CN INVESTIGATES Track failure blamed for NV train wreck CANADLEAN NATIONAL Railway officials investigating the recent six-car train derail- ment say the line where the accident accur- red was scheduled for maintenance work the next day. Hy KIM PEMBERION Track failure ts blamed for the July 7 accident. in which about 14.000 gallons of caustic sada spilled on- to ON tracks just west at the nosth end of Second Narrows Bridge. CN spokesmin Al Menard said a work crew had been putting new ties, which hold the rail fine in place, on the fine that day, but the work shitt had ended and the men went on their reeular Qwo days off. “Ht just happened that the: accident occurred while they were off shift, * said Menard. He said the worn aut Hes, which were under tracks near Main Street and Harbour Avenue, caused the rails to spread beyond their normal width and the six cars subsequently fell through. REBUILD TRACK The ties are currently being replaced. he said. but CN also plans to rebuild the track completely in the fall. The track covers 1! > smiles between the train yard and Canadian Occidental Petroleum Limited (COPL). The caustic soda that spilled when one of the derailed cars ruptured was being shipped from COPEL VE WAS A moving experience for Clarke whd being transterred to BO Rail, COPE alsa pro- duces liquid chlorine, which was in three of the cars that derailed. Menard esprained that the spill occurred after the cary unloading valve was sheared off when it hit a switch on the line, Cars that carry caustic soda unload trom the bottom, he said, while cars that carry liquid chlorine unload from the rop. By July P98?) caustic soda cars will be required to have skid-plate protectors, SHID-PLATE PROTECTORS “The skid plates ¢ car’ suid) Menard. event of an accident." Had the skid plates been in place July 7. Menard said the spill would dikely not have occurred. North Vancouver District, Mayor Miarilvn Baker noted that more than 30,000 cars, including 12,600 through the North Shore alone, carry hazardous goods through the Lower Mainland each vear. “My concern is that with that number af cars mov- ing through the community, we ensure the safest possible handling procedures and insist on the hivhest standard of track maintenance.” she said. sdike basing a bumper on a They protect the valve in the Baker met last week with CN officials to look into the cause of the derailment, and requested the district be given a history of CN’s maintenance program on the Seymour spur, where the accident occurred, and the main lines go- ing through the district. ~ "NEWS photo Tom Burley and Linda Gardner when thes transported their new bome down the wrong side of the Upper Levels Highway carly Friday morning. The couple bought the house trom the provincial ministry of highways and moved it from Chesterfield Avenue to West 21st Street. LOVE OF TRAFFIC CONES 3 - Sunday, Weather: Sunny through to Tues- day, sunny with cloudy periods. Highs near 20°C. July 20. 1986 - North Shore News INDEX aK y4 2. AT Business....... Classified Ads. Doug Collins... Comics .. Editorial Page. Fashion..... Bob Hunter. Lifestyles Maitbox. Sports. . T.V. Listings. . Travel What's Going On....40 Baker blasts road blockade bunch North Vancouver District Mayor Marilyn Baker handed outa severe tongue-lashing Monday night to protesters who attempted to block traffic on Garden Avenue July 6 With about 20 Lower Capilano residents in attendance at the district. council meeting, Baker called the action of the protest marchers ‘‘misinformed and premature’ “The consultant has not recommended the widening of Garden Avenue. The [lth hour protest circumvented a process of negotiations which council has entered into in good faith. You want to protest, it’s fair game after you've heard council's position — not before — it’s inappropriate."" said Baker. The mayor's comments came during district council's receipt of the Lower Capilano neighborhood plan’s final draft. The $35,000-plan, prepared by MacLaren Plansearch to cover a five-vear period, is the fourth and final installment in) a studies initiated last September, LONG PROCESS “tts been along process fraught with frustrations for all of us. We're dealing with major issues and major pressures and there have been major differences within the community itself," Baker said. Phan recammendations in the final report call for retention of single-family zoning as the predominant Jand use for the area, and an inventory and inspection of illegal suites in the area, While recouniving that ileal suites are ao problent in the area’’, council accepted a Liaison-Technical Committee (LTC) recommendation to reject series of By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter the suggestion for an illegal suite inventory and inspection on the basis that ‘‘a witch hunt would be inapy propriate. " “There is no perfect answer regarding illegal suites — our poli- cy is to respond to written com- plaints,”’ Baker said. The neighborhood plan also recommended that all roads in the area be classified local, except Garden Avenue, which would re- main ‘secondary arterial", STREET PROTEST A group of 30 area residents took to the streets July 6 to protest the increase in commuter traffic along Garden Avenue, which is just east of, and runs parallel to, Capilano Road. The residents were fighting what they said was) the planned widening of Garden Avenue lo eitse increasing traffic pressures along Capilano Road. Council adopted a recommenda- tion by the LTC. which inchided representation from othe Lower Capilano Residents’ Association, the District of North Vancouver and consultanis, and) MacLaren Plansearch, that counet] consider urial closure of Garden Avenue at Capilano Road. A) district staff report on the feasibility, of temporary Garden Avenue closure will be considered by council in a scheduled July 28 meeting. Gordon Gibson Sr. WV police dog passes away at 81 retires his nose WITH A bone and a pat on the head, West Vancouver Police dog Ramses hung up his nose recently and retired from service. A MAN WHO truly became a Jegend in his own lifetime, Gordon Gibson Sr., died Thursday in Lions Gate Hospital. aged 81, Born in a Yukon miner's cabin, handler Cst. Doug Bruce said Ramses, a three year veteran, had fo retire svouny because fe suffers Crom arthrigs in his tront elbows, AN press release stated that human members of Ramses’ pla- toon will rementber him for. bis love of traffic cones and for his insatiable’ diet of police hats. Ramses is enjoying his retire- ment with his former dog handler and living in Coquithim. Dog The police department is naw fooking for a replacement to maintain “hallestrength oat teur police dogs. Csr. Dave Bingham said the successful applicant muse be a purebred, unneutered male. be tween LO and PS months of ave Anyone willing to donate a dog with these qualifications should contact Stary Set. Glen Macken- viv at 922-4141, J his colorful career was filled with achievements br numerous fields — as towboat operator, forest. ine dustrialist, construction bass, poli- neign and hotelier. the Bull of the Woods) the tide of his biography. built a lumber empire on Vancouser (sand during the (9305 and 1940s, rebuilt at from serach after a disastrous fire and later merged with the East Asiatic Company. Between 1982 and 1965 he sers- ed two periods as a Liberal MEA in the B.C. Legislature, where he sparked a probe into forest licence practices which led to the oribery conviction and jailing of Forests Minister Robert Sommers. During the 19605 he was largely responsitie for opening up the island of Maui as gt fourist mecca for Canadians with his develap- ment there of the Mut Du resort. For the past six sears he devoted mach af his Gme toe the Cape Beale’. a vintave fishing boat lov ingly refitted with his own hats aS a spacious cabin cruiser. Adongdme West Vancouver res: ident, Mr. Gibson is survivedd bs his wife Gertrude, sen Gordon Jr. daughter Louaane Pabbe, brother John and eight grandchildren. Funeral service will be held Mon- day, July 21, at tl) a.m. in St. David's United Church, West Van, followed by interment in Capilano Cemete GORDON GIBSON SR.