The Lac-Mégantic Disaster | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2024
- "On the 6th of July, 2013, in the early hours of the morning, a freight train which had been parked for the night on the railway tracks near Nantes in Quebec started to move..."
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TRANSLATIONS:
► This video is also available in German ( • Das Lac-Mégantic Desas... )
SOCIAL MEDIA:
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
00:48 - Background
01:43 - The Accident
08:31 - The Aftermath
MUSIC:
► "Glass Pond" by Public Memory
► "Underworld" by Myuu
SOURCES:
► "Lac-Megantic: The Runaway Train That Destroyed a Town" by Jessica Murphy, published by BBC News, January 2018. Link: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-c....
► "Railway Investigation Report R13D0054" published by The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, August 2018. Link: www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-re....
► "Canada Runaway Train: Lac-Megantic Death Toll Rises" published by BBC News, July 2013. Link: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-c....
► "Lac Megantic Explosion: a Chronicle of the Tragedy" published by The Star, July 2013. Link: www.thestar.com/news/insight/....
► "Last Moments of Lac-Mégantic: Survivors Share Their Stories" by Justin Giovannetti, published by The Globe and Mail, November 2013. Link: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/....
► "The Frantic Moment When the Train Driver in Lac-Megantic Raced to the Scene" by Andy Blatchford, published by The Windsor Star, July 2013. Link: web.archive.org/web/201307180....
► "Lac-Megantic Marks Seventh Anniversary of 2013 Rail Disaster With Memorial Site" by Stephanie Marin, published by CTV News, July 2020. Link: www.ctvnews.ca/canada/lac-meg....
#Documentary #History #TrueStories
Suggestion for a future episode, the reality TV show "stunt" in Uruguay where they got people to pull a train and it ran over them.....there's a lot to unpack there
Wow. What the heck…
I wanna hear more about that.
Wow that’s crazy and very sad. I I just read up about it. People trying to raise some money for charity.. 3000 school kids watching the stunt live..
definitely worth a video by FH
uruguay what were u thinking
@@feelincrispy7053 is there a show name or train line name to help google it?
One thing no one really touches on in detail was one of the victims, Genevieve Bréton. An out of towner, she was in the Musi Cafe getting a bottle of water and was a singer with a great amount of talent. Her body was never found, likely incinerated, and her debut and only album wound up being released posthumously.
Thank you for mentioning her!
Here's an amuse bouche: ruclips.net/video/x1wOwBf8_8A/видео.html&ab_channel=ProductionsTribal
@Seymour Butts That is incredibly disrespectful and you should be very ashamed of yourself.
@Seymour Butts what a maroon you are…
@@mitch1352 It's a sociopathic troll; don't feed it.
In remembrance to the 47 victims.
Andrée-Anne Sévigny, 26
David Martin, 36
Michel Junior Guertin, 33
Eliane Parenteau-Boulanger, 93
Elodie Turcotte, 18
Geneviève Breton, 28
Guy Bolduc, 43
Henriette Latulippe, 61
Talitha Coumi Bégnoche, 30
Bianka Charest Begnoche, 4
Alyssa Charest Begnoche, 9
Jean-Pierre Roy, 56
Jimmy Sirois
Marie-Sémie Alliance, 22
Joanie Turmel, 29
Gaétan Lafontaine, 33
Kevin Roy, 29
Marianne Poulin, 23
Marie-France Boulet, 62
Richard Veilleux, 63
Martin Rodrigue, 48
Maxime Dubois, 27
Melissa Roy, 29
Natachat Gaudreau, 41
Réal Custeau, 57
Stephane Bolduc, 37
Karine Champagne, 36
Sylvie Charron, 50
Yves Boulet, 51
Marie-Nöelle Faucher
Kathy Clusiault, 24
Karine Lafontaine, 35
Diane Bizier, 46
Éric Pépin-Lajeunesse, 28
Frédéric Boutin, 19
Yannick Bouchard, 36
Stéphane Lapierre, 45
Roger Paquet, 61
David Lacroix-Beaudoin, 27
Mathieu Pelletier, 29
Jean-Guy Veilleux, 32
Jo-Annie Lapointe, 20
Lucie Vadnais, 49
Jacques Giroux, 65
Louisette Poirier-Picard
Denise Dubois, 57
Wilfrid Ratsch
They are at peace.
Thank you for this beautiful, respectful post.
Dont forget Mike Hawk aand Phil McCrackin
@@princesssprinklesthecat4192 not the place for this "humour"
@@vallennes Disastercrab loves black men
@@princesssprinklesthecat4192 karma’s a b*tch.
I really feel bad for Mr. Harding. He had done everything he was trained to do, had been on trial and had to watch the town burn, concluding that it was his train which started the fire. Him being acquitted of all charges is the only saving grace for him, as he's probably scarred for life by what he must have felt and seen during these fateful days.
They've changed the air brake systems now if there is no air the brakes are on full with springs and require air pressure to release
"He had done everything he was trained to do"
Excuse me, what?
8:43
@@2511jeremy This is how truck airbreaks always did things, its a wonder that trains did the opposite.
He didn’t switch off the air breaks to test if hand brakes would hold the the train
@@j22563 "He had done everything he was trained to do"
9:31
This is a heartbreaking tragedy-but I’m actually shocked at how “low” the casualties were. An unmanned train carrying 72 tankers of crude oil, jumping track and smashing into a town…I was expecting there to be hundreds of deaths!
47 is still 47 too many, but this truly could’ve been SO much worse.🥺
Odern safety procedures and, most of all, modern catastrophy controll.
People today are much better educated in how to recognize and react to disasters.
And modern infrastructyre is much more disaster resistant.
Finally, firefighters are very competant at this stage.
Still. A large part to this is luck.
The tdain derailed in a relatively population low area.
"Relative" being the important part.
If it hit a large hotel, or a place the population density of manhatten, the death toll would have been much much higher.
But it mainly hit a rural canadian area.
Bear in mind the population of Lac-Mégantic during 2011 was 5,932 (the disaster was in 2013). Nearly 1% of the town's population passed away in the fire.
The main reason it’s so surprising that the number of casualties was so low (compared to how high it could have been) is because of how many buildings were destroyed: over 30 buildings. With 30+ building being destroyed, you’d expect the number of casualties to be much much higher than 47, but the time of night that this happened played a large part in the buildings mostly being empty, thankfully.
R.I.P. to those poor victims that were there when it happened though…
Megantic is not a big town, but yeah it could've been worse indeed
Every one loves a good railway disaster!
For a disaster as recent as this, I hadn't heard of it until now. But for a catastrophe on this scale, it's fortunate that the death toll wasn't considerably higher. But for the town of Lac Megantic and the lost residents I send condolences
It truly is disturbing how many incidents happen, especially recently that we're just completely and blissfully unaware of. Such a shame and sad loss of life.
Never heard of it myself! Makes you think about all the other catastrophes we've never heard of.
A death toll of 47 is low for this type of explosion, but with a population of only 5900, virtually everyone was effected. It’s a beautiful town! I was there 4 years after the explosion, & there was still a post-fire smell in the air…
Honestly it's sort of fallen out of our collective memory as Canadians too, as we tend to downplay disasters and horrible events (for better or for worse). I'm glad for this kind of coverage because it deserves to be remembered and recognised.
I live in Quebec and one of my co-worker was in Bulgaria and it make the news there.
Whenever I watch these, Ill be sitting there a month later and I can hear your voice "A youtuber was sitting in his office, a couch on the second floor over him. He was about to experience the worst home disaster in are in over 32 years" The paranoia is real lol
I get that too! Except for me it's the narrator from 1000 ways to die and I'm usually doing something dumb aha
Think you should slip in there, "He had just prepared his morning tea, as was his routine. Yet, "
Holy smokes, Roanoke! Big fan, didn't know you watched this channel too!
Roanoke is a street I used to live on as a kid.
Didn't expect to see you here
Well, after 8 years, our city is on the way to recover from this tragic event. Like a phœnix, Lac-Mégantic has risen from it’s ashes (literally). Though the memories of the ones lost are still painful, our future is bright, and we stand in solidarity.
Sending support for continued recovery.
Lâchez pas, mes amis!
Nous n'oublierons jamais ce triste évènement qui nous a tous profondément marqués. Malheureusement, les vrais responsables de cette tragédie ne paieront pas pour leurs crimes. Nous savons qui ils sont, entre autres Transports Canada et, surtout, la MMA et son crapuleux président: M. Edward Arnold Burkhardt.
C'est pas tout le monde qui son content ! Il a eux de la magouille et le nouveau centre ville resemble a un village de boite d'allumette ......
That's how a community truly becomes a cohesive and strong place to be. We take comfort in one another. My thoughts to you and yours.
We live in a hamlet of 50 people year-round, (couple thousand in fishing season) and we just lost one of our own, and he would be chuffed at how we are all commemorating him daily.
That's community.
While the fact that Mr. Herding doesn't apply enough brakes were the main cause, it's not entirely his fault. The railroad company didn't train him well enough to handle such a large train, and that he do all of this with all of the knowledge he knew at the time. It sounded like the company initially wanted him as a scapegoat and put all of the blame on him, however, justice was served this time and the company has to paid the price.
Justice would be, when the decider were made responsible. A company does not make decisions, people do. Someone has made a decision against best knowledge. And it was not the engineer.
Well it seems like a no brainer that the point of testing the brakes would be to test the handbrakes on their own. The exist exactly for that reason, to be able to hold the train in place if the other systems fail.
Even if he hadn’t been told that explicitly in training, I find it hard to believe he could have been doing that job for years without ever being made aware somehow, seeing it in any manual, seeing someone else do it or simply figuring it out. Also when taking on such a responsibility, one would think he would have taken the time to investigate exactly how many brakes he needed to use.
There is a tendency to always blame the company, the “man”, to root for the little guy etc. Sometimes the little guy is actually an idiot all on his own.
@@OddityDK You can either have knowledge about something or try to understand it yourself. The latter solution will always have derivation from person to person. You can't just expect people to understand technical systems without an explanation correctly.
Not everyone is super intelligent. Maybe the engineer wasn't. Doesn't matter, that is why we educate people for what they do.
For example, would've expected that a leaking main breaking system would lock the breaks and not release them. That sounds dangerous and counterintuitive to me. If the fire department had known this, they wouldn't have left the scene.
You're basically joining the company here in searching for people who did something wrong -- but it is something, the company is responsible for to tell people. It's their train. Their braking system. Someone at their company failed to make sure it is used in a safe manner.
You go to engineer school, and before you get your own train you ride with seasoned engineers and teachers. It’s not like taking car driving lessons. This is more like flying lessons. They went for the company because they could get the most money and set an example. Just like in NY with the train engineer that fell asleep and caused a derailment and loss of life. Instead of making the train driver responsible, the blame fell into the MTA because they didn’t have medical testing for sleep apnea, even though there is a mandatory physical every year….
Are we also just gonna gloss over the shoddy repair job that let the fire happen in the first place?
I'm glad the 3 engineers weren't convicted. This does fall directly at the feet of the company. This time, they weren't able to make a scapegoat out of their employees!
@@mqrkoh 3 perfectly trained engineers, remember those 3 weren't trained properly
@@mqrkoh oh
At least one of the three was a dispatcher, not an engineer
IIRC, the engineer, dispatcher and train master were charged. MMA itself was using 1 man crews after being instructed several times by the Canadian rail regulatory entity, the STB to use 2 man crews due to the company's safety history.
Unfortunately if they had just shut down the one engine that was the problem, and left the other 4, the air would have been maintained to hold on brakes. The driver should have known the brakes would release with no engines running. Hand brakes themselves are not enough. Scotches/chocks are used in some countries, wedge shaped wood to chock the wheels. Stops rolling if fitted correctly.
I really hope I'm not alone in thinking that the blame they heaped on Harding was unjust. He was a good fall guy but he wasn't negligent or lazy. He did all the things he thought were right and fair
Quebecer here: The anger was mostly targeted at the MMA and its owner who popped in Lac-Mégantic like a tourist and would skirt all questions and comments (to then avoid liability). General feeling in the population and media towards Harding was mostly frustration at the mistakes. But the anger was towards the guys who told him that was a good procedure.
which is why he was acquitted.
My sister used to work on a train in the region and knew him. He suffered severe depression and PTSD after the incident. She stopped working there a year or two later so I haven’t have news since, but last I heard he was doing horribly. Which is completely understandable. Most blame went eventually to the company, but in the early days, before they knew the proper cause, it all fell at his feet. This is the type of tragedy no one ever fully recover from.
Except turning if the air brakes to test...
@@lizag9780 he did all the things he *thought* were fair because his employer didn't properly train him on how to handle train vessels. liability falls on the employer in that situation
I just wanna say thanks to everyone one who sends prayer or condolences to us, I'm from lac-mégantic and I knew a lot of people who died in that fire... It still hurts to this day, but it makes me happy to see people care even if they weren't even affected, Thanks to everyone again...
I'm sending my condolences from Sweden.
Ugh not a fun time! I ship dangerous goods for the worlds largest plumbing supplier here in Canada and nobody give a crap about properly transporting dangerous goods until something terrible like this happens! These videos & stories in general are important for people to hear because it draws you away from complacency and makes you think!
damn i dont even know what a job like that entails but its gotta be rough!! stay safe out there
It's a sad fact that rules and regulations are built on tragedy, so yeah, until something terrible happens I imagine they'll happily go on their merry way until disaster
Just curious what dangerous goods a plumbing supplier would be handling? I'm guessing things like propane cylinders lithium batteries and corrosives
As long as politicians promise to lower heating and gasoline costs...
@UC9Y-z_xSt9OcB_q5_P8wXuw I completely agree with you dude! Even if you’re new to the job and overzealous and want to do things by the book & properly, the culture of apathy produces a shift in people’s perception of what is deemed acceptable. Laziness is contagious!
It’s so ironic that the same corporation who paid for my dangerous goods training doesn’t care about the dangerous goods codes in the slightest. They only want it to look good on paper, in reality they don’t need to care until someone gets hurt and the can use the employee who took the training as the fall guy. It is beyond backwards!!!
As someone from Quebec, this was massive when it happened. I hadn't heard about all of the details though. It's absolutely such a tragedy.
There was many confusions before the investigation, my friend Jonathan Fontaine lived there
Yeah me too, I mean I'm a Maritimer, but I never knew it was a run away train. I thought it had just gone too fast through a town.
I know what you mean although from New Brunswick. I did not realize that it was going that fast and that far before crashing into the town.
I am next door in New Brunswick. I remember this so well. Such a tragedy!
Yep, it was sad
I live in Maine, and I remember hearing about this. A bunch of our own firefighters drove across the border to provide backup to those battling the blaze and help with evacuation efforts. Guess it’s a reminder that even country borders don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Ditto. It was close enough to the border and similar enough to many Maine town names that I thought it WAS in Maine. RIP neighbors.
You're not foreigners in Canada. You're my brother and sister who happen to live across state lines.
@@indy_go_blue6048 What a kind thing to say. Thank you!
@@indy_go_blue6048 I'm from Montreal and I feel the same way about our neighbors to the south.
Thanks for the kind words. Merci beaucoup
Yeah your'e right i remember the big electric shortage in ALABAMA if im correct couple of years ago we have sent our Hydro Quebec team to help rebuild the electric lines bc of a storm or a hurricane.
Having talked to former MMA employees in the past, its both a surprise that the railroad didn't have a disaster this size earlier and that the regulatory agencies (TSB in Canada and the FRA in the US) did little to address the massive safety issues that were occurring on MMA every day beyond issuing minor fines. The whole Lac-Megantic story has more to it than what many documentaries have covered and the causes of the disaster date back to the MMA's first day of operations in 2003.
MMA which was started by Rail World of Chicago, was owned by Ed Burkhart (a former Wisconsin Central executive who had a spotty safety record while at the WC) who tried to apply the same business tactics he had at the WC to the MMA. The MMA itself took over 3 railroads (Bangor and Aroostook, Canadian American, and Vermont Northern) which had been owned by Iron Road Railways LLC. which went bankrupt after the railroad failed to adapt to changing economic conditions in the early 2000's. The line from Montreal to Brownville Jct, ME had originally been owned and built by Canadian Pacific, who had sold the line to Iron Road in the 90's due to declining traffic. By the time MMA had come along, there was only traffic to support 4 trains each way (2 freight and 2 piggyback trains). Unfortunately for MMA they lost the piggyback business after a few years due to issues with US and Canadian customs since the trains were going from New Brunswick, to Maine, and then to Canada requiring trains to pass through customs twice which was a lengthy procedure prior to automatic scanners being built at Jackman and Vanceboro, ME. To make matters worse, the largest shipper on the MMA, the Great Northern Paper Company who operated two paper mills in the Millinocket, ME which made up the majority of the MMA's traffic filed for bankruptcy and closed a few weeks after MMA took over Iron Road's assets. The first winter was particularly harsh for the MMA, with record snow fall and cold temps, most of the locomotive fleet was laid up with mechanical issues. As a result, MMA was forced to buy whatever they could get to keep trains moving.
MMA settled for a fleet of worn out GE B39-8 and C30-7 locomotives with a few EMD locomotives to fill in power shortages. Many of these units arrived with expensive mechanical issues, which MMA could not afford to fix, so to save money they cut corners.
By 2008 despite a short lived locomotive rebuilding contract for several railroads, the MMA's finances were in shambles. A large percentage of the railroad was limited to 10 MPH, shippers were leaving in droves due to poor service and the recession, and there was frequent derailments and accidents. MMA had one of the highest accident rates for a railroad its size in North America. Although I don't have statistics on hand, they had as many derailments and injuries as some of the largest railroads in North America. Many of these resulted in investigations into the company, but either no action was taken, or when the railroad was fined, it was cheaper to pay the fine than fix the underlying issues.
During this time, MMA began to find ways to cut costs. The railroad implemented remote control equipment which allowed one crew member to complete switching tasks, rather than having to use both a engineer and conductor. Thats why many of the trains had a caboose with the locomotives, to provide space for the RCL equipment, although a few locomotives were also equipped with the technology. The railroad began using the equipment in the US, which allowed MMA to reduce how many employees they needed. MMA wanted to implement the technology in Canada, but the STB denied the request to do so citing MMA's spotty safety record. But MMA began using the RCL equipment and 1 man crews in Canada anyway, defying the STB's order. MMA also laid off most of the mechanics and shop staff at the Derby shops, leaving just a handful of employees to do mechanical work. The track in northern Maine was beginning to feel the budget crunch as well, with several lines being embargoed due to track conditions. MMA elected to abandon 258 miles of track, in hopes that the state of Maine would buy it, rehab it, and put the line out for lease, which MMA hoped to win. MMA was outbid by NBM Railways which began the Maine Northern Railway, ending more business for the MMA. MMA also had to give up 25 miles of track they retained to serve a paper mill after the paper mill began using the Maine Northern Railway due to MMA's poor service. This is the point when executives knew the railroad didn't have long and made it a priority to make as much from the railroad before it had to file for bankruptcy.
By 2012 a new traffic had emerged, crude oil. The JD Irving refinery in Saint John was buying up all the oil possible during the oil boom of 2012-2014. Another railroad in the area with a similar safety record (Pan Am Railways) began hauling oil, so MMA decided to enter the business. The only issue was trains were limited to how much weight they could carry in Canada due to the poor conditions of track and bridges on that side. Knowing that the railroad wouldn't be around much longer, executives (including Burkhart) frequently told crews to ignore these restrictions, and many managers forced crews to continue to work in unsafe conditions in fear that they could be terminated if they refused. Infact, the runaway oil train which derailed was over 9100 tons, while the restrictions for the Sherbrooke Subdivision at the time limited trains to under 6300 tons. The locomotive fleet was beyond worn out due to years of neglect and the 5017 developed an issue which would have required the prime mover to be removed and replaced due to cracks in it. But rather than fix it properly, the railroad used a compound similar to JB Weld to fix it so it could be placed back into service. After the bankruptcy, most of the locomotives were scrapped due to the condition of the mechanical components, which in the end it was easier and cheaper to part the units out and scrap what was left, than fix them. Out of the 50 or so locomotives MMA owned, less than 10 operated after being sold. Which many of those had been in storage for most of the MMA's existence.
In the end, the engineer, dispatcher, and other low-level managers and entry level employees were put on trial despite having little involvement in the events which lead up to the disaster, compared to some of the executives. A lot of the decisions which lead up to the eventual disaster were a direct result of cost cutting measures made by Ed Burkhart and several other MMA and rail world executives. The involvement of these individuals in the disaster was testified upon, by several of the witnesses called during the trial. Sadly, after Tom Harding was found to be not guilty, the government decided not to pursue charges against Rail World, Ed Burkhart, or the other MMA executives which held the most blame in the disaster. By filing for bankruptcy, Burkhart was able to avoid most of the fines and litigation from the disaster, as well as the millions it cost to clean up Lac-Megantic along with the lake which provided drinking water for several towns. MMA also avoided having to pay restitution to many of the families, although JD Irving, Canadian Pacific, and several other companies which were involved in the shipment of the crude oil agreed to a settlement with the families and property owners impact by the disaster, which totaled over $460 Million. Although a portion of these funds helped to pay for the clean up, repairs to public utilities, damage to buildings throughout the town, and the rest went to compensate the families impacted by the disaster.
MMA's assets were sold to Fortress Investment Group, which is a hedge fund. Fortress formed the Central Maine and Quebec Railway to operate what was left of MMA's assets. Under CMQ safety and trackwork was made a priority with huge investments being made in Vermont, Quebec, and Maine to get all rail lines to a minimum of 25 MPH. Crews received adequate training, mechanical staff at the Derby Shops received the necessary resources, and the railroad invested heavily in improving the locomotive fleet. In the grand scheme, CMQ was a success story since many of the lines they took over came very close to being abandoned, and with in a few years the railroad surpassed MMA's record for cars moved a year. During CMQ's 6 years, the railroad had an almost perfect safety record with very few derailments and injuries. CMQ also got former customers and many new customers to ship by rail. Sadly in 2019 CMQ was purchased by Canadian Pacific, who has agreed to help build the new rail bypass around Lac-Megantic as well as increasing speeds. Unfortunately, CP has either stopped servicing or provided poor enough service to many small customers, who have decided or been forced to resort back to trucks.
Werent c30s know for fuel problems
@@ZombieSlayer-dj3wb not necessarily, more so issues with the turbo.
Amazing
Why is this not the top comment?
@@ZombieSlayer-dj3wb no, that was the U30C, the worse version of the C30.
Even though this is horrible tragedy with many lives lost I want to take a moment to appreciate the fire fighters for their bravery, teamwork, problem solving, and prevention skills. They did amazing work and I’m proud they are Canadians
It wasn't just Canadians, many fire departments from across the border in Maine (I believe the number was about 8 trucks carrying around 30 firefighters) also joined the fight that night and provided assistance in the days that followed. The fire family knows no borders!
@@MTL911EmergencyPhotography it wouldn't surprise me at all to hear that mainers went up. Mainers are some of the toughest, most hard working, but also kind hearted people in the entire United States.
@@prylosecorsomething3194 what are your opinions on New Hampshire folk?
Rather be proud they are humans
@@luckyvanilla388 It’s ok to be proud of your countrymen. Plus they’re Canadians, they don’t have too much going. Let them have this.
I remember seeing this on TV back then. “Unbelievable” describes the feeling pretty well, as the scale of the destruction was hard enough to capture on camera, let alone by words of the news announcers.
I remember that too, but I don't remember seeing anything about it being a run away train. Not saying they didn't mention it, so much as I wasn't paying attention or never noticed. I always thought it was just a train that went too fast through an area and derailed.
@@hamishneilson7140 Me too I did not know that it was a train that was railing on its own. I just thought the engineer was just lucky to survive and then face the consequences.
I remember working in my office that day, a Saturday. The CDN national-level news cycle is pretty slow on weekends, like I'm pretty sure it's staffed by interns or just-above-interns working for peanuts. So there wasn't much for explosive BREAKING NEWS with tons of coverage that we could see associated with the event, but we did see a few articles that morning. I just remember thinking, "Holy shit, this is huge," way bigger of a deal than what one might think seeing the simple-looking articles on the national-level sites. It helped that one of my colleagues that day was Quebecois and was getting some info from more local sources.
masterpaidbot, more like it
I'm from Lac Mégantic it's crazy to see the damage of the explosion and how much it left the downtown empty. They have just started rebuilding.
I remember this. I saw a video taken by local teens at the time. They were just out being regular goofballs when the fire started. Immediately they took action and spread out to knock on every door and wake up the neighbourhood so that they could escape in time. It was truly amazing and heart warming to see. Those goofballs were heroes in my book.
I had never heard that part of the story before. Someone needs to do an in-depth documentary on the entire story. Those kids were heroes! Thanks for sharing.
Played a hockey team from there shortly after this happened they traveled down to Maine to play us. They were incredible guys, super fun to play against and they absolutely skated circles around our team. But they definitely had been affected by this event and it was quite sad.
One of the victims was the coach of that hockey team and also a high school teacher. Mathieu Pelletier, 29. May he Rest In Peace. So yeah, the team was really affected by the tragedy
I used to live in a town in New Jersey that is bisected by a freight line, and they ran oil trains through all the time. My house was just 2 blocks from the train tracks, and when this happened, it was a huge issue. Apparently the rail company refused to tell the mayor what they were doing to prevent something like this from happening in our town.
Hello from a former New Jerseyan! For some reason everywhere I've lived I was near trains, either freight or passenger. I always loved to hear them at night. For a company to refuse to cooperate with a town is just disgraceful.
I'm from North Jersey and also lived in Central Jersey and I don't know ANY part of Jersey that doesn't have chem or fuel trains whizzing by on a regular basis.
That's when you contact congressional legislator to pry open the railroad...oh wait, they won't bother so long as they continue to receive their paychecks.
I live an hour from Lac-Megantic and this was a disaster that rattled the hearts of all citizens across Quebec. I've visited the city a few times since - much of what was destroyed hasn't been rebuilt, but now there's a beautiful memorial park where the accident took place. I never thought i`d see you talk about something so close to home. Thank you for sharing.
google maps took photos of downtown a month before it was destroyed. It was a beautiful city.
I remember seeing the city before, and all-throughout the cleaning and rebuilding. Have family that lives near there, and it was quite a lot of damage.
We used to visit often, and were stunned and devastated by the incident. Such a beautiful little city.
@@HighwayLand Lac-Megantic is my town and downtown was one of the most beautiful places in Quebec. It felt like some european city with old buildings.
I get a lump in my throat even trying to imagine what those poor people went through, trying to run from a tsunami of fire, that's pretty much impossible, and the people in basements where the oil filled in, can you imagine being boiled alive by hot crude oil ? I am surprised there wasn't a bigger loss of life, this must not have been a very large town.And the people in that night club. It's always interesting to me, some tragedies it's the people who leave an area first who live, and sometimes it's the people who shelter in place who live, it's like life is a crapshoot and you truly don't know what to do to survive in these situations. God be with them all.
Why do you think the oil was hot?
As a Mainer, when this happened, it felt like it was in our backyard... I know everyone's thoughts were with the folks up in Lac Megantic. I remember the first reports saying they had no idea how many casualties there were because the fires were still burning and it wasn't possible to get rescue workers into some areas, and then the numbers started climbing. So sad. I don't know how residents can stand the sound of trains running through town. I'm glad to hear trains don't run on the anniversary of the tragedy, and hope that continues long into the future, out of respect not only for the dead, but their surviving families and friends.
A train under power can at least be heard and seen, and the crew can obey speed limits in the section...The runaway train was a ghost train. No engine noise, no lights, just sparks and smoke from the wheel trucks, and hurtling out of control thru the darkness.
And rail has always been that town's lifeblood. If ever the trains _stop_ being heard, then Lac-Mégantic probably will die for real.
Hi 👋 Eleda, how are you doing?
I live around one hour from Lac Megantic. On that night, I had trouble sleeping, so I started to watch TV around 2-3 in the morning... The view was horrible, the few early testimonies were so heartbreaking.
My parents lived 40km from there, they could see the light of the fire from their window.
I lived a kilometer from there back then... can confirm it wasn't fun
Don’t ever get rid of that tune in the beginning,gives me bumps every time I hear it.
Another Canadian here to say thank you for the factual and professional demeanor in which you deliver these videos! Always so great
Hitting close to home this time! I live an hour or so from there and when this happenned, it swept the whole Québec, and moslty the Eastern townships in a brutal suprise. Nobody could believe something like that would happen here.
Radio-Canada had commissionned an artist to do a comic about the tragedy too. Its a great read, but a heartbraking one. I know its in french and english, with photos of people in the Musi-café, text they exchanged before then. A closer look at what people did in the disaster.
I also still appreciate you learn how to pronounce the names of the places! Its super nice! :) your french was quite good on that one!
considering the scope of this tragedy and the chaos and damage that followed the crash, i'm honestly astounded that only 47 people died. May they rest in peace.
It's a small town with less than 6000 residents, most of whom live in rural areas around the town.
I come from a Canadian town about an hour and a half away from there. That was a huge incident that really affected the province of Quebec as a whole. It's definitly one of the disasters covered on this channel that hits the closest from home for me.
Yes indeed, I think the same.
Horrible cet accident!
@@mistral-unizion-music i just read “horrible cet accident” as if it was english until i saw “cet” again. god english has a lot of loanwords
@@ExperimentIV Cet not being one of them.
@@krashd part of the reason i glossed over it is because i used to be fluent in french lmao 😭
@@ExperimentIV Haha this is french. It means "this" accident 😉
When I read lists of victims it’s always saddest when I see what appears to be entire families killed, like the Roy family.
Well done video.
Thank you from Canada for covering this! These disasters are so sad and so unfortunate but you tell the stories so well and with such respect that your work is truly humbling.
I remember this and if ever you want to drop kick someone over their response to a tragedy it was the CEO of MMA. I kind of wish you mentioned that but it was horrible. He showed up four days after the disaster, I don't think he came with a French translator, however if memory serves he only spoke English to a predominately French location pretty much disregarding the people; he blamed the fire department. Honestly there's got to be old CBC clips of it, if not there's a fifth estate episode on it for sure.
Yeah I remember that. I have a cottage near there and while the english news was on it was typical you really got an earful from the newscasters as well as the town residents on the French channels
@@CrazyCrethon We were in Montreal at that time, and I remember vividly the local English press reacting much the same as the French press. A lot of anger at the way the disaster was handled from beginning to end. We were all horrified by the disaster (our European relatives were calling us to make sure everyone was okay, not knowing where Lac Megantic was in relation to our family).
Four days?! Where the hell was he??? And not bringing along a translator?
Those poor townspeople!!
Its not the CEOs fault...Most people in Canada speak English. That is our primary language. The French are mainly in one area...in Quebec and a few in New Brunswick. The French in Quebec tend to be quite racist, and REFUSE to speak English under any circumstance. If an English speaker was injured,begging for help, I guarantee the French would look the other way and pretend nor to hear them. They are a very belligerent stubborn people. So it does not surprise me they were whining and crying that someone would DARE to come to their town and speak English.
@@mlfett6307 Most likely. I do not live in Quebec so the news I got was playing it just a little more serious than a major accident from another country.
"Tsunami of fire" rings in my ears as I watch this episode, astonished by the horrors chasing through the streets of Lac-Mégantic. Thank you for powerful and high quality content.
I moved to Lac-Mégantic a few years back from Montreal, and I've always felt like I knew this place. It wasn't until I looked it up and remembered that rail disaster from years back. I remember watching the news in my home in New Jersey, shocked of the sheer destruction it caused. Living here still, I can say that there's always this odd feeling, basically a depressing feel walking through Rue Frontenac where it happened. Knowing buildings used to stand all around and people lived or worked in. Today the place still feels empty, I was lucky enough to move before some memorials were erected, so I personally saw the change of the area. It's still a lovely place either way, especially near the lake or river. The people here are amazing and I applaud them for making it through.
I live in Quebec, and still have very vivid memories of the news coverage here. Thank you for informing people about this disaster in the same calm, respectful, and informative manner you always have.
This channel is always amazing. From the respect given to the victims to the lesser-known tragedies it covers.
This is the third episode in a row that I knew a fair bit about the subject covered beforehand. Yet I still learned something new in all three cases! This is a great channel. I'm always glad to see how disasters like this at least inspire changes to make things safer so such a disaster cannot happen again.
Thank you for covering this one with your usual thoroughness. I remember when it happened but I didn't catch this final conclusions on how it happened. I only know it was one of several disasters in the middle of the country caused by crude oil or call from fracking being transported across country to be exported overseas, which rather annoys me since the only ones profiting from it are the big oil companies, subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.
I'm glad the driver was acquitted. He reported back to headquarters before leaving his post for the night, reported that the train had been behaving strangely, and HQ instructed him to do nothing more. He also had no idea that firefighters had come along and turned off the engines so that the air brakes were disconnected. The engineers the company sent out to check on the train concluded it was fine, when they most certainly should have checked the brakes after the fire. And he went above and beyond the call of duty, running into town to help with rescue efforts and fighting the fire, before he even knew that it was his train. He sounds like a conscientious individual, in which case the deaths on his conscience are sufficient punishment.
The management of MMA was fully responsible for this disaster. Many of the cost cutting decisions which caused this disaster came directly from Ed Burkhart who was the majority owner of MMA. As for the individuals who were sent to check out the 5017, in MMA's cost cutting moves, they eliminated many of the mechanics positions in Canada. So the railroad dispatched a pair of track workers, who had little knowledge regarding the mechanics of locomotives to address the issue.
Hello 👋 dear, how are you doing?
I've been binge watching this channel and other related channels on these topics. At first I thought it was weird that I was into this, but than I realized it's actually a really good thing. You really come to appreciate it all the safety mechanisms and policies have been put in place. Literally everything around us in our world has probably been made because someone or some people died tragically. Usually I think safety videos are so boring and I want to rush through it to get it over with. But I think I have a better appreciation and respect about it now. We really take a lot for granted everyday.
Great work as always, sir. I love to hear how firefighters and local workers teamed up to move the tankers. Well told & with great respect. Thank you for providing documentation and citing sources. You have never once made your topics overly dramatic, fudged the facts, or had to beg for clicks or subscribers. I wish all of RUclips were held to the standards you hold yourself to.
It's shameful that the three men were charged when, had it not been for the bad repair job, there may not have been a problem at all. Even if they had done everything right that night it was only a matter of time until something went wrong because of the damage - and the result could have been better *or* worse. It's also upsetting that the company went bankrupt and so all of its employees suffered unemployment. I hope they were given suitable severance pay... it's awful when these tragedies are so easily preventable, and that all too often you can trace it back to cut corners in terms of staff training and quality of materials etc. I'm surprised I don't remember hearing about this on the news.
I was thinking that too, that my heart went out to the folks who were laid off because of this.
I know it made me so mad, especially the engineer who did everything right and thought he was good to go to his hotel. I cant imagine what he was feeling seeing the destruction
I remember not hearing about it on the news, either.
You want severance? I’ll give you severance! *SLICE*
It was on the national news( not much) & in the papers, here in the States, I remember. I am from Michigan so maybe our close contact with Canada & their RR's is the reason.
I was working for a railroad when this tragic accident happened,itlead to the US FRA creating a new set of rules called the "Standing brake test rule" which requires crews to verify enough handbrake are set and fill out a form before disembarking their train.
The form is just the blame sheet. Trains that are improperly maintained?....is that acknowledged BEFORE all the liability falls on the operator? All Rights Reserved.
@@harrynicholes3166 -- the form is a check sheet to make sure it was done. had it been done here, the failed repair job wouldn't have mattered. However, the engineer wasn't trained properly, so even though he thought he was doing enough, he wasn't; so in this case, the form wouldn't have mattered.
I’ve been waiting for an episode on this one. Thanks a lot man I love your videos and that you show so much respect towards the people that tragically lost their lives in all those accidents.
Time and time again, it's not until there is a tragedy, that sufficient standards and safety practices are brought in.
People are not pawns. Corporations need to be held accountable for cutting corners, so that they don't!
Been waiting for this one to be covered, such a horrible tragedy, I remember all the news coverage here in Canada
I was I Ottawa at the time. Horrifying and heartbreaking.
When you said downward slope + the number of handbrakes set + the fact these were tanker cars, my heart sank a bit. When you said engine was shut off IT sank even more. Though I thought Westinghouse air brakes worked on "low air" springs close brakes? Anyway, lowest person on totem pole is always the scape goat.
No, they use air tanks on each car to apply the brakes. These tanks are filled by the brake pipe, and triggered by a pressure drop in the brake pipe, so if that springs a leak the brakes will come on. But if the cars air system is leaking, they will eventually release. Great to stop a moving train that breaks apart or springs a leak, but not to hold one overnight.
This might still have happened even without the fire and subsequent engine shut off, as the air brakes can't be recharged while they are applied anyway, so leaky brakes would still lead to a runway.
They work that way on trucks with air brakes, but not on rail cars.
I don't quite understand why the brakes aren't always applied when there is low or no air pressure and pushed open by the air pressure against springs. Wouldn't that be the safer design?
@@Taladar2003 Too big a risk of them getting applied on one car when they aren't supposed to be on and then you have a brake dragging which will lead to a fire. That's why they do it that way.
It seems train air brakes, work the opposite way to vehicle air brakes. Very strange.
thank you for this video. I remember requesting it a couple months ago. You are always so respectful and knowledgeable. I can't help but shiver each time I see these tanker train.
Great video. I love this channel. I have a morbid fascination with disaster stories, particularly those involving engineering. I listen to several RUclips channels and frequently come across the same story in multiple places, but I will always listen to Fascinating Horror whether I know the story or not. The production quality, the narrator's voice, the music, the writing, and the encapsulation that is somehow both brief and comprehensive will always keep me coming back for more. 👍
Canadian accident it is.
Why they don't do regulation ?
A totally avoidable disaster. If only safety procedures had been in place. And the railroad had not cut corners trying to save money
Thanks for sharing this disaster.
I've looked into this sort of thing during my master's program. What I found that the problem was not cost cutting as it was arrogance. When the culture exists that 'we are too good to have an accident' - safety enforcement slowly erodes away.
@@colincampbell767 Oh yes. I also had similar thoughts
I am absolutely gobsmacked that locomotive brakes don't use the same spring-applied/air-release mechanism used on trucks, where compressed air is required to both release the brake and modulate the pressure. A total loss of air pressure results in the brakes locking up under spring tension. I'm sure there's a lot to consider since a train is quite different from a truck, but I'd just assumed that train brakes were at least as fail-safe..!
Train air brakes release under pressure. Lack of air sets up the brakes. The issue is with the car maintenance. If the system isn’t maintained, the air can eventually bleed out of the system.
Hence why the release test is so important.
Literally days after this disaster, we had new rules about the securement requirements of trains, and additional paperwork on trains with enough hazmat.
@@mudduck1332 My very amateurish understanding, based on the very limited amount of reading various sites and watching a handful of videos, all seem to indicate the same thing:
Each car has a local air reservoir that is pressurized from the locomotive's compressor system via a feed line that runs the length of the train.
A reduction/loss of air pressure in the feed line causes pressurized air from the local reservoir (retained by a check valve) to enter the brake cylinder and apply the brakes.
But a loss of pressure in the *local reservoir* means you have no pneumatic brakes; ONLY the manual mechanical brake.
There is also a secondary brake system that uses electrical signals to allow pressurized air into the brake cylinders, with no reservoir tanks, but this system has no fail-safes at all since a loss of pressure anywhere means that system doesn't work.
I've yet to find any description that contradicts this understanding... it just seems insane to me that there exists ANY state of failure that permits a train to have no brakes, even if that would require the local braking system on the majority of cars to fail at the same time; however unlikely that might be, it's clearly possible since that's what happened here!
@@Smidge204 Your description is fairly accurate. This is called a Westinghouse air brake (or automatic air brake). They actually increased railroad safety immensely when invented. One advantage of this system is that if there's a break in the brake pipe (if, for example, a coupler knuckle snaps and the train breaks in half -which does happen on heavy freights), the brake pipe pressure drops to zero IMMEDIETLY applying emergency brakes throughout the entire train (via the check valve dumping the entirety of the each car's air reservoir into the brake cylinders). There's some other nifty things about how it operates as well when you get into DPU (distributed power units -locomotives in the middle and rear of the train).
So why don't train cars have air-release and spring-apply? Because it would make moving railroad cars around without connecting and charging airbrakes practically impossible. This would, essentially, make railroad classification yards impossible to run. It would also make local freight operations (shorter trains that switch cars out at local industries) a colossal pain in the ass. At the lower speeds used on these operations the locomotive brakes alone are sufficient to control the speed of a shorter, lighter train.
There's other safety considerations as well. If a single rail car, for example, has an issue with its brake system and doesn't apply brakes, especially on longer trains it won't really matter (so long as the brake pipe is fine). However, if that car's brake automatically apply at mainline speeds chances are the locomotive engineer isn't going to even notice.. and you'll be scorching jammed wheels on a railcar. This could very well lead to big problems if the wheels got hot enough.
In the case of Lac Megantic, the issue wasn't that the airbrakes released per se. The issue was that proper safety procedures were not followed. Handbrakes alone are sufficient to hold a train so long as enough of them were applied (IIRC this train required about 20 to be applied to hold a consist of that weight -not the 7 that were). Generally if a train is or has a chance to fowl a mainline, the line should also be protected with a portable derailer (a device that lifts the flange up over the rail and drops the wheel on the track ties). These devices are quite heavy and really can't be applied by a single operator. If MMA had actually followed proper safety procedures, this wouldn't have happened.
As usual it wasn't so much an equipment factor as a failure of the human factor.
This is what I was thinking too as a former HGV mechanic. It seems incredibly dangerous to me.
@@kalnaren Thanks very much for that detailed description. Everything you said about the problems with spring-applied brakes makes a good deal of sense now that it's been laid out.
Been a subscriber for several months now, & I really appreciate the fascinating content. The research into how these events occur & their causes is very thorough & in-depth. I'm also glad to hear about the measures that are adopted to try to prevent such things from happening again. Unfortunately, as so often transpires, people have to die & lots of property must be destroyed for appropriate safety practices to be implemented. Errors are made for the sake of cost & expediency. Maybe SOME DAY we'll learn. Thank you for such interesting content!
As a Canadian who remembers this tragedy very well, I want to thank you for covering it! So well done and informative as always!
I'm from Quebec. This was, and still is, a big thing. Every Quebecers know Lac Megantic and what happened there.
Now, a lot of citizens are asking for a "voie de contournement". An alternative railway that would avoid going through the center of the city. I believe they are still debating about it
Ya, we’ve been pushing for a pipeline for years, they love having the oil on the rails though.
For me is an expensive nonsense. Also, if some day passenger services are restored on that line, trains will be far from the town.
I mean, really having oil cars (or any dangerous liquids!) running along tracks that are *uphill* from the town is just inviting trouble! Not a resident myself, but I would want at the least for there to be a secondary line not only routed around the town, but at least slightly *downhill* from the town, and any environmentally-sensitive areas (like the lake), so even if ordinary loads of lumber and grain etc stay on the existing tracks, any dangerous goods could not only be kept away from the town by being diverted onto the secondary track, if they did spill, they'd be more contained, and not just run straight into the town!
@@KryssLaBryn Good points but I don't think that anybody has cottoned on to the point that this was a short line rail that had been abandoned by the majors and operated by one of the most cut throat minors in the business. The next stop for this line was ripping up the rails, not relocating them.
It was the oil transferring business through Maine to New Brunswick that kept the cars running at all. The miserable amount of rail traffic generated by that mill and a few others would never have paid to keep this line open. It was the cheap transporting of misidentified Baakan crude hauled from North Dakota by the CPR to Montreal and then transferred into MMA's hands to run it out to Irving's refinery in New Brunswick that kept that line open.
They gonna start it this summer
This is the second time you've covered something in Canada that happened during my lifetime and I definitely forgot it happened until you posted but as soon as I saw it I knew what it was. I wasn't alive for the Halifax explosion, but since it's one of the most consistently covered events in Canadian history I don't think I could ever just forget it happened. But when you don't live there, and it didn't impact you personally, and you don't get reminded of it, it's amazing how fast you just don't think of it. It was massively covered at the time, and there is no doubt it was horrific and worth remembering, but for some reason (at least outside of Quebec) it just didn't get much ongoing attention in the years after. It's why I appreciate you covering stuff that doesn't get a lot of attention, otherwise we loose them and as a society start to forget the lessons we learned and the people lost.
I live in Washington state here in the US and we got a lot of coverage about this here. Maybe because we have train tracks through our downtown too. Idk
Im in BC, and I feel like Canada is BC. BC is HUGE!!! I don't get out much, I have only ever been to 2 other provinces, so it's hard to grasp that there is sooo much more out there, if that makes sense lol but I remember this for sure. It was very scary and sad and I can't believe it's already been that long
Well said! For all the lives lost from this, it sure was buried in the news cycle. Glad it sounds like more safety regulations were since implemented because of this, including additional engineers
I’m surprised this happened when I was alive. I was like 12 at the time but I have no memory of this??
I remember when this happened. I had only lived in Montreal a couple of years after moving from Calgary. It was certainly widely reported on here, though there are details in this video that I did not know. I do remember hearing that the town itself had raised concerns about dangerous goods going through its downtown but the concerns were ignored. It was utterly shocking to see and hear about the devastation caused by this runaway train.
I still remember watching this on the news, praying for the inhabitants of the town. Your research and narrative really does explain the how and why it happened. They always say safety rules are sadly written in blood.
They need to make fines on dumb stuff like this high enough to REALLY hurt.
Thanks for bringing these stories to the public view. It is necessary.
Honestly, trusting a giant bomb on wheels like that to just 1 man is asking for trouble...
The Air Brakes on trains/locomotives over here fail safe. The air pressure is used to keep the brakes off, rather than on.
Yea that makes much more sense!
Loss of air from the train pipe will apply the brakes, but air pressure in a reservoir on each vehicle is required to actually apply them. If this has leaked away then the air brake will not work, or will provide less brake power due to the reduced pressure available in the brake cylinders. Spring applied, air released, parking brakes on each vehicle would be a good option because they apply automatically if air pressure is lost. Air pressure in the reservoirs that is. These types of parking brakes are used on some passenger trains here in the UK, on the London.Underground for example, but I don’t know if they are used on any freight trains. I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t be in a scaled-up form. They would only need to be able to hold one vehicle since all vehicles in a train would be fitted.
@Kabuki Kitsune On North American freight trains, reduction of brake pipe pressure causes an equivalent amount of pressure to release from the equalization reservoir into the brake cylinders. For example, when "released", the brake pipe is at 90 Lbs. A reduction in brake pipe pressure to 84 Lbs will cause 6 lbs of pressure to enter the brake cylinder. 80 lbs will cause 10 lbs to enter the brake cylinders, etc. An immediate and rapid reduction in brake pipe pressure (such as a pipe break -for example if a coupler breaks when running and the train comes apart) is when the triple-valve will release the entirety of the equalization reservoir into the break cylinder.
Dynamic brakes work at higher speeds.. on older (DC) locomotives they're not particularly effective below 15 MPH. Dynamic braking is used quite often in general. Unlike airbrakes, you can gradually apply and release dynamic braking at will. With small, light trains locomotive independent brakes alone are probably sufficient to control the train at low speeds. Still, I can't imagine a scenario where mainline running without airbrakes is even legal, let alone smart. I don't work in the industry though so I dunno.
@Kabuki Kitsune Yes. It was cheaper to keep the locis running and supplying air all night than it was to wait around for the time required to re-pressurize the tanks and then have to have the engineer go check to see that the brakes on all the cars had unlocked.
I just googled it and this is the procedure. " ...The reason to not make an Emergency application to secure the train is because if the train is left like that for more than 4 hours, then you have to do a full Terminal Air Test on the train. That test requires the Trainline Air to be pumped up to full operating pressure, the pressure differential between Controlling Locomotive and rear car to be measured and not more than 10 psi difference, then an application of the Automatic air brakes are to be made and the train walked to make sure the brakes have applied on every car, followed by a release and the train walked again to make sure every car's brakes have fully released. Yeah sure that's going to happen. In any case the Automatic Air brakes on the train are going to fully release very shortly after the outbound Engineer starts to put air back in the Trainline. Of course the report says that the railroad lacked a Safety Culture so maybe they would skip the air test and just go. They could always just cross their fingers for Luck. ... "
This train had the failsafe system. Its just that air brakes by themselves can't hold a train overnight, especially not on a downgrade! The system will eventually lose pressure. And not enough handbrakes were set, either. So down she rolled...
Thank you for doing a Canadian story, I'm in western Canada, but I remember this devastation like yesterday, so horrible.
Geezus. I had coffee and pie in that town back in the 1970s just for something to do. It was a spontaneous trip from Maine where I'd been camping. Most people I talk to never heard of the place, but I still remember it fondly.
I hadn't heard of this disaster until seeing this video. Hat's off to all the rescuers, and condolences to the people who lost friends and family.
I'm surprised they don't use chocks or clamps of some kind to prevent motion.
The workers who, on their own, brought in heavy equipment to help were true heroes. The world could use a lot more people like them.
As a Quebecer, I can tell you, nothing major ever happens here aside from impressive strikes and marches when we are unhappy about something. But Lac-Megantic really shook us. Especially since it happened in a very small country side town. It was horrible to watch. Videos taken by people fleeing their homes as the flames gets closer and closer. People knocking on their neighbours doors to wake them up to save them. In a way, they were lucky this happened in July. Had this happened in winter people would have froze in their escape in their pajamas.
Lmfao impressive strikes 🤣😂 you mean a bunch of cry babies crying 😢 😭
I love, love LOVE your Table of Contents!!!! Thanks for uploading! You're an amazing storyteller! 👏
Thank you for covering this. We have a lot of things that go on around here that rarely get coverage
First heard about this from "Well There's Your Problem". Many safety measures were lax, not just brakes but one-man crews and worn tracks
I was shocked that it was just one engineer for the whole train. A five engine train obviously should had have a large crew and conductor.
@@falzar3381 It's insane. Just one guy and he walks away with engines running leaving the entire train unsupervised? Great money-saving idea from the railroad.
I remember hearing about this disaster on the news here in Norway and it was shocking to hear how massive the fire was and how much of the town got destroyed. I'm glad the death toll wasn't highter than 47 but it does't make it any less tragic. May those 47 souls rest in peace and maybe one day the town will be fully restored again.
It is already restored just to let you know and I wanna say thank you as a resident of lac-mégantic
Look up the Halifax explosion during WW1 when 2 ships collided in the harbor, one loaded with munitions for the war. Largest man made explosion until the atomic bomb.
Thank you for covering this disaster so well. It affected all of Quebec so much.
Great editing following the google maps route and transitioning into the explosion pic. Really helped tell the story.
I know I have said this before but kudos to this channel for it's high production values and it's ability to tell; what are often horrific situations in a calm, informative manner without the slightest hint of sensationalism. The narration is also top notch. Much respect 👌
Nice things are worth saying twice :)
I can't even imagine the sounds this made. For one, the eerie sound of a train clearly in a free roll with no one on it to stop it and two the sound of the derailment of metals and the fireball explosion. They say trains are basically silent untill they're right on top of you, imagine this one. No power just rolling with so much weight and momentum. Jesus
Oh yes. You can listen to it and imagine how it really sounded. Especially when they when they were up close and personal trying to unhook the cars and pull them back with the machine they used at the mill to move rail cars around which didn't have a AAR Type "E" train coupler on it.
ruclips.net/user/results?search_query=lac+megantic+derailment+video
Thank you for this. I saw this story originally on The Fifth Estate and you provided a lot of information I didn’t know. I appreciate the amount of research that goes into your content.
I remember this happening like it was yesterday. We still feel it here in Quebec. Thanks for covering this Fascinating Horror, excellent as always!
Any punishment you could levy against those men doing their jobs to the best of their knowledge and abilities would be pointless, with the one "responsible" being horrified and joining the crews immediately to help. Those deaths and destruction, everything that was seen will haunt him and the others for the rest of their lives. There will always be burning nightmares waiting in their minds. Lord have mercy on them.
Only go to court as a PLANTIFF.
I remember this, this news story was everywhere, it was our biggest rail disaster since the 1979 Mississauga train derailment, which prompted the largest evacuation in Canadian history, due to the chemical fumes from the train's cargo.
I think I may have commented about this disaster on one of your previous videos (likely a train related one), and even if I didn't and am misremembering things, thanks for covering this! It was massive news at the time in Canada (unsure how much coverage it got internationally), but barely anyone talks about it now, at least not in my area. There was also a lot of coverage afterwards, especially interviews with the survivors and other residents. Really a disaster worth remembering and taking lessons from; and the victims too. I was 13 when it happened and I can still remember where I was when it came on the news, much like how some folk can remember where they were when 9/11 occurred.
This was still in my memory banks after all these years BUT never knew all the details. Excellent documentary and a valuable lesson that to put Safety 1st in all cases. R.I.P. those that were taken and the pain and loss suffered by their families and friends.
The quality content this channel produces is fantastic. Keep up the great work!
The MMA was one of the few railways in Canada that operated with a single driver. CN, CP, Via, all run with two people in the locomotive.
I remember seeing a documentary on this a few years back, I think on PBS (U.S. Public Broadcasting Station). The footage of the center of town shortly after the derailment was truly hellish. The whole center of town was just gone. The bar was also highlighted during the show; apparently the owner had just left to get something from home, only to return to a burning crater and many of his employees and long-time customers dead.
This happened not far from us, and I have been waiting for a piece on it from you. Thanks very much. It was indeed horrible.
Merci pour cette vidéo. Trop peu de gens sont au courant de cette tragédie. Ici, au Québec, nous ne l'oublierons jamais. Again, thank you.
Je me souviens….
Incroyable tragédie en effet. Bouleversant... 😔
It's still wild that it's almost been 10 years since it happened. I remember seeing it on tv like it was just yesterday.
You’re doing an excellent job with your channel. Thank you.
The best part of your videos is watching one about a disaster with which I'm quite familiar and finding something that makes me say, "I did not know that!" Nice job with the research!
It's so odd to think that when the firefighters left the train the first time, there must've been a palpable sense that disaster was narrowly avoided. And then only a short time later...
Unrelated, but you've been doing an especially good job lately adding b-roll footage and pertinent photos. Your narration style is still the most interesting part of these videos, but the use of visual aids really adds to the feeling of immersion. Keep up the good work!
Let me ask you this. Did you know how train brakes worked before watching this video? I'm a "demented rail fan" and I have some understanding of how train braking systems work. And yet, if I was one of the firefighters responding to that event, I wouldn't have know to check to make sure the hand brakes were sufficiently set to prevent the train from rolling. I am willing to bet that before this accident, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who could justify sending one city employee out to learn how to operate a train to prevent this accident. But now we have such an incident in the history books, it's easy to point fingers and say, "They should have done this. They must be held accountable." This is the problem of the "First Story" point of view for accidents.
@@jackielinde7568 Did you mean to respond to someone else's comment and somehow selected mine by accident? Because that's the only explanation I can imagine for such a random, vaguely hostile reply to what I said.
@@Unownshipper Oops, yeah. Happens sometimes. Sorry about that.
@@jackielinde7568 They did call the dispatcher, He told them to shut it off. Hence him finding himself in the prisoners box. They did discuss it back and forth and decided that the fire department should shut it down and that MMA would send out a crew to check it out. That they didn't start up a second locomotive was nuts. That they didn't chock the wheels while on the hill was nuts. I thank you for bringing up that "first story" concept.
Oh, excellent point! I have also really appreciated the appropriate visual aids added here. Man, I love this channel!
Even though Unstoppable was based mainly on the Crazy 8s incident, I feel like Lac-Mégantic was a better demonstration of the potential consequences in that movie. Granted, it was three years _after_ Unstoppable came out, but I doubt they would have released it had a disaster of this magnitude involving a runaway train happened in recent memory.
I was also thinking "Lac-Megantic is the more disastrous version of the Crazy 8s".
Holy shit. I never would have thought this was such a recent occurrence. 2013??
The similarities to the Unstoppable movie are uncanny, although this seems more a series of misfortunes than negligence. It sounds like everyone did their job the best they could; of course no one thought about the air brakes when they had a fire to deal with. Wild.
About a month ago, I considered suggesting this one to you...And here it is. I'm from Quebec and I remember when it happened, and how everyone's ire wasn't directed at the engineers, but at the company. It felt good to see angry people not accusing humans, but the neglectful entity behind them who was the true culprit. Good job on this, I even learned details I didn't know, even if it happened when I was about 25 and I still remember it very clearly.
Your a very wise content creator in choosing a subject that can never be exhausted, that being "Things That Went Very Wrong" . And they will always make more. Cheers to a long career.
That's a few hours away from Montréal where I love, I have a friend who lived there. I remember that it was horrible:( Rest in peace to all those poor souls!
I'm baffled by the fact that this happend not even a decade ago...... One would expect procedures end regulations to be much better then they where at the time. This disaster has the feeling of one that could have occured in the fifties....
Great content as always 👏👏👍
There have been at least 21 oil train derailments just in North America since 2013. Plus more abroad, such as at Llangennech, Wales, in 2020, where a bullet was really dodged as it happened in a relatively rural area. Derailments aren't just a thing you read about in history books, they're still happening every day. Every incident is preventable in some way.
@@victoriacyunczyk A bullet dodged in terms of loss of human life, but an environmental disaster due to the massive contamination of wildlife habitat.
This is how it is. Money talks. Those with it generally try to ignore any concern for safety because of costs. Eventually something happens. Things tighten up for a bit before going back to business as usual.
sadly these may become more common because of deinvestment and the "managed decline" mentality a lot of railroads have. everything is so truck and car based now, and railroads seem inefficent and old to many people. so companies dont invest in safety bc they figure, whats the use when im just gonna sell all this in a few years anyway. and thats exactly what MMA did. and for the top brass and shareholders, they got away with it.
I live in Quebec, this happened on my birthday. I was on vacation with my family at our cottage, we heard the news through the radio as there was no television there. Thanks for making this video and explaning exactly what happened, it was very informative
Really love your channel since it has subtitles for the videos.
I'm from near Montréal, about 3 hours drive from Lac-Mégantic.
- I went there a couple years ago. I stood on the side of the train track, which is just in front of the church where they have installed a memorial (A big book made of stone with every 47 victims's names).
I was thinking, wow, this must have been so dramatic and terrifying! There was still no new buildings on the fatal side of the track so it was easy to visualise the location of the crash and fire.
- I also want to add that 2 people that where there that night, commited suicide afterward:
1- One was a musician, playing at the Musi-Café bar that night (About 30 people died there in that bar that night). He was somking a cigarette on the exterior of the bar when this happened and was spared, but not his musician partner who was inside.
He always saw flash-backs from the fire and could not beleive he lost his friend that night. 2 years later it was too much for him unfortunately... R.I.P.
2- A young apprentise firefighter, 25 years old, was on duty that night and had the verry horrifying, unexpected shock of pulling his own girlfriend's body out of the inferno... He commited suicide 3 months later. R.I.P.
- Another thing that could have been added, is that the lake itself was on fire that night because of oil leakage in the sewer and on te shore of the lake. Horror movie stuff... it must have been so freaking incredible looking at the lake and see it's surface on fire. It also prevented firefighters to be able to pump water from the lake to extinguish the fire. Incredible...
Love your way of telling the story in a respectful wy. Love the channel.
Heard about this one when it happened due to being a railfan (train enthusiast). The fact that the management got away without any repercussions other than filing bankruptcy is shameful, but that's big business for you I guess. What an awful and preventable loss of life.
From an enthusiast's point of view, their bankruptcy directly led to a lot of their older locomotives (considered historic by some of us) being sold off at auction with the rest of their assets, and a majority of them were cut up for scrap. Definitely a big loss for the older General Electric built diesel locomotives, which we have very few of in preservation (museums and historical societies) due to enthusiast bias already. Lose-lose situation all around...
Also, we love shortlines for many reasons, but most of them, MM&A included, should not be authorized to operate oil trains in the first place. When these decisions are made, no one thinks to look at the condition of the track, motive power, or anything else related to safety. MM&A were trying to operate a mainline railroad on the cheap, which never ends well. Just ask Penn Central.
If those GEs were maintained properly, or one-man crews hadn't been allowed, or any number of other things, this would not have happened. The Swiss cheese model we see referenced often in aviation needs to be taken seriously in all industries.
The management should have gotten life in prison for every innocent life they ended.
We can't quantify how many lives will be saved with every safety regulation, but we shouldn't have to. That really says something about how immoral the corporate world is.
@@victoriacyunczyk the railroad had been operating with a lax safety culture for almost 10 years prior to this. Many of the events leading up to this disaster could have been prevented had the regulatory agencies involved, actually done more than give MMA minor fines.
Sd40s ecsaped scrap ?
@@ZombieSlayer-dj3wb I said a majority, not all. I don’t know specific locomotives but I know almost, if not all, of the railroads GE’s were cut up. Unrebuilt SD40’s probably wouldn’t stand much of a chance either in today’s market but I don’t know their specific fate.
@@ZombieSlayer-dj3wb no, only one ended up on WLE. The 4 exCN units they had got scrapped in the last days, or when the final two were sent to LTEX. There was a plan to rebuild two of them for Pan Am Railways, but the deal fell through and they were parted out.
I live on Moosehead Lake about 100 miles east of Lac-Megantic. A while back, my dentist got talking about this. When I saw your video I hopped on it to learn more. It's kind of eye-opening because that rail line runs right through my town. Thank's for the great video -- just subbed!
My family is from Lac-Mégantic. The train exploded directly downtown, is really ravaged the town, it's not like it used to be. It was so peaceful, quiet, happy and welcoming, now when i go near the crash site, there's like this heavyness that can't be washed away. Life goes on, and the town is rebuilding, but it's never going to be the same. It feels like no matter where you are, disaster can struck. I will always remember a survivor re-telling this nighmarish vision they had of someone trying to flee the fire, the roads being so hot that their shoes melted off, and their skin was sticking to the pavement as they ran.
reminds me of a disaster very similar to this, except it happened in San Bernardino. it wasn't a tanker, but it affected the pipeline and destroyed quite a few houses.
Wow, you do great work!! Sad stories, but such useful learning experiences.
Wow , thank you so much for talking about this horrible drama that shook the province where I live to the core , you did an excellent research ,thank you
This was one of your best. Well done