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Caption: Brrr.. For those who enjoyed the garden railway scene - looking the other direction a couple winters ago, this Plow extra has ran to Guelph to wye and run back to Stratford. You can barely tell there is a right of way, save for the old CN no tresspassing sign.
This track was used not only by RDC's to Palmerston, Southampton and Kinkardine from Toronto, but by unit oil trains from Montreal to Douglas Point (150 rail miles from Guelph). If only one could turn back time :) If anyone viewing this has some classic photos from the past - please consider sharing here :) Cheers.
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What unit oil train was this and when?
Unit bunker C Oil trains – they ran from 1970 to 1975 or so on this track – from this point north they ran on basically rickety Branchlines – Fergus sub, Owen Sound Sub, and Southampton subs passing through towns such as Fergus, Elora, Palmerston, Harriston, Walkerton, Port Elgin – rails were removed in these towns not long after the oil trains stopped with Fergus keeping rails the longest, abandoned in ’88. If it wasn’t for these trains the lines would have been ripped up after the end of passenger service in ’70, but the branches were all upgraded and strengthened to handle the unit trains until the last one in about ’81.
In 1975 the trains instead ran from Sarnia to Douglas Point, via the Newton sub to Palmerston and the Fergus sub was effectively abandoned north of Fergus to Palmerston.
It should be noted Palmerston kept the Newton sub until ’95…
It was actually the Co-op in Harriston that kept the Newton Sub and about 8 miles of the CN Owen Sound Sub going until the end in fall 1995. Any remaining CWR and heavy rail got lifted in the spring of 1996.
Interesting. How many cars/year was Harriston good for around abandonment?
Not a lot, mainly seasonal potash and other fertilizer. CN ran 516 extra on weekends to service Harriston and whatever else was still up that way.
Some great insight into the past, info that I was not aware of. I remember the tracks in Harriston, and maybe some rolling stock sitting there, but never saw a train, sadly. My late father knew a guy who took video of the final CN southbound train coming through Drew, in 1995, I guess it was, and I did see that footage. The guy who took the video did not hold the camera still at all, but it was better than nothing, I suppose. I cannot tell you where that footage went to. I saw it on VHS, many years ago.
Too bad no plows came to Guelph this past winter. Hopefully this year.
Just not enough snow this year – the snow stayed in the snowbelt – London to Stratford to Goderich. And the big storms tracked and dumped snow closer to Lake Erie (thus why OSR ran so many later in the year) and spared regions north of the 401 outside the Snowbelt.