Borsig Disaster

Wales

On January 18, 1969, a rival company had opened a new mine at the bottom of Borsig Mountain with the obvious intention to try putting the other company out of business, which they were starting to succeed at doing. It's unknown whose plan it was, but pipes were constructed that went all the way down to one of the rival company's mineshafts and was pumping explosive gas into them. Somehow, the gas also began to fill their own mines and by the time they shut down the pipes, it was too late and the mines started to be evacuated. Around 375 people were working at the mines at the time of the evacuation, and around 230 people decided to stay there as they needed extra money for the family.

At 9:42 A.M, the explosion that caused the tragedy occurred. Fortunately, people had four minutes to continue evacuating as the other two exits were not yet blocked by debris or caved in. The main entrance already was though.

## Dahlia Story

As the evacuation was going on, Dahlia arrived and coupled up to some trucks and was waiting for them to be filled. Confused on what was going on, her driver Jerome hopped out of the cab, and as he did, a sudden explosion in a building above one of the entrances to the mines set the building on fire. People rushed to Dahlia hopping into the unloaded trucks. Once there was no more room they began racing down the mountain, and they were about half way down when a gigantic explosion shook the whole mountain, causing multiple landslides and entire parts of the mountain to cave-in. A massive rock smashed though the middle of the train, splitting a truck in half and derailed the back of the train. The landslide then smashed it off of the cliff, and the ground ahead of the train also caved in, bringing part of the rails with it. Dahlia derailed while going at full speed, and Jerome fell out of the cab and got crushed by one of the trucks as it also derailed.

## Asher and Aster Story

Aster was in a siding when the fire happendHer driver Geore ran over to her to try and save her, when the entire site exploded. She was still too close. Geore was killed instantly, along with her brother Asher who was somewhere in the mines, and Aster was blasted off the mountain as the ground fell out from under her. She somehow survived the blast and was later found, kept in a shed for 2 years, and was finally rebuilt and served on the new preserved railway in 1972. Unfortunately, Asher did not.

## Bleinea Story

On January 18, 1969, on a peaceful day in Bleinea, people saw fire and explosions coming from what seemed to be the mines. At this time, 9:42 in the morning, miners just left to work aboard one of the locomotives (either Asher, Aster, Dahlia or other Borsig locomotives). It was a very empty day at Bleinea. 403 men and women left for their jobs, around 279 going to the mines and 124 going to the city for other work. Only around 215 women and children and some men were left in the town. Most of them didn't know what to do at this time and began to panic.

Some families living in the town would board one of the Borsig locomotives heading towards northern Wales and it would depart at 9:45 A.M. with 63 people on board the train, just one minute before the mountain collapsed. The rest of the families help Jeffrey quickly couple coaches together and get in the coaches. Jeffrey is just about to go with about 87 people on board when the mountain explodes, sending a gigantic heat blast and causing the whole cliff and mountain to explode and collapse onto the doomed town of Bleinea. The rocks landslide down to the town, burying and crushing everything in their way, especially Jeffrey.

The 152 people left at the city, with 57 in their homes, would be crushed under the rocks, locomotives, ore, and miners, killing all but 28 people, who almost all of them were out on a morning group walk by the river and when they saw the mountain collapsing they ran for their lives and used a riverside motel for shelter. The motel barely stood up to the mountain and incoming landslide's weight as it pushed against the building. The hut detached from the floor and began to go along with the landslide and debris that was sliding along the terrain. 5 people were heading to one side of the motel when that side collapsed on them, killing them. The landslide continued until 9:54, before stopping after around 4 miles. They were rescued by a team from another city.

All the deceased were temporary, if not permanent, citizens of Bleinea. On that day, their population went from 618 to 248, and the town was buried with rock. Plans to rebuild were brought up in 1972, but building on top of newly fallen rock or trying to remove it would be dangerous or hard.