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Caption: One year ago today (though it certainly feels like a lifetime ago), one of OSR's F-units made a rare appearance on the Cayuga Clipper and I believe this was the only time one ran as far as Courtland. They're pictured here in Courtland, having run around the empty centrebeam they'd picked up off the main at nearby Townsend Lumber to the west. They'd brought four loads for the Agromart here in town with them on this day.
At this point the Cayuga was on borrowed time, with OSR planning to cease operating it in April 2020. The next run after this, and those that followed, would see large crowds of railfans along for the chase. This one however was fairly quiet.
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Correction to my caption – one of the Fs went to Courtland in April too
And in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV7oQAP-Z20
When OSR got the contract for Courtland they would service it via Tillsonburg for a year or two. F’s did make it on that run at least once.
Also, I did some homework on how often they did go to Tillsonburg/etc on the Cayuga and it wasn’t often. In fact I don’t think a pair ever made it to courtland under OSR. (they would have under the Wabsh/N&W and maybe CN)
The first run down the rest of the Cayuga happened in November 2016 but that was a St. Thomas job and it only went as far as Aylmer then returned back. They had one FP9A and it was on a weekend(!)
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=26980
Then there were occasional runs to Aylmer from the St. Thomas job with F units, Alex Sanders got one such move:
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=31783
(this was the one and only time this ever happened, under the coal tower!)
BASICALLY, in summary:
The pair of F units, as far as I know never made it to Courtland. The first time a pair ran to Tillsonburg on the Cayuga sub was the 2′nd last run, and they only went as far as Townsend Lumber. (Hence the last train to Norfolk County had a pair of F’s)
The last run was the clean up run and had the matching F’s but didn’t go past Tillsonburg.
They never made it to Courtland as far as I can tell. I queried knowledgeable OSR sources for this information some months ago to try and figure it out.
Corrections always welcome for the record.
Right on. Glad to see they made it several times. It’s a fitting sight.
The F units made it to Tillsonburg as far as the Loop Line Transfer on plow runs…. but that was about it until April 2020
I think after this run the cat was let out of the bag by OSR crews, hence the massive crowds hereafter.
It was amazing to hear about the weekly crowds chasing and when STER was getting out of the game… it was almost crickets by comparison.