Caption: What could be more "Sleepy CP 80's Ontario branchline" than a single CP C424 running back home long hood forward through a small town?

Sporting white extra flags not relocated from its trip west, CP C424 4217 peddles her wayfreight along the CP Elora Sub heading eastbound through the town of Erin, Ontario. The train has just passed Main Street (Wellington Road 124, trailing off to the right) and is returning back east to Cataract (and likely on to Orangeville), presumably from Fergus where the trailing CN 40' boxcar may have been lifted from the interchange with CN. Erin was Mile 4.5 of the 29.4 mile CP Elora Sub, which branched off the Orangeville Sub at Cataract (Mile 0) and wound its way through Erin, Hillsburg, Belwood, Fergus to end at Elora.

A 1982 timetable lists the light rail branchline as 25mph maximum speed but with most of the line covered by 20mph speed restrictions. During its final year in 1987, conditions on the line had deteriorated and it was down to 15mph with a number of 5 and 10mph speed restrictions. The all-too-familiar story of low traffic volumes lead to CP abandoning the entire Elora Sub at the end of 1987 (which is now the Elora-Cataract Trailway).

Roger Heed photo, Dan Dell'Unto collection slide.