Wreck of an immigrant train at Brunel, a siding 1.5 miles east of Nicholson. Below, you see the type of car used in this train. This image was published by Dale Wilson in the fall 1999 issue of CP Tracks. Ian Macdonald saw it there and sent it to us.

Thanks to some good detective work by Ian Macdonald, we now know that this train jumped the tracks at this siding on April 11, 1907. The coaches were old colonist cars. They crashed to the ice and burned. Many immigrants were killed and burned to death and are buried in a mass grave in the protestant cemetery at the east end of Birch or Main Street in Chapleau.

The Toronto Daily Star reported this accident in its April 13, 1907 edition. You can download the Star's page in PDF format here.

Ian Macdonald makes the following comments:
"I got some timetable information from the CPR archives to refresh my memory of the names of the various sidings. Many of the names are unfamiliar to me. I thought you might be interested to see the changes from 1903 to 1911."
( Here is a link to the timetable. )

Ian Macdonald goes on to say "one of the things that struck me about the Brunel wreck was how the railroad provided a unique kind of historical reference that connected us to the great global events of the day.

The Brunel train, of course, was transporting the first wave of Central European immigrants to western Canada who eventually settled on prairie farms and created the famous North End of Winnipeg.

I have clear recollection of trains conducting military equipment and troops during WWII (although I was a toddler at the time) and also recall the notorious DP trains carrying refugees west in the mid to late forties.

It was an interesting way to connect to the world from our isolated little community."