Throwback Thursday - CASO Headquarters

On June 26, 1987, a westbound CSX special rests in front of the massive CASO station in St Thomas, Ontario.

By Peter Mumby.

The edifice in the background of this photo is the historic CASO station in downtown St Thomas, Ontario.  It served as a passenger station into the early Amtrack era, but its principal role over the years was to provide division point offices for the Canada Southern Railway, the MC/NYC/PC/CR property which constituted a short cut across Southwestern Ontario between Detroit and Niagara Falls.  For years, the C&O exercised trackage rights east of St Thomas on the CASO, with trains swinging south onto their own track just west of the station.  By the time of this photo, however, east-west C&O trackage had been abandoned, so the train would stay on CASO rails until it connected with the branch which headed towards Sarnia.  Today, the majority of the CASO trackage has been abandoned, with current owners CN/CP only interested in the Windsor and Niagara Falls portions of the route.

On the June 1987 day of this photo the still-intact CASO line was playing host to CSX extra 6830 West.  Stretched out behind the two visible cabooses were the several coaches of an Employee Safety Special.