End view of likely the last loco with no tank cars still attached
Picture (taken well before this incident) of lead locomotive (MMA 5017) with a remote control system in the converted caboose.
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Lac-Mégantic timeline
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/M%C3%A9gantic+fire+timeline/8626739/story.html
11:25 p.m.: An engineer from the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA) parks a train carrying 72 tankers, each carrying thousands of litres of crude oil (roughly 100,000 litres), and five locomotives in Nantes, approximately 11 kilometres outside of Lac-Mégantic. According to the MMA, he had stopped for a crew change and then retired to a nearby motel for the night.
11:30 p.m.: A resident in Nantes calls 911 after seeing a parked locomotive on fire between Nantes and Lac-Mégantic. Firefighters arrive on the scene and are able to extinguish the blaze.
11:42 p.m.: 12 firefighters arrive on the scene. Nobody (from MMA or otherwise) was there.
SATURDAY
12:12 a.m.: Fire in locomotive is extinguished.
12:13 to 12:15 a.m.: Two MMA employees arrive on the scene. Firefighters leave soon after establishing that the situation is under control.
1:15 a.m.: The first explosion in Lac-Mégantic is reported, followed by at least two others. Initial reports suggest 30 buildings are destroyed. Much of downtown is flooded with crude oil and fire. Patrons of a crowded bar flee. Many remain unaccounted for.
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more at link above
End view of likely the last loco with no tank cars still attached
Picture (taken well before this incident) of lead locomotive (MMA 5017) with a remote control system in the converted caboose.
Thanks for the timeline.
That the MMA employees didn’t know to have at least one engine running is startling, to say the least.