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Caption: "It'll cut through snow as high as the headlight!" The CP Goderich wayfreight, ordered at Hamilton Chatham Street, generally saw various models of GMD and MLW road switchers assigned as power over the years, but during the harsh winter months an F-unit often made an appearance. Longtime wayfeight engineer Donald Broadbear regularly requested this power to cut through the heavy lake effect snowdrifts of Perth and Huron Counties. Here, the wayfreight switches cars at the Goderich Elevators before returning home to Hamilton. Note the Maitland River trestle in the distance, which the train will cross upon departing the yard.
Well known in railway circles for his knowledge of steam locomotives, Don Broadbear passed away earlier this week on February 21, 2023, weeks after his 92nd birthday. He and his father, Percy, owned the Pinafore Park Railway in St. Thomas where many got their start in railway preservation. Don was also a founder of the Port Stanley Terminal Railway, the Ontario Southland Railway, took on the task of restoring and operating Essex Terminal 0-6-0 number 9 as part of the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society (SOLRS/St. Thomas Central Railway), and later at the Waterloo Central Railway.
Don's obituary can be found here.
Rob Bondy Photo, Jacob Patterson Collection.
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An incredible photo and a wonderful caption Jacob.
My condolences to Don’s family and friends.
This is fantastic! I’ve always loved the town and images I’ve seen here over the years. So sad to see the CP line long gone.
unreal
I second Mr Noe’s comments about Don
Wonderful image. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the image and the tale, and my condolences.
What was stored in the elevators behind the train? Grain? Salt?
Those elevators held grain, the salt came from the mines “across the way” and was delivered to CP by CN who switched the mine.
Don ended his CP career working in the yard. Once the Goderich line started being served by a job out of Guelph Jct. I worked with Don in the yard and sometimes on holidays we went to Port Stanley where I was the ground crew in the very early days of PSTR before passenger service.
He was a great guy to work with.