During that time, a 700-ton crane was brought into the isolated location by rail and assembled on-site. About 800 cars of ballast were dumped in order to make a stable area from which to work. Working in -30 degree Fahrenheit temperatures, a team of some 50 workers worked continually to bring up the trailing locomotive and 9 ore cars that also derailed but remained on the river bank before tackling the submerged locomotive. Once divers had attached cabling and secured any loose portions of the carbody, the job of bringing the locomotive up through a hole cut into the river ice was carried-out.
On Nov. 6, 2014, a QNS&L freight train derailed at mile 14.6 of the Wacouna Subdivision near Tellier. The northbound train collided with a rock slide obstructing the main track. The two head-end locomotives and nine empty cars went down the embankment, and the lead locomotive came to rest completely submerged in the Moisie River. Engineer Enrick Gagnon, 45, was killed in the incident.
Officials estimate that three weeks of work remain to disassemble the crane and clean-up the work site.
