|
On December 27, 1942 a troop train rear-ended a passenger train standing in the station at Almonte, Ontario. Thirty-five people were killed and 207 injured, making this one of the worst train wrecks in our history. "Train Wreck at Almonte" is from the pen of Mac Beattie, one of the best known Ottawa Valley performers and songwriters. Along with his Ottawa Valley Melodeers, he toured the valley for many years playing dances, exhibitions and radio shows, creating many fine songs along the way.
More information: Mac Beattie's This Ottawa Valley of Mine. Arnprior ON: Beattie Music Inc, 1982, pp. 262-264. Click HERE to see more background on this song.
(Tim: vocal, guitar; Barry: harmony vocal, guitar; Roy: fiddle; Patty: bass)
|
|
'Twas the year of forty-two, in the last week of December
On a stormy winter's night, when the wind blew cold and raw
And the passengers and crew came aboard the Pembroke local
Fresh from Christmas celebrations, destination Ottawa.
It's a hundred miles or more from Ottawa to Pembroke
And the engineer was trying his best to make up time
He was losing all the while, with the long stops at each station
And gaining far behind him came a troop train down the line.
Chorus: Oh the cold wind was blowing, down the track they were going
And the locomotive laboured hard, the heavy load to draw
And how little did they know that disaster lay at Almonte
"All aboard the Pembroke local, destination Ottawa."
Oh the coaches were all filled as they pulled out of Arnprior
They were packed into the aisles, any place that they could jam
And the lonesome whistle screamed as the fireman stoked the fire
They were cruising, but still losing, as they went through Packenham.
They had entered Almonte town and pulled up at the station
When around the curve behind them came a piercing whistle scream
With a mighty rushing sound, the troop train was upon them
Through the noise of crashing coaches, you could hear the dying scream.
There were heros made that night, from courageous Almonte people
As they worked upon the living, the dead and dying too
There were many killed that night, valley people will remember
On that fateful Almonte train wreck in December forty-two.
Return to song List
|
|