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Caption: Without realizing what I had just done, I took my farewell shot of the CN Sarnia Spur. We had chased L514 throughout the morning, from Chatham to Thamesville and back, upon arriving back in Chatham L514 cut off their cars from Thamesville at the North end of the former C&O yard, then ran light power to Thompson’s in Blenheim to pull the final cars back to Chatham, closing an era. It wasn’t until talking to a fellow CN conductor that was working the job, that I was told that this may be the final time CN travels the Sarnia Spur. Thompson’s is now transporting their grain via truck to CP in Kent Bridge and no longer want to be serviced by CN. As a Chatham kid born and raised, this job has always had a special place in my heart and was always a favourite to chase. I feel very grateful to have my photos and memories of the line and the privileged to have traveled over it many times. Let’s hope this isn’t the end.
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Nice one Hunter. We’ll see what happens
I still haven’t been back since the last CSX train. I have a photo of CSX on the line ready to post, I’ll post it this week.
Thanks, I was devastated when I heard the news. I’ve talked to a couple of different Windsor boys to confirm and I’m getting the same story from all of them. It all appears to be true, I’ve witnessed the “last train” on a couple of lines now and it generally looks like this. Light power to grab a handful of cars. This is the first and only time I’ve witnessed L514 make such a move to Blenheim. Even when I was living beside Thompson’s, CN would ALWAYS bring empties with them. Around the time we moved, rail output dropped off significantly, and the Kent Bridge location has become increasingly more busy. The fact that CN pulled the old C&O yard out of service, removed the diamond and pulled up the WYE seems to all point in the direction of Sarnia Spur abandonment. Fingers crossed, lots of CSX memories at the roundhouse from my childhood, and even more of CN kicking out their setups at the south end of the yard, it will be a real shame to see it gone.
Yet another line I loosely model..(as well as G&W engines) gone. It’s like i’ve put the hex on them.
Sad…
Nicely composed Hunter. Glad it was documented.
So what happened? seems they are still operating:
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=35834