THE RAILWAY MAN
The following passage is about a routine trip that turned into a train driver's worst nightmare.
1. That night, the trio expected business as usual. There was no section of the railway track the men did not know on the run from Mac Tier, thirty kilometers south of Parry Sound, to Cartier, Ontario 260 kilometres north. They would be hauling forty- eight wagons behind four locomotives, each engine topped up with more than 9 000 litres of diesel fuel for the journeys. In addition to the tankers carrying sulphuric acid, a tanker carrying 120 000 kilograms of gaseous fuel was hooked up nineteen wagons behind.
2. The life of a railway worker is not for everyone, they are on call twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. However, the pay was good and the men had built their lives round the demands of the job.
3. Reducing the speed from seventy one kilometers an hour to sixty five, Osborne spotted the green warning flags, but they were lying on each flat on each side of the rails. They must have been knocked down by the wind, he thought, reaching for the radio to alert rail traffic control in Calgary. He quickly cleared the slow order section of the track, and then eased the throttle open to pick up speed. As the train rounded a bend in the track, a chill raced down Osborne's spine; a yawning black hole, over a hundred metres across, loomed ahead. The two silver rails were bowed and suspended above the chasm. It looked as if they were racing towards a cliff. Swearing, Osborne slammed the automatic brake valve, throwing the train into full emergency stop, but he knew it was too late.
4. A washout – that moment when the earth simply disappears from beneath the track bed and there is nothing left to support ions of speeding metal – is a railway man's worst nightmare. Rarely did anyone survive such a catastrophe. There was nothing Osborne or the others could do to save the train. He dropped back into his chair, "Goodbye, boys," he said simply. For Moloney, there was not even time to feel fear, only enough to register the terror on the other's faces, the hissing of the air brakes and the screaming of the engine as its wheels broke free from the rails. Plunging into the void, the cab was pitched into darkness and he was thrown against the ceiling. Moloney braced himself for the crushing sensation he knew would follow as 2 100 tons of metal, fueled by its own terrific momentum, jack knifed and collapsed over them.
5. Colling's chest smashed into the steel panel of switches. Then, he was thrown upwards and his head struck the sloped metal ceiling. Osborne slammed into the windscreen, and then bounced off the heated unit. He could hear metal scraping sand and gravel as the locomotive slid on its side down a fifteen metre embankment. Skidding fifty metres, the 200 ton engine ploughed the ground, and Osborne soon felt his body rising with the debris that flooded the cab.
6. Within minutes, the engine stopped dead and for few seconds everything was silent. Then, the locomotive surged forward again, pounded from behind by other units piling on top of one another. The third locomotive jumped over the lead, shearing off its engine and narrowly missing the crew in the cab. The air shook with a violent 'whimp' as diesel fuel ignited.
7. Osborne was shoved back into a corner, huddles into a ball and was too afraid to move. Certain they had dropped into a swamp, he waited for the water to pour in. something cold dripped onto the back of his neck, but it was not water. It was diesel fuel. Dazed, Moloney staggered to his feet. He gripped his arms and legs, scarcely believing he was still alive. "Kerry! Donniel!" he screamed, unable to see the others in the pitch black cab.
8. "Joe, you OK?" Osborne yelled back. "We have got to get out of here. We are on fire." Moloney saw the eerie glow as the fire steadily grew. Outside other units were exploding into flames, casting a flickering light into the upper reaches of the cab. Now they could see Collings crumpled up, his hand lying against the ceiling of the cab. Blood trickled from his eyes, nose and mouth. His neck was bent downwards and his chin was embedded grotesquely into his chest. "He's dead!" Moloney exclaimed. He lifted Colling's arm. The limb flopped back, lifeless. Osborne checked his breathing, but only heard faint gurgling of air in Collings' chest.
9. Outside, the flames now reached five metres into the air as fuel was discharging from the ruptured diesel tanks. Osborne realized that the fire would follow the leaking fuel to them. Worse, he was terrified that the gaseous fuel tanker nearby would rupture. The compressed gas, powerful as a bomb, would blow them sky high. "We have got to move fast!" yelled Osborne. Fighting panic, Moloney looked down to Collings and said, 'But we can't leave Donnie." Disoriented in the dark, Moloney clambered on top of the driver's panel and groped around until he felt the brakeman's door handle high above him. He dropped down and grabbed Colling's arm.
10. It was a miracle that anyone survived. "Let's see if we can lift him," he said. However, it was impossible. The strapped man was too heavy for them to lift. Moloney strained to push the heavy steel door skywards. Then, while Osborne held it open, Moloney scrambled out. Before following him, Osborne found some coats and a bag with portable radios and shoved them out of the door to Moloney. Through swirling black smoke, they scrambled past the nose of the cab, stunned to see fiery devastation surrounding them. The air hissed with cracking and popping noises.
11. Moloney was horrified at the thought of Colling's body being devoured by the flames. There had to be a way to get him out. He circled down near the bottom of the wrecked engine and spotted a two metre wide chunk of frozen rubble jammed into the driver's broken window.
12. "Kerry!" Moloey screamed. "I think we might be able to dig in here!" He dropped to his knees, maneuvered himself into the narrow space and, with bare hands, clawed at shards of broken glass. He pitched aside chunks of frozen rubble and loose rock. His hands ached as he stopped out enough to fit his shoulders sideways through the shattered window. He dared not think about the wreckage above him, there was nothing to stop the engine from shifting and crushing him.
13. Osborne flashed a torch over Moloney's shoulder and he caught Colling's torso in its beam. He could see his stomach mpve. "Joe, he's still alive!" Five metres away, the flames now shot even higher. Moloney dug like a maniac. Moloney was finally able to worm his way through the broken window, up to his waist. Carefully, he rolled Collings onto his back, cradting his head and neck, fearful the latter might be broken. Then, digging his elbows into the ground, he dragged Collings slowly through the opening. Collings gasped for air as blood bubbled out of his mouth. Collings groaned in agony, " I got to do this. Donnie, to get you out!" Moloney thought. He pulled Collings' head, shoulders and arms through the window, but then he could not be budged. "He must be caught on something," Osborne said, "We will have to go back into the cab." The air, thick with suffocating smoke and chemical smells, poured their faces.
14. Collings mumbled incoherently. "hang on tight, Donnie!" Osborne reasoned. "We are going to get you free!" They climbed back onto the wreck, and Osborne hoisted the door open while Moloney lowered himself inside, and then quickly freed Collings' leg, which had been trapped by a bracket. Having jumped back down from the cab, the pair wrestled Colling's body through the widest part of the window and with a final yank they pulled him free.
15. Suddenly a huge grin spread across Moloney's face as he turned to Osborne. "We're alive!" he shouted. They slapped each other's palms in a high five, overjoyed.
Adapted from The Reader's Digest June 2000, 'No time for fear' by Lynne Shuyler)