A CN Rail engine crew has been rescued from British Columbia's Fraser Canyon after a locomotive plunged down a steep embankment.
And the crew of another CN freight train escaped unscathed after plowing into a snowdrift in northeastern British Columbia.
A rock slide is blamed in the first accident that saw two locomotives and a lumber car jump the tracks early Thursday near Lytton.
CN spokesman Jim Feeney says one of the engines slid down a 75-metre slope with both the engineer and conductor on board.
The two were stuck on the embankment until they were pulled out by rope after daylight because it was "too steep to climb up."
CN supervisors gave the pair blankets, hot food and drinks while they waited for rescue.
Mr. Feeney says the crew members were uninjured except for some scratches and bruises, and the locomotives don't appear to be leaking any fuel.
Meanwhile, three of four CN locomotives delivering empty 102 coal cars to the Teck coal mine in Tumbler Ridge were derailed in the train's collision with a snowdrift on a spur line between Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge.
It took about two hours to get the locomotives out of the drift, Mr. Feeny said.
"The main entry and exit door for the locomotive was blocked by snow but the cab window was still above the snow level," he said.
"The crew was not injured, but because they were in deep snow it was decided that the best thing to do was to stay inside the cab until we could get people there to bring them out."
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