Wesley and Bessie MacDonald are my grandparents. I was 2 and a half years old when the derailment occurred. Thank you so much for sharing my Grampie's story and keeping his memory alive. I love reading all of the comments. He really was a legend. ❤

This legend really just posed for a pic by the train he almost died in... Huge respect

The engineer showed bravery where most would have bailed. He went down with his ship and lived to tell about it. He gave all the warnings and held on til the final moment. That man did the most honorable thing in that situation he could have ever done. As far as train wrecks go, this went about as well as it could have. No one on board but him and no deaths; just damage that can be fixed with labor and money. I'm glad he was cleared of the fault. We need more men like him.

When the engineer said "GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR WAY" and the dispatcher said "Well get the hell out of the way then Palmer" I randomly started cracking up. Maybe because of the way they speak with an accent. But in all seriousness, I gotta give mass respect for the engineer who kept going until the end. He helped avoid a disaster

I am a rail traffic controller and started my career at CN. We are all made to listen to the tapes of this incident when we first start training!

Moral of the story: if you're gonna wreck at 70mph make sure you in the heaviest vehicle.

Incredible story, the recorded audio really adds to it

He survived and took a picture next to his derailed locomotive. He’s a true legend as many others said. The fact he stayed on and saved multiple lives. Good on him May that legend Rest In Peace

"Cn blames the engineer" wow, who could have seen that coming

It’s like watching Cajon Pass all over again🙃

Huge respect to the engineer

I was a conductor for CSX for 6 years, and I always thought I would probably try to bail off if I knew we had lost control of our train soon enough, maybe 30 mph or slower... I ran on the line between Nashville and Chattanooga and we had some pretty steep grades, my worst nightmare was loosing our brakes going down the mountain into Chattanooga.

4:35. The engineer was concerned for "#14" ; the VIA Rail Canada, "The Ocean", a large and popular passenger train from Montreal to Halifax.

"An awful goddamn mixup if i ever can survive it" Christ this man is made of different stuff.

And that's why we have organizations like the BLE, to prevent companies from tossing blame on engineers who try to do everything they can.

"Runaway Train" was a badass and underrated movie.

Runaway Train soundtrack is REAL intimidating, really incites the situation

We have a saying in the Railroad Business....you are as good as your last move! Much Respect & Many Blessings to this Brave Engineer & let me add that 42 YEARS OF SERVICE & BEING 60 YEARS OLD at the the time of the crash is Amazing. Cutthroat companies will do anything to blame employees.

My grandpa was one of the CN investigators for this crash. He lived in Moncton. Cool video.

That’s about as well as a gravity runaway could ever dream to go. Engineer survived without serious injuries, no collateral damage to nearby structures, no people or animals near the tracks killed, no locos damaged beyond repair. Even the ore was probably recovered. All they lost were the hoppers and some money on the repair costs.

The radio contacts make this all the more interesting and amazing to watch What a true chad of an engineer

I remember this well. I was an employee of CN at that time in Moncton.

The engines and the engineer need a miracle I don’t think the wide cab will be added back if it’s ever repaired......

This dude is a freaking legend

CN: * tells the engineer he’s in trouble because he left the air brakes uncoupled and took too many cars* Me who has already seen the beginning: why?

Thunderbolt, you do a great service. I wish we had someone like you in the trucking industry. There is nothing like the scrunching in your gut when you come off a long grade and find out your trailer brakes dont work, or you cannot stop on the ice. Gravity is in control now, you are not. The pressure is always on to deliver on time, but sometimes you have to refuse and take whatever comes. I have been fired a couple of times, but I never killed anybody in 40 years. There is always another trucking job.

Nobody does railroad disasters like you nobody excellent excellent story

I’ve started watching this a couple days ago these are brilliant

To see the 9548 today, you’d never know it was in this wreck, which is a testament to the outstanding work CN workers did at their shops 👍🏼

I can’t find anyone else on KZfaq that does train documentary’s this well glad we have you

Sounds like the trainmaster was more concerned about investigating and finding fault with the engineer than concern for his employees. "Make sure nothing moves after he gets it stopped " . Typical

Thank you brother, for doing a derailment from the Atlantic provinces. It's nice to see our local heroes being remembered I really appreciate it. Love your videos.

Railroads in Canada use the imperial system as well given how closely linked we are to the US system. So even though on my drive home I have to abide by the metric system, at work we work in miles and feet just the same. Confusing but pertinent when talking about Canadian RRs..

Good job thunderbolt!

Not to many lucky stories of the train derailments have a very good outcome like this and i know they are always crazy story of them

I love how the radio chatter is in a Canadian Maritime accent. The 1979 Mississauga Derailment, would be interesting.

My dad worked as dispatcher in Moncton during that time wasn’t the line he was responsible for but remember that like it was yesterday,my dad worked for CN for 38 1/2 years and as been retired for 31 years now at 85 years old.

I feel like this derailment is similar to cajon pass, both are runaways and both start off similar. Anyone else notice that?

We need to have engineers like him🙂

Excellent use of Runaway Train (1985) clips and music. I love that soundtrack

Almost like the titanic but on land, a captain goes down with his ship.

Railroad: You don't need to connect the air hoses when moving the cars... Also Railroad: Why didn't you connect the air hoses then moving the cars?! But you _told_ me-- Railroad: I don't care! 6 months suspension and you lose your pension! This is why I've always hated having to work for a living. No matter where you work, the people in charge are cowardly little shits that'll use you as a shield to deflect the blame whenever _they_ allowed you to do something that resulted in bad press. There isn't a single good person in the higher ups. I've had jobs where I followed all the rules and _still_ got fired because "it just wasn't working out." I'd like someone to fire _them_ because "it just wasn't working out" so they can know how it feels.

Wow, that actually made me feel emotion, coming from a CN family. Staying on the engine, blowing the horn at crossings and in towns, that's fairly heroic. Great Video man!

This is one of the best features you've ever done. I remember listening to that whole radio conversation a couple of years ago when I did a random KZfaq search for runaway trains. Wesley was a damn hero. May he RIP.

Thanks for pulling together these elements to tell a good story that should be better known. Worth noting that the Nepisguit branch to Brunswick Mines had a lot of rural level crossings without automatic gates. Staying aboard to blow the crossings was a brave thing to do as locals, used to the slow moving ore trains, could easily have been caught off guard by this runaway.

That dispatcher has quite the sense of humor

Damn legend, taking a picture with his derailed train! If at all possible, can you do a video about the Jeannettes Creek Train Wreck that occurred in Ontario on October 27 1854?

Hey, I've seen NECR 3015 pulling freight through my town, noticed the wide cab as they're rare around here. Interesting that it's not only Canadian, but also flight qualified.

And thus the memory is launched forward in time. Thank you. 🖖

I can’t believe McDonald actually survived. He is a legend

That dispatcher sounds almost exactly like my grandfather... He was working for CN as a dispatcher during this time but he worked out of Bellevile ON on the kingston subdivision. He never told me much about his years working for CN but he'd have certainly known about this. I wish I could have asked him more about his work before he passed in 2016.

Wow. I live just 30 mins from Moncton and just hours away from Bathurst and Campbellton. This hits home.

The radio sounds like a discord argument

"An awful goddamn mixup if I can ever survive it." Truer words were never spoken.

Man, that locomotive driver had the guts to go down with the train. What a legend. Also, can u do a story of the 1991 union square wreck

Finally, someone makes an ACTUAL documentary! I'm sick of all these people just playing roblox and calling it a documentary.

This train wreck recording was used as a training aid at CN. We had to listen to the recording when we trained as hoggers. If you have ever worked on the railway then you'd know how easily this can happen. Complacency in any aspect of working with rail equipment always puts your life at risk. Any weight change will change how your equipment handles.

I never expected to hear the full story about this famous accident. In the early days of the internet there circulated a link to the audio and I believe it was used in railroad safety education. Thank you for the catch-up story. RIP Wesley, you will forever remain a legend of the 'steel road'.

This premiers at 00:30 in the UK

12:38 LOVE the Doug Mckenzie impression 🤣

That had to be the most canadian sounding emergency recording I've ever heard😂

I didn’t know about this wreck until this video

As always, incredibly researched and detailed. You do such a great job with these videos

What an amazing story, Captain went down with the ship and lived to tell about it, wow.

Rest in piece Wesley MacDonald 1928-1997

Train: *i am speed*

I grew up along a train line in the Alberta badlands, and my great uncle was a cn conductor. Thank you for sharing this incredible story

It makes me wonder what if more engineers were like that stayed with their train and atleast tried to stop it and then escaped with their lives if they knew they couldn't stop it

Hey if you want to make the train gameplay footage more smooth, you can install cheat engine. It allows to virtually slowdown your game so it takes 2 real live seconds for 1 program second (or any other vallue you set) which means you can record on half speed and then speed it up in post. And because the program has "more" time it will run in higher FPS and thus you will get smoother animations! The audio is something else tho.

He never gave up the train and tried to get back in control. Huge respect.

My hat is definitely off to this engineer how he stuck it out all the way. Awesome 👍👍👍❤️

Incredible work thunderbolt. That must've been terrifying for Mcdonald in that train.

This brave man said I’m going down with my engine now that’s a brave man

Thanks to your channel, I know about some train derailments I didn’t even now happened! Keep up the great work.

So much work, so much research. Tyvm.

I heard the audio 20+ years ago. IIRC, shortly before the derailment, the engineer said over the radio "if I get out of this, they can put me on the fuckin pension."

“The higher ups just aren’t reasonable” and that was in 1988... 😅

He managed to live an additional nine years as a retired railroader. That's around 8.5 years longer than he could of expected. It takes a toll on the body.

I just discovered your channel a couple of hours or so. This is my 4th video. You describe things very well without lots of screaming and yelling like most documentaries of this type. You have a new subscriber.

Im glad that he survived

I mentioned this to my Dad and he says this guy was an old friend of his. Dad, if you see this, I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your nickname years ago 😂 Glad you've been able to enjoy many years of retirement. I know you couldn't wait to get the hell out.

I saw the movie in the cinema back then when I was about 12 years old, it made a lasting impression, still watch it on DVD from time to time

The quality of these videos are only getting better and better, great stuff Thunderbolt!

Thunderbolt my friend, I gotta tell yeh. A WWII veteran friend of mine passed away last year at the ripe old age of 99. He was also a 41-year veteran of the rails. Starting with the DL&W in 1941 before going to war, then going to the Erie Lackawanna, then hitching with Conrail. He was the conductor of the trains - including the famous Phoebe Snow. In the 1970’s, he brought his train into the Buffalo yards in Blasdell south of Buffalo. He told me, “We came in that night and the tower master had us park in a siding. The engineer and I asked what to do with it, and they said, “Just leave it there. The next crew will pick it up in the morning”. So, we went home for the night. But the people left the switch open. And during the night, another train came speeding into the yard, and went into the switch. The next day, we came back to the yard, and we saw the damage. If you could imagine it, the cars were strewn across the tracks, and were piled 50 feet high. It was the worst wreck I had ever seen”. Now, at the time, he was one for seniority because he had worked with the road for so long. However, the CEO of Norfolk & Western did not like him. When they heard about the wreck, they immediately put blame on him for it. He was immediately fired. But during this time following the incident, New York State, the City of Buffalo, his union, and the NFTA began investigations into the wreck. Two years later, the State of New York came back and BLASTED Norfolk & Western for their actions, demanding that he be reinstated and paid him for EVERY SINGLE DAY he was out of work. That is what you call justice served. This was when he was still with the Erie Lackawanna. If you are wanting to put this into a video, you will need PERSONAL PERMISSION from both ME and HIS DAUGHTER. I am the only one he told about this, and his daughter is very protective of his legacy. So, if you are interested in making a video of this, contact me on either Facebook, Discord, or any other way. I await to STILL get a chance to meet you here in Western New York. -The Tank Commander

Reminds me of the Cajon Pass wreck 1989 and 1996 when the engineers climbed out of the wrecked cabs

Happened just a few hours away from where I live and I'd never heard of this before. Thanks for the video.

Can we just appreciate the work he puts into these type of videos.

Thanks for this. I heard the audio years ago. Quite dramatic.

Great video, canyou do the 1995 Russel Hill crash though?

Why did I cracked up when the Dispatch guy said "Well get the hell out of the way then Palmer" 💀 Also huge respect to the engineer for trying everything he could to stop it

Watching this at 3am,probably gonna give me nightmares ,when I do get to sleep ,excellent video!!!

0:08 I’m sorry but that jump as hilarious

He knows undertail

I so wish you would do more of this type of video! Love learning about these things. I know there is only so many of these types of events.

I keep rewatching this one. the recorded audio really puts it into perspective for you..

I hope this man is at 100k by the end of the year. Great content m8!

Great vid. You should get a series on History channel.

This happened in my beautiful province! Thank you for the great video. Learnt much more from this than I ever did in school

I first heard the audio of this wreck on the internet some years back. Gave me cold chills then and and gives me cold chills now.

The conversations are interesting