A Victoria man was one of three men killed Monday when a runaway Canadian Pacific freight train derailed and plummeted more than 60 metres near Field in southeastern B.C.
Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer, 26, had just moved to Calgary from Victoria to become a railway conductor, following in his twin brother’s footsteps. He started work with CP in November as a trainee.
“I’m always excited to go to work and it made him realize that maybe he should try it out, so he applied and got hired,” his brother, Jeremy Waldenberger-Bulmer, said from Calgary.
Daniel was living with his brother, Jeremy’s wife Meika and their 19-month old daughter, Tenley, while starting his new life in Alberta.
“He was loving it and knew he would make a lifetime career out of it,” said Jeremy. “We had big plans of living out our careers with CP Rail and retiring together to golf all over the world … That was our thing to do. If we weren’t golfing together, we were watching golf.”
Monday’s tragedy never factored into the twins’ imaginings for their future together.
“Daniel was my twin brother and I feel like half of me is gone now,” Jeremy said.
“He was training and he loved the job so far. He was excited to have a life of railroading.”
Jeremy said he had the privilege to work with conductor Dylan Paradis and engineer Andrew Dockrell, both of Calgary, who were also killed in the derailment.
“When Daniel got paired with Dylan [Paradis], he requested that Dylan remain his coach because he looked up to him and loved everything Dylan was teaching him,” said Jeremy. “My heart goes out to everyone grieving.”
Daniel, son of Cari Waldenberger and Albert Bulmer, lived in Victoria for three years to experience “Island life,” as he loved being by the ocean, said Jeremy. He worked for 4Refuel, a diesel-delivery company, and made several good friends, said Jeremy.
Like all siblings, the Waldenberger-Bulmer twins fought sometimes, but they were also inseparable, Jeremy said. “Daniel lived an amazing life. He got to experience a lot of things in the short time he was with us.
“He always brightened up the room and was always able to put a smile on people’s faces.
“I hope he’s got a brand-new set of clubs up there and is golfing the best game of his life.”
The accident took place between the Upper and the Lower Spiral Tunnel near Field.
The train had been stopped at Partridge, the last station prior to the entrance to the Upper Spiral Tunnel.
Transportation Safety Board investigators said Tuesday that the three-man crew had just boarded the train on a new shift, and were not ready to depart, when the train, which had been stopped with air brakes applied for about two hours, “began to move on its own.”
“There were no hand brakes applied on the train,” the safety board said in a statement. “The train then accelerated to a speed well in excess of maximum track speed of 20 mph for the tight curves and steep mountain grade and the train derailed.”
It was a grain train composed of 112 covered hopper cars with three locomotives, positioned at the front, middle and rear of the train.
Following the derailment, only 13 cars and the tail-end locomotive remained on the track, said the safety board.
The lead locomotive and some of the cars derailed on a curve prior to a bridge, with the lead locomotive coming to rest on its side in a creek. A number of derailed cars came to rest on an embankment. The remaining cars, including the mid-train locomotive, piled up behind.
Investigators are at the crash site and in Calgary to determine how and why the loss of control happened.
Event recorder data from the lead locomotive has not yet been obtained, because the lead locomotive was severely damaged, said the safety board. Data has been recovered from the tail-end locomotive and work is underway to obtain data from the mid-train locomotive.
- Cindy E. Harnett, Times Colonist
