2020 had been a bad year for most of us, but especially so of the Ontario Southland Railway. Once the juggernaut of the Southwestern Ontario region with nothing but optimism ahead, the OSR's current situation is as bleak as it has ever been. To start off the year, one of OSR's ventures, the Cayuga Subdivision lease from CN, running from St. Thomas to Courtland was written off as a complete failure. Initially, there were high hopes for this line which sat dormant for years after the demise of the St. Thomas and Eastern railroad in 2013. OSR had been providing interim service east of Tillsonburg to Courtland since 2016 but eventually leased the entire line as of 2018. CN had invested millions on rehabing the bridges over the route expecting a large amount of traffic from an ethanol plant in Aylmer and a windmill plant in Tillsonburg. Unfortunately, the windmill plant shut down without ever producing a blade and the ethanol plant, despite having a high production capacity has opted to serve local markets within a few hours drive, and only shipped out a few carloads per month despite receiving large upgrades to its sidings and loading facilities by OSR. Eventually, this line became critical as the bridge linking Tillsonburg's north end and south end on the former CPR branch line was condemned. This meant that customers in the south end had to get their cars through St. Thomas. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to keep the line around and despite picking up some new business in Courtland in the form of a lumber business known as Townsend Lumber, the operation had to end. OSR terminated the lease, cutting off service to Adient Seating in Tillsonburg and Townsend Lumber. The agricultural co-op in Courtland was forced to shut down as a result. In addition to this, Future Transfer, which had split its operations between the CP branch line and the Cayuga sub was forced to move its facilities up to the north yard. CN advertised the line for sale in local newspapers and the deadline for expression of interest has come and gone as of late August. What CN has planned for the line is unknown. It is not known whether CN will remove the rails or just hold onto the line and wait for the next big opportunity to present itself. As for the rails in Tillsonburg, south of the north yard, over the bridge and into Adient Seating, the rails remain in excellent shape and are totally weed free despite the bridge not seeing a train in 3 years and Adient Seating not seeing a train since April. The Cayuga Sub is totally buried under weeds. The next big event to happen to OSR was the terrmination of their contract to operate the Guelph Junction Railway, a very large segment of their business. The Guelph Junction Railway, owned by the city of Guelph since its construction to provide competition for the Grand Trunk Railway, CP had operated the line for its entire existence, even extending it to Goderich before abandoning it back to Guelph in 1988. From that point on, service deteriorated to the point where carloads were down to just over 1400 per year in 1998. CP chose to terminate operations over the line, forcing Guelph to find a new operator. They chose OSR, and the rest is history. In the past 22 years, carloads on the railway have increased to nearly 6000 per year. Unfortunately, some undisclosed political dispute between OSR and Guelph saw the termination of the operation contract and Guelph found a new operator. The operator is the Goderich Exeter Railway, though this isn't exactly good news. The GEXR is no stranger to Guelph, and many railfans and railroaders were sad to see it go when CN took back operations on the Guelph Subsivision. But shortly after CN took over, the usual G&W shenanigans had become apparent. The infrastructure had been run into the ground. It was so bad the CN was forced to actually put money into rehabing branch lines and spurs. You know you did something wrong as a railroad when CN is investing more time, effort and money into infrastructure maintenance on marginal lines serving small customers. This points to the fact that under GEXR custodianship, the Guelph Junction Railway might once again deteriorate. 2020 has been a bad year for all of us, but for OSR, it has truly been among the blackest of years. The failed business venture on the Cayuga Sub costed them an unknown but undoubtedly significant amount of money in addition to the ability to access the vast industrial parks of the south end of Tillsonburg for future development and growth prospects. The loss of the Guelph Junction Railway cost them a large part of their business and puts one of their greatest success stories in jeopardy. As of 2020, OSR is now only half the size it was the year before and things are looking tenuous as ever. What the future will hold, only time will tell, but safe to say, it is uncertain.
I always thought OSR should have tried to make a run at the old CASO Sub. It was kind of sad to see it ripped up. At one time that was the best route between Buffalo, St. Thomas, and Detroit.
SD60MAC9500 I always thought OSR should have tried to make a run at the old CASO Sub. It was kind of sad to see it ripped up. At one time that was the best route between Buffalo, St. Thomas, and Detroit.
Definitely more of a class one operation, but I see your point. Most of the online businesses were grain elevators, and they shifted their business to facilities on to the CN and CP mainlines. As much as it would be nice to see the lines around, traffic potential is limited as capacity exists on parallel CN and CP lines as well as CSX and NS routes below Lake Erie without absorbing too much extra mileage. If the line had been sold to CSX instead of the CP/CN consortium, it might still be around. Unfortunately, CP and CN have no interest in bridging American traffic, and there wasn't an on-line customer base to support it as a through route. CN and CP got the border gateways they wanted from the purchase, and the rest was surplus.
wasd SD60MAC9500 I always thought OSR should have tried to make a run at the old CASO Sub. It was kind of sad to see it ripped up. At one time that was the best route between Buffalo, St. Thomas, and Detroit. Definitely more of a class one operation, but I see your point. Most of the online businesses were grain elevators, and they shifted their business to facilities on to the CN and CP mainlines. As much as it would be nice to see the lines around, traffic potential is limited as capacity exists on parallel CN and CP lines as well as CSX and NS routes below Lake Erie without absorbing too much extra mileage. If the line had been sold to CSX instead of the CP/CN consortium, it might still be around. Unfortunately, CP and CN have no interest in bridging American traffic, and there wasn't an on-line customer base to support it as a through route. CN and CP got the border gateways they wanted from the purchase, and the rest was surplus.
Speaking of CSX I haven't checked out the Sarnia Sub in awhile. I wonder if CSX has long term plans to remain in Ontario? They got haulage rights on CN's Strathroy Sub from Sarnia to Port Huron. From what I understand the Sarnia Sub has been abandoned south of Wallaceburg to Chatham.
SD60MAC9500Speaking of CSX I haven't checked out the Sarnia Sub in awhile. I wonder if CSX has long term plans to remain in Ontario? They got haulage rights on CN's Strathroy Sub from Sarnia to Port Huron. From what I understand the Sarnia Sub has been abandoned south of Wallaceburg to Chatham.
I think that CSX is in Sarnia to stay. The operation where they serve a few large customers with one or two jobs seems pretty class one friendly. As for the rest of the line, between Wallaceburg and Chatham, it was purchased by Chatham-Kent and then later sold to 2719545 Ontario Inc.. Nobody knows who that is, but if rumours are to be believed, they have been evaluating track potentially for a return to service, though for what customers, I don't know.
As a side note, the part of the Sarnia sub from Chatham to Blenheim is also in reasonable shape. It serves two fairly large elavators for W.G. Thompson and ADM and it has full 286,000 lb weight capacity. It can get pretty busy around harvest.
wasdThis points to the fact that under GEXR custodianship, the Guelph Junction Railway might once again deteriorate.
AFAIK physical maintenance is performed by GJR, not the operator; just the operation is contracted. Guelph Junction Railway is a specific entity owned by the city.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
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