire which destroyed six railcars and sent
railway tracks and telephone poles bursting into

flame.
The accident occurred at

about 1:45 a.m. at a swit-
ching point when three
tanker cars of methanol
being moved by B.C.

Railway collided with a train
leaving Vancouver Wharves.

A four foot long gash
appeared in the side of the
lead tanker car when it was
gouged by a gondola car of
copper ore, instantly igniting
the highly inflammable
methanol as it spewed from
the gash

The tanker leaked 17.600
gallons of the hquid. which
ignites at 60 degrees

fahrenheit, and as it fushed
over the tracks it set fire to
the floors of five more cars
containing pulp paper. as
well as to railway ties and a

line of telephone poles.

At one time the fire was so
severe that the nearby Lions
Gate Bridge was closed to
traffic for an hour.

North Vancouver District
Fire Department was on the
scene in minutes with two
fire pumps and an aerial
ladder truck and was joined
by West Van Fire Depart-

ment with similar equip-
ment, as well as West Van
Police, North Van RCMP

and railway police.

The burning cars were
unhooked from the rest of
the trains, which were
hauled away, and a
stationary train about five
rall lines over which had
tankers of inflamable lquids
was also moved

BC Rail spokesman

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Hugh Armstrong later said
that among the cars of the
nearby train that was
removed was an empty
chlorine tanker and one car
containing propane,
although West Van fire chief

Colin Evan said he saw
several cars of propane.
It took West Van

firefighters an hour to ex-
tinguish the methanol car.
by which time only 6,000

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A3 - Wednesday, December 24, 1980 - North Shore News

HOSE-DOWN of
smouldering railcars
continued more than
four hours after the fire.
Methanol tanker sits
on lines twisted by
collision and the gash in
the far end of the tank bs
visible above the area
being sprayed by
While
start in-
vestigating the cause of
the accident § to
ascertain responsibility,
North Van District
Mayor Don Bell has
expressed concern over
difficulties the firemen
faced in dealing with the
fire because of a lack of
information as to the
contents of railcars.
(Ellsworth Dickson
photo)

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gallons of the fuel remained
in it, and a further two hours
to put out the cars of pulp
paper.

Fire chief Evans said
disaster was avoided only by
the accident occuring in an
open, unpopulated area and
that the rupture in the
methanol car prevented an
explosion which would have
occurred if the tanker had
remained pressurized.

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ALSO
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