Jun 05, 2009 - 04:59 PM

By Keith Gilligan

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OSHAWA -- Krys Jones and husband Earl Mackintosh were working in their Montrave Avenue back yard Friday when a CP train derailed in front of their eyes.

"I saw one on a tilt, a box car. I thought it would go back (upright) and straighten out. All of a sudden, in front of my eyes it was bang, bang, bang, bang. I thought it would come right into our yard," Ms. Jones said.

"We just ran. We ran inside and called 911."

The train derailed near the bridge on Park Road spanning the tracks, just south of Gibb Street, around 2:30 p.m.

Charlie Stacey lives across the street and was also outside when the train derailed.

"I felt it and the dogs started to act funny," Mr. Stacey said. "It was really quick, one big bang and then a bunch of little bombs."

Mr. Mackintosh said dirt travelled with such force across the grass, it left grooves in the lawn.

Mr. Stacey said there was "a fire right under a diesel tank."

He used a shovel to put out a smaller fire but "I wouldn't go near the diesel one."

One of the cars was "bent in the middle, right at the bridge."

A new switch was installed on the track about five years ago, but "every two months they sent a track machine and are banging it," Mr. Stacey noted.

"It's right behind my house. It slid on its side and the tracks gave out. The tracks are 12 feet in the air."

He was outside with his dogs, Maple and Pearl, and "I felt a big bang."

Ms. Jones said they felt the derailment, too.

"We felt it and we were right in the back yard," Ms. Jones said. "Earl had just finished cutting the grass."

Durham police officers were evacuating homes on Montrave south of the accident.

The incident happened around 2:30 p.m., Ms. Jones said.

Earlier in the day, the couple had been chatting with the engineer of a train waiting for another train to pass.

"There's a spur line and a train was waiting for a train to go by. We were talking to the engineer this morning, saying 'I hope there's no derailment,'" Mr. Mackintosh said. "It's weird stuff."

"I never want to see that again," Ms. Jones said.

Mr. Stacey said there's no fence along a section of tracks to keep people from getting on the tracks.

"It's an awful sight to see," Mr. Stacey said. "One guy supposedly walked down (after the accident to look at the cars). I didn't see him. There's probably someone hurt in there (one of the cars).

"The wheels were all over the place. One (car) is on its side right by my house. It would be leaking if the lid wasn't on it," Mr. Stacey stated.

Mr. Mackintosh speculates that the switch didn't reset after the train went through earlier in the day.

Mr. Stacey said, "The track buckled ... There's all this excess track. All the ties are sideways."

Mary-Ann Gaudet said her son attends St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School and the students were sent to nearby Ecole elementaire Corpus Christi.

She said she lives on Gibb Street and didn't hear anything.

Roberta Staples was outside the Coffee Time outlet at Park Road South and Hillside Avenue with some other customers and her nine-week-old Jack Russell puppy Jake.

"I heard one of the cars was full of hydrogen peroxide," Ms. Staples said. "We didn't hear a sound. A police officer said it just tipped over. It wasn't a crash. I asked if it hit something and he said no, it tipped over."