Jeremy Waldenberger-Bulmer says the emptiness in his home is “undescribable” after his twin brother died in a Canadian Pacific Railway train derailment near the Alberta-British Columbia border.
A westbound 112-car freight train was parked near Field, B.C., west of Lake Louise, Alta., when it started rolling early Monday. It barreled along until nearly the full length of it plunged into the Kicking Horse River.
Calgary-based conductor Dylan Paradis, engineer Andrew Dockrell and trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer were killed.
“I feel like half of me is gone now,” Jeremy Waldenberger-Bulmer said Tuesday.
Brothers had ‘big plans’ at CP
The brother sent CBC News a written statement, offering condolences to the loved ones of all three men. He also works at CP Rail and knew Dockrell and Paradis.
He had encouraged his twin to apply, and Daniel was hired in November.
“Before he started, I always told him how much I loved my job and how I’m always excited to go to work,” Jeremy wrote.
“He was loving it and knew he would make a lifetime career out of it. We had big plans of living out our careers with CP Rail and retiring together to golf all over the world.”
Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer, right, smiles with his twin brother, Jeremy Waldenberger-Bulmer. Daniel was being trained as a conductor when he and two other men died in a Canadian Pacific Railway train derailment Monday near the Alberta-British Columbia border. (Submitted by Dylan Kress)
Daniel’s childhood friend, Dylan Kress, had offered him a job in Ontario last summer. But on the way back from visiting family in Moncton, N.B., Daniel was offered an interview with the railway.
“He was 110 per cent focused on doing whatever he could to make sure that he could get that job,” Kress said. “I was very happy for him, an opportunity like that doesn’t happen very often.”
Kress has taken a few days off work to mourn his longtime friend, who always checked in and supported him.
“I’ve been pretty shook up about it,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to find a friend like him again.”
Trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer, left, engineer Andrew Dockrell, centre, and conductor Dylan Paradis, right, were killed when a CP train derailed near Field, B.C., early Monday. (Facebook)
The cause of the derailment “was not anything the crew did,” Transportation Safety Board investigator James Carmichael said on Tuesday. “The train started to move on its own.”
He’s calling it a “loss of control” and is investigating why the brakes on the parked train didn’t hold.
Trainee ‘looked up’ to mentor
Daniel moved from Victoria to Calgary when he started at CP and began training under the supervision of Paradis. Daniel had requested Paradis remain his coach, his brother said.
“He looked up to him and loved everything Dylan was teaching him,” Jeremy said. “My heart goes out to everyone grieving.”
Paradis was the father of two girls, according to a fundraising page posted to help his wife.
“He was kind, hilarious, hardworking, easy going, and IN LOVE with his family,” the page says. “They were everything to him.”
Dockrell is being remembered as a reliable, respected colleague.
“Railroading really is a special job in that it takes a unique set of skills, intelligence and temperament. Andrew had all that,” said Frank Keller, who retired from CP in 1994.
The train derailed near the mountainous border with Alberta. (CBC)
Waldenberger-Bulmer said that when he was growing up, he fought with his twin “like any other siblings.” But the two were inseparable, and remained so in adulthood.
A photo provided by Waldenberger-Bulmer shows him carrying a grinning Daniel on his back.
Jeremy said he is constantly reminded of his brother by his daughter, who walks around the house calling for “Unco Dano.”
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