Log Train behind Mt. Benson

[DarronC]

Has any ony heard about a logging trin that plunged off the tracks and was left there at the bottom of a ravine? Supposedly it had a single log section per car.

[stanley strazza]

no I didn't hear abut that DarronC, but, i was told by a few old timers that Witchcraft Lake was man made for the locomotives on this side of Benson to fill there water tank cars on the way to and from a logging show and mill

[Spence]

Don't know if it is related, but researching my family history, I found that one of my grandfathers brothers was killed in a railroad accident on Mount Benson, supposedly from what my dad told me involved a wreck of a runaway logging train. Don't know where, but his death is registered in the archives as Mar 1 1918. My parents and grandparents grew up in Harewood and out at Nanaimo Lakes, and this is the only accident on Benson I can ever recall them talking about. Would like to know where to go to investigate. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Nanaimo Cemetery, found this out checking cemetery records on the plots our family owns. Buried with his infant twin sisters who died a couple of days after birth in 1888. So young they were never named. If you find any more info on this wreck please post guys, I would like to know more.

[stanley strazza]

city hall will copy the grave-site layout for you if ya' just ask for it....what was your kinfolks names?....I'll see what I can come up with in the meantime......stan the man

[Spence]

Thanks Stan, but I know the location of the grave. As it turns out our family has owned a plot and a half since the 1880's. I intered my parents ashes in the half plot, and I found out about the other burials at that time. Don't imagine there is much left of the train after 90 some odd years, but I would be curious as to where. That line ran from Bebans mill out to Quarterway and to Extension in the other direction from what I have been told. Something rings a bell that the wreck occured between the mill and Extension, somewhere around T swamp hill. Thanks for the info.

[stanley strazza]

http://www.nanaimoarchives.ca/index....n-Nanaimo-1965

found this......stan the man

[DarronC]

Thanks for the information so far. I don't know if the train would show up on google earth.

[stanley strazza]

so ya' figure train is on the backside of "Benson" eh!....stan the man