|
Caption: With under a month left of the London GO pilot project, I felt it was appropriate to make a post. The pilot project has been an utterly failure from the get-go, despite raising the speed limits east of Stratford to 60mph and doing tons of promotion for the train. As it turns out, not many want to spend 4 hours on the GO from Toronto to St. Mary's and/or London. That being said, when I visited Stratford it was suprisingly busy, indicating some level of demand there. I would hope Metrolinx looks at potentially bringing service to Stratford again in future. Here, GO 560 pulls 10 coaches down the Weston sub, in the final stages of the long journey from London.
|
Brick chimneys are getting harder to find. This one looks in pretty good shape too. The Royale tank is interesting.
Very nice Isaac, and as of October 14th, this train will be history. Couldn’t agree more with your comments, and GO could easily deadhead one of its morning rush hour trains to Stratford to start its Toronto run from there. Likewise, during the day, the morning train from Toronto to Kitchener could easily be extended to Stratford and back during its current layover time in Kitchener. A mid-day and an evening train during Stratford Shakespeare Festival season would be a popular alternative to the 401 drive, and would certainly help Stratford tourism. Thanks for sharing, John
I saw someone suggest a bus to Stratford a few times a day which to me, sounds like a reasonable replacement for the time being (especially since it can make stops in communities along the way such as Baden & New Hamburg). I would be rather disappointed if Metrolinx gives up on Stratford altogether.
Isaac, Stratford station is currently modified for GO train with accessible ramp, Presto card reader, and believe the track between Kitchener and Stratford has been upgraded to allow a higher speed than between Stratford and London. A GO platform could be installed at Baden or New Hamburg with small parking lot for passengers from those 2 towns, so to me still makes sense to extend a couple of the GO trains beyond Kitchener, if only Metrolinx would see it the same way. John