Vince Coleman (train dispatcher)

Coleman was an experienced dispatcher who had been commended a few years earlier for helping to safely stop a runaway train.

10 from Saint John, New Brunswick, carrying nearly 300 passengers, was due to arrive at 8:55 a.m. Before leaving the office, Lovett called CGR terminal agent Henry Dustan to warn him of a burning ship laden with explosives that was heading for the pier.

However, Coleman returned to the telegraph office and continued sending warning messages along the rail line as far as Truro to stop trains inbound for Halifax.

The train was halted at Rockingham Station, on the western shore of Bedford Basin, approximately 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) from the downtown terminal.

10's Conductor Gillespie reported to the Moncton Transcript that although running on time, "his train was held for fifteen minutes by the dispatcher at Rockingham.

"[8]Vince Coleman was also the subject of a Heritage Minute and was a prominent character in the CBC miniseries Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion.

The Heritage Minute and other sources contain historical inaccuracies in that Coleman is shown warning others in the area surrounding the depot station of the impending explosion.

Coleman is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Halifax, at the intersection of Mumford Road with Joseph Howe Drive.