|
Caption: End of the line as crews close the gates behind them, what could be the last car loaded in mere days this will be the end of the Resolute Forest Products / formerly Ontario Paper Company plant in Allanburg, ending 103 years of paper making. I didn't know it at the time, but the plant shut down Mid December 2016 for good and has yet to reopen, I was simply in the right place at the right time. I'm also informed, subject to debate, that Trillium provided crews for this operation in the end, but operated using paper company owned equipment. The locomotives (three in total) should still be inside the plant. For some photos in past days of glory, this plant probably shipped upwards of 10 to 20 cars a day out and recieved pulpwood by train (20-30 cars at a time) making this a VERY busy rail customer in the past. In December 2016 - they were shipping two cars a week. More photos such as this and This photo by Arnold showing better days.
|
Great image Steve! I remember those chip cars rolling regularly through mile 30.
Too think how big a shipper the pulp and paper industry was, now an endangered species.
This is pretty neat Steve.
One operation I didn’t take for granted, and I’m glad I didn’t. It was easy to sense things were downturning towards a potential end. I wish I had thought to get this angle, but I chose further down the line instead.
With no news on the plant since, I’d imagine RFP is optimistically holding out for a buyer that probably won’t come. Perhaps the timeline will be similar to GP’s hold out. At some point though, this track will likely be used at least one last time to collect the units. The lingering question of course is when it’ll happen.
On a side note. This section is actually the Coniagas Spur. It got its name from the company Coniagas Reduction, which was a mining company that disappeared long ago in Thorold. It starts right at the cutoff (Hayes Road) that used to cross Bridge 10 (original Thorold Sub). Trillium relinquished the contract in late 2015, so they didn’t operate to the end. I even listed Trillium as the operator in one of my photos, which was incorrect. I’m unsure who the operator was at the end. It might have been Martech. I’ll have to do more research on that.
Daniel thank you for your notes – please see if you can do more homework on this, I’m very interested too.
Crossing fingers that rail service will attract a new line or business to the plant, but as time ticks it’ll become less and less likely. There’s a couple facilities with good rail access, closed though, but might come back to life, right now the spur’s dead as a doornail except for potential use as storage.
What I find interesting is how this was the former Thorold mainline (prior to the 1930′s Canal project) and it was cut off when the new Canal was built and basically left like this ever since. If you go to Google Earth Desktop they have aerial images from the 1930′s for all of Niagara – it’s fascinating to compare.
Matt, Glad you like this angle – I basically followed these guys from end to end and still have a couple angles to share eventually. Industrial ops are my favourite thing to find so this was a very very high rated catch for me.
David how many pulp and paper mills have closed up north now? It’s very sad really, all those people thrown out of work..
Many. Only the RFP mill remains in Tbay of the three? That operated in that town and Terrace Bay was saved. Terrace Bay was idled for a few years until a group out of India bought it in 2012 and continues to operate.
The Mill in Marathon shuttered 2008ish and was torn down a couple years back. Kenora closed 2003 and was mostly torn down some buildings remain and are used by a couple groups including the local school bus company. Iroquois Falls in the east shut down and I believe was levelled. I’m sure I’m missing a few but that’s all that comes to mind at the moment.
Well it’s no secret the pulp and paper industry won’t be the same, but there is still plenty of paper to be consumed for the forseeable future.
I was down in the southern US in 2016 and saw a few ops at paper mills (Such as the Valdosta Railway in Clyattville GA) that are just huge down there. I wonder if they’ve had just as many closures as us, or if it’s tariffs that are killing our industry.
Dan, I figured out the Trillium / Martech thing. Trillium did indeed run the operation in 2015 and 2016, but gave it up in 2016, Martech took over at the end. They may have had it two years, probably less.
Trillium is NOT in the contract switching business at this time.
Awesome shot
Thanks Jamie. Amazing how in 3 years since I posted this this its all turned upside down. Now martech is out and Trillium back in contract switching business. And we may see rail service here soon:)