Funeral held for VIA trainee from Cornwall killed in derailment
Posted Mar 2, 2012 02:56:34 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Friends and family of Patrick Robinson, 40, have said their final farewell to the Cornwall man who was killed in last Sunday’s VIA rail crash in Burlington, Ontario. It’s the first funeral of the three victims.
Patrick’s brother, Ken says the railway was in his blood.
“That was his goal in life. I don’t know how many times we heard it. I’m going to work for VIA one day and drive the passenger trains”.
Robinson was an “observer” in the locomotive that jumped the rails.
Patrick had a long history in the rail industry, working at CN Rail before moving to the now defunct Ottawa Central Railway.
His former boss, James Allen tells 1310News, “he was an extremely good worker, was certainly positive and well liked by the crew”.
The funeral was held Friday morning in Cornwall.
Patrick leaves behind his daughter, 13 year old daughter, Amanda and 10 year old son, Logan.
Memorial donations can be made in his memory to Big Brothers Big Sisters or the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
At 3:26 Friday afternoon every VIA train in operation across the country will sound its whistle in memory of the three engineers who died in the crash.
