E&N trestle blaze stops rail service
Norman Gidney
Times Colonist, with files from The Canadian Press
A spectacular fire damaged a 35-metre wooden trestle on the E&N Railway at Nanaimo late Monday afternoon, forcing the suspension of freight and passenger service north of that city.
“The trestle is closed. It needs to be inspected,” said Anne Venema, general manager of E&N Railfreight, which owns the railway running from Victoria to Courtenay.
A structural engineer was to visit the site today to check the charred trestle, and the company is working with officials of the B.C. rail safety section, she said. “We’re in that process right now,” Venema said Monday night.
The scheduled Dayliner passenger service of Via Rail was to leave from Victoria today as usual at 8:15 a.m. Passengers headed north of Nanaimo will switch to a bus at that point and the process will be reversed for the afternoon return trip.
Flames burned furiously in the creosoted timbers and rail ties, producing huge amounts of thick black smoke visible from as far off as Parksville, 10 kilometres north of the fire.
The trestle parallels the highway a short distance west of Woodgrove shopping centre in Nanaimo’s north end.
Capt. Norm Maybin of Nanaimo Fire Department said firefighters at the scene reported that the heat from the fire caused the rails and supporting structure to warp.
“It got so intense it picked up the ties four or five inches. It warped the rails – the rails themselves won’t be straight,” he said.
The cause of the fire was being investigated but “all indications were it was the train itself,” said Maybin.
He speculated that it could have been a seized-up wheel bearing, dropping sparks generated by friction.
“That still is under investigation. We don’t know that at this point. Arson is not being ruled out,” said Venema.
Lou Fasullo was driving home so