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Caption: The St. Thomas Central Railway operated by the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society, ran their former Essex Terminal Railway 0-6-0 #9 on the Goderich-Exeter Railway from September 26 to October 19, 2003. The fall excursion was named the Goderich-Exeter Heritage Steam Tour 2003. The train, complete with several passenger cars and a restored caboose, also had RaiLink FP9u 1400 assisting on the opposite end of the steam engine. The FP9u had recently been sent to the GEXR from Calgary, Alberta. The train toured the GEXR system and visited many cities/towns where steam was last seen decades ago. Thousands of people rode the train over the three-week period and it gave everyone who witnessed the excursion a trip back in time.
The excursion is seen passing by the Hespeler, Ontario train station with FP9u 1400 leading the consist on October 5, 2003. Unfortunately, the historic station was destroyed by a fire less than a month later and was demolished leaving a vacant hole where it once proudly stood.
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The whole tour around Southwestern Ontario was a once-in-a-lifetime event put on by SOLRS and their volunteers led by Roy Broadbear.
Both 1400 and 1401 were saved by OSR thanks to locomotive collector Jeff Willsie.
Nice shot. I was here (I worked a couple of these runs with the GHRA members) and I did get photos but .. i was shooting film and didn’t know what I was doing. Can’t say I got a good photo with the station…
too bad it burned down so quickly.
An excursion like this would be great revenue for the OBRY taxpayers. Too bad about the station..my model of the old Angus station was of similar design
@R.L.Kennedy- Yes, it will be a while before anything like that ever happens again.
@Stephen C. Host- Thanks. That’s neat you actually worked on some trips.
@BradKetchen- That’s interesting about Angus. I haven’t seen too many photos of that CN station.
@Noe I’ve got a few.. and my model. Are you on Ontario Branchlines? M me if you like. cheers.
@BradKetchen- Yes I’m on Ontario Branchlines as well.