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Caption: Back in the earlier days of my seeking out stations before they were demolished, I often found at the end of the subdivisions a switcher and caboose based there. Made sense. Work up and down the line and deliver cars to the nearest mainline interchange. In the case of St. Marys, perhaps to Zorra for CP traffic. This beautiful old station was last I heard the office of a local plumbing/electricians company. It is certainly a marvel that it was preserved. By 1979 I found no longer was a switcher maintained there, but rather dispatched from Woodstock. And after that, service was from a London local. The St. Marys sub is gone now, it is but a short spur off the Galt sub at Zorra, servicing the LaFarge area cement plant. My notes do not include the number of the supposed 8100 series switcher pictured.
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Great shot! I have never seen a shot from this station, always nice to see rarely shot locations.
Another in the Mooney Station Gallery.
Thanks for getting this one.
Such a quaint scene. Pristine station with local train, the silos to the side and the old Opera House topping it off. Every time I visit it’s hard to picture a rail yard ever existed there.
Great shot Arnold (as usual). I would note that service to St. Mary’s was provided by assignments operating out of Woodstock, with the odd movement from London, especially work trains & snowplows. The “St Mary’s job” was an assigned roadswitcher that started at 1000 in the morning. It was a desired job in summer for senior men that had cottages, but those guys didn’t want to plod through snow in the winter & usually the job went to less senior crews. The engine & van in the photo have most likely gone downtown for lunch. I have never heard any old timers talk about a job based in St. Marys, in diesel days at least.