19th century Americans weren’t the only inhabitants of North America with the ambition to build a railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Construction of Canada’s version of the transcontinental railroad, the Grand Trunk Railway, started in 1853. Six years later, it began operations between Ontario and Quebec.

Unfortunately, the great ambitions for the Grand Trunk never came to full fruition. One of the reasons for that is the disaster that happened on this date in 1864.

At 1:20 a.m., a passenger train operating between Levis and Montreal approached a drawbridge on the Richelieu River near the town currently known as Mont. St. Hilaire. A red light a mile ahead signaled that the bridge had been raised to allow some barges to pass. But the conductor didn’t acknowledge the signal and proceeded toward the bridge.

The train came onto the bridge. The engine fell into the opening and plunged into the barge passing below. 11 coaches followed, each crashing on top of the other. What was left of the train sank 10 feet into the River.

The inquiry blamed the disaster on the conductor’s failure to heed the red light signal. The engineer, who survived the accident, was a recent hire. He claimed he wasn’t familiar with the route and that he never saw the signal.

The Grand Trunk Railway disaster claimed 99 lives, including the conductor and scores of German and Polish passengers aboard. In terms of lives lost, it remains Canada’s greatest train disaster.

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