Summer Railfanning

GEXR consist sits on the shop track at Stratford

Two Railroads, Three Locations....by Don Janes

     This past weekend my wife and I were taking our two granddaughters back home to Barrie, ON after a great two week visit.  After dropping off the girls we headed to Stratford Ont. for a day and night.  Stratford usually hosts thousands of theater goers every day for live plays at the famed Stratford Festival but not this year.  We were not sure how busy the small city would be but upon arrival were very surprised to see bustling streets with all the shops open. Shop owners and shoppers alike faithfully wore masks and practiced proper physical distancing and we felt comfortable entering all the shops.  We ate all our meals at outdoor cafes.

       I decided to head down to the train station. CNR had put the line up for lease about twenty years ago and the Goderich and Exeter RR operated all trains between London and Toronto on the Guelph Sub as well as local switching at various cities like Goderich, Guelph and Kitchener.  Just recently CN took back operations on the Guelph Sub but the GEXR still operated the line to Goderich.  I wasn't sure what I would see as I believe CN is using Kitchener as their hub for operations now.  Upon arrival the only engines around were a pair of GEXR units waiting their next trip to Goderich.  I took several shots of the two engines for my records.  Nothing else was going on.

The GEXR 2073 is painted in the Genesee and Wyoming paint scheme with GEXR reporting marks while RLK is in the old Railink paint scheme.

     The next day we headed over to St. Jacobs, the small community just north of Kitchener which has a large Mennonite community in the area.  Again, the town was getting busy with shops opening up around noon. Being Sunday, some stores remained closed.  While there I stopped in at the amazing St. Jacobs & Aberfoyle Model Railroad layout.  I have seen this great O Scale layout several times but always drop in when in the area.  It is well worth the visit.  After a little shopping we drove to the Waterloo Central shop just a couple of blocks from the main street to check and see if they were open.  As suspected it was closed but they left their three MLW switchers outside the shop as well as some other equipment so I decided to get some photos.  It was great to get these pictures with nobody around. The units include two ex BC Rail (ex PGE) S-13's #1001 and 1002 and an ex CPR S-3 switcher 6593.  These three engines are painted in the classic CPR maroon and gray scheme.  If one were to let their imagination go you would think you were in a CPR diesel shop in the 1950's.

     WCR's steam engines were tucked away in the shop building.

Above is an assortment of photos of the MLW switchers at the St.Jacobs shop.  These engines look amazing in the classic CPR paint scheme

 

An old caboose used for WCR train rides. That is an ex CP Rail caboose behind it

This old RDC was hiding behind some portable passenger shelters. The car behind is an old CPR horse car

  After a couple of hours at St. Jacobs we headed to the Lake Huron port of Goderich.  At the old CN station site the GEXR has a small shop facility so I drove there to see if there were any engines around.  Being Sunday it was really quiet but tucked in beside the shop was another locomotive. It was in the G&W orange paint with Quebec Gatineau RR reporting marks on the side.  It looked to be an old GP-35 and was numbered 2500. Of coarse they had parked a blue tractor right in front of it. I am guessing there are only three locomotive on the GEXR now unless there is one inside the shop.  I found out later I had missed the engines I saw in Stratford when they made a run to Goderich for salt cars earlier in the day. I snapped a few photos of the 2500 then headed down to the harbour before heading home.  The beach was packed on this hot summer afternoon and there was a large freighter, Algoma Sault, taking on a load of salt.  We headed home from there.  It was great to get out again and do a little touring around and doing some railfanning.

A lone GEXR engine sits at the cluttered shop are in Goderich

The Algoma Sault taking on a load of salt at the Salt plant in Goderich.  The old grain elevators are in the background. Water levels are extremely high here this year