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Caption: And in one of the few times I chased NS 327 to Talbotville, this chase was with Jason Noe, Jason Bartlett and Kevin Flood and we chased it to St . Thomas from Paris following all the way. Since NS 327's power tended to be a surprise, we only needed a Kodachrome sky (as some say) to proceed with the day's activities. I actually would have preferred NS power but heck, who cares, right - two UP's ain't too bad. The last run of this train was in about a weeks time thus the heavy interest. This yard and all track are now gone.
A history lesson for the young-ins, the Payne sub (formerly known as Chatham subdivision) and the Cayuga sub were once known, as a combined entity as the Canada Air Line Railway which the Wabash was granted rights from the Grand Trunk in 1897. These weren't any rights, they allowed joint and equal access to solicit customers which is VERY rare. After the Norfolk and Western and Norfolk Southern mergers, NS continued to use these rights, servicing customers in Canada until 1996 when CN desired abandoning the Cayuga sub and NS went the long way as CN had to offer a route. (The new route was the Stamford, Grimsby, Oakville, Dundas, Talbot subs). NS had access to customers even still through Trillium Railway and CN (CN provided the last mile of service to Ford) The Payne and Chatham subs continued to be used until 2004 when the west end trains were abolished to Detroit, but this segment in St. Thomas was the western end of what remained of the Payne in service and I desired shooting NS on their original route. Mission accomplished.
The Stamford from Draw (in the US) to Robbins (via Fort Erie) is the other section of the original Air Line route still in use by NS and continues to be used to this day by the daily NS Transfer as far as CN Duff.
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I think the tracks at this yard are still there just coverd in grass, I could be wrong. Good photo.
@ Benjamin strang..I think so too that the tracks are still there, just overtaken by the grass. Of note…gone too is the Ford plant at Talbotville. Really nothing remains except the photos and the memories.
Way to go Steve on keeping at least those two factors in place. Great photo, good story = great memory.
Only 5min from my house
Steve, these tracks are still very much intact. Via a few CN employees from the local, this yard is planned to be used as storage. Hence the rebuid of the section of the Paynes Sub bridge over athletic park. No idea when this will take place just I was told that a large amount of money wasn’t spent for no reason
I didn’t know any money was spent. Was the bridge fixed?
Also does this line still run to the elevator at Paynes Mills a couple miles to the west?
Yes over the summer half the bridge was out of service. 30 or so ties total removed and major structural beams were replaced. Nothing has gone further than St. George in years but the plan is to
.. plan is to??
I have always been hopeful for a Shortline to operate to the elevator at Paynes Mills.
Sorry I wasn’t clear. Plans is to only run to Talbotville yard for storage. Paynes Mills I have no idea
I was @ the bridge the other day and noticed it’s back in service. Didn’t bother going to Talbotville yard though.
Amazing that this took 7 years to happen….. well done