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Caption: This was the best result I ever got from shooting the St Thomas & Eastern Railway. It seemed, to me, that the trains would head west in the morning and east in the afternoon making all my attempts backlit. Now on this fine summer day I had spent the morning and early afternoon following the OSR and later in the day decided to go over to Trillium's shops and take a photo of 1842, as it could often be found parked outside their office. But it wasn't there and, on a whim, I decided to drive to Delhi so I could see where the end of the line was. As I drove down Hwy 3 in Delhi, I looked down the track as I crossed over it and I saw the headlight of an engine east of me on the main. It's hard to explain to most people the kind of excitement I felt at this moment, but I'd hazard a guess that everyone on this site can understand why I quickly slammed on the brakes (subsequently needing to wave an apology to the driver behind me) in order to try and have a longer look. The next hour was spent waiting for the train to begin its journey back to Tillsonburg and then leapfrogging its slow trek home, photographing it at nearly every crossing between Delhi and Tillsonburg. And not only is it the best shot I could get of the ST&E, it was also the last, as I never made it out again before the railway shut down in 2013.
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Nice work. I only made it out once myself, twice if you count visits to the yard..
Nice. Are there any train movements on this stretch of track now? Is the signal mast still standing?
1842 now spends its time at the PCHR, although out of service.
Craig as far as I could tell at the time, the only way to get a ‘full sun’ shot was exactly this. Wait for train to get to Tillsonburg after lifting St Thomas, run to Delhi or Courtland, and return west to Tillsonburg again. Seems the same pattern will work for OSR’s Courtland jobs today for however long that lasts..
Jacob, see a shot posted a couple days before this one, showing OSR at Courtland. OSR has a temporary contract to run Tillsonburg to Courtland over former STER track and has been doing this for over a year – but very infrequently (few times a year).
The rest of the track is in negotiation for potential re-activation of rail service, however Courtland to Delhi will be abandoned due to not enough traffic and a bridge that is effectively condemning that portion of the line.
Jacob, yes, the signal stand is still there. I’m guessing that it once guarded the diamond with the CP Port Burwell Sub.
Just out of sheer curiosity, would anyone know how this engine would have made it out to the PCHR? would that have been a CN or a CP move? Since both interchange at the same place for the PCHR.
I’m imagining CP. There’s no where CN could have dropped them off that I can think of. I know 110, 108 and the yard slug were dropped off at Merriton yard when it was in use, however.