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Caption: So here’s something that makes me hurt and smile…
This photo was captured by a 17 year old kid named Jason in February of 1996. (He still doesn’t have a flickr or Instagram account.) He used his mother’s mid 80s Chevette to drag himself, his two friends, and a whack of flash sync gear from St. Catherines to St. Thomas, Ontario. The occasion? The last CSX freight from St. Thomas to Buffalo on the old CASO Subdivision. Pictured here is the final crew about to take this train to Buffalo. Oddly, nobody else was there to capture this farewell journey. It took a 17 year old boy, armed with a Minolta X-700, Kodak 400 color negative film, a borrowed car, and a ton of determination to record this historic event. Although there may have been other movements on this line afterwards, this was the final CSX revenue freight from St. Thomas to Buffalo and return. Never forget what they took from us.
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Historic and somewhat sad shot!
That’s a catch! Wonderful story.
Very historic indeed.
A great capture of history.
I hope Mr. Mercer may be able to help identify the crew members.
Kudos to Jason for documenting and thanks for sharing.
I’m really glad that you captured this. The end of the CASO & its subsequent removal is a textbook example of failed public policy in my view. In 1988 (I believe) the Mulroney gov’t made it much easier for railways to abandon unwanted trackage. That lead to many of the branchlines in Ontario being abandoned. To the best of my knowledge, we don’t have any “railbanking” legislation like that which exists in USA. I can see railways getting rid of baranches that see little traffic, but a high quality double track through route like the CASO had potential to be profitable in my view. Once lifted, rail lines are almost never restored.
This story reminded me of my much lesser historic moment. I stepped off the Expressway locomotive (CP 5969) at Smiths Falls about 9PM on Sunday June 6th, 2010 after making my last working trip for CP. That was after 37 years of service. I foolishly thought the local manager might show up to shake my hand, or someone might take a photo, but alas no one did. The local manager lived about 2 blocks from the station but I guess there was something good on TV that night.
Anyway, the crew bus was waiting to take us back to Toronto deadhead because the Sunday train didn’t have a return counterpart. Like your much more noteworthy story, the rest was history.