Caption: Snowy winter branchline railroading: CN GP9RM 4103 and another unit come off the Midland Sub at Midland Junction in Orillia, entering Mile 86.1 of the Newmarket Sub south of Front Street South crossing. A blue-painted CN billbox is fastened to the station name sign post, with a switch broom at arm's length away to clear out any snowy switch points encountered. VIA/CN's old Orillia Station can be seen in the distance, and behind that some OCS work cars on the other leg of the wye.

Once reaching from Lindsay to Midland, by this time the Midland Sub only ran from Mile 42.7 (Orillia) to 75.2 (Midland), and was one of the many small southern Ontario branchlines on borrowed time. Following dwindling traffic, the line was approved for abandonment in sections during 1994 and 1995 and lifted, followed by CN abandoning the Newmarket Sub north of Barrie (Mile 63) through Orillia to Longford (Mile 93.0) in September 1995, and removing it in 1997-98. Only the Orillia Station, restored in 1989 but recently put up for sale by the city, remains as a reminder of the railway's presence in town.

An abandonment filing noted service on the Midland Sub was provided five days per week from a Barrie-based wayfreight, with traffic mainly being inbound loads of plastics and outbound loads of aggregate from Uhthoff.

Barry Schroeder photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.