The Ontario Southland Railway Woodstock Job - Part 2

On August 17, 2017 I chased an Ontario Southland Railway from Ingersoll to Woodstock. In part 1 I followed the train from their shops in Salford to Ingersoll, where I promptly lost the train and eventually found it again. Here I describe the chase to Woodstock and the switching operations in Woodstock.

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The Chase to Woodstock

By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere was a song and a celebration
- Joni Mitchell

When I had driven into Ingersoll earlier in the chase, I had noted a spot along highway 9 where the Ingersoll railway sign was located indicating 1 mile to the station sign. I thought that would be a good location for a photo. Now that I was racing east, this was the time to stop there.

I pulled off the road and walked across the road, in the rain, and waited by the guard rail for the train to come. I was about 90% sure I was in the right spot, but the other 10% of my brain said, "you're standing by the wrong tracks, and nothing will come."

It didn't help that I heard the roar of a train going by while I was waiting. It must have been a CN train on the Dundas sub, but my confidence was diminished a bit more.

Fortunately, I was by the right tracks and OSRX 1820 came around the bend.

I took a few photos as the train approached. I'm not sure which of the following two photos I like more, so I'm sharing both of them.

Two Ingersoll signs, one photo

One Ingersoll line, a closer crop

That Ontario Southland paint scheme is pretty sharp. I know it's inspired by the old Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo scheme but it looks nice no matter where it came from.

The light was low so I was using a low shutter speed, and I did a pan of the locomotives as they went by. I really like how this photo of 1400 turned out.

Pan photo of OSRX 1400

I don't know what the speed limit on the St. Thomas subdivision is, but they were not crawling - nor were they doing 60 MPH.

I hopped in my rental car and gave chase.

Next Spot?

OSRX 1620 leading the way

Not knowing the area, I wasn't sure where to catch them next. I thought about the highway #6 crossing - easily accessible as it's just off highway 9 - but as I approached it I saw there was construction in the area and I didn't want to get involved in that. I took the next left, which turned out to be Domtar Line.

I liked seeing the train come through the foliage, but in retrospect, I probably should have been on the other side of the tracks. I used my "long lens" (70-200mm) and on the side I was on, I couldn't get a really long view without standing in the crossing, which is not safe.

As I waited for the train to pass so I could get back to my car, I noted a railway bridge in the underbrush nearby that still has rails on it.

I think this was part of the track that used to connect the nearby Domtar facility to the CP line. There is still track near the CN line but I don't think the facility that's there now gets any rail service.

Abandoned bridge off Domtar Road

I shot video at the next two spots. The first was a very quick clip and at the second location, I made sure I got enough ahead of the train that I could get into position to record the entire train. The video's at the bottom of this post.

Crossing CN

After the two video spots, we were approaching Woodstock, another town I had never been in. I knew that CN and CP/OSRX crossed and the highway goes right by the diamond. I decided I had enough time to grab a quick shot, so I crossed CN then quickly parked and ran over to get the shot.

Ontario Southland crossing the diamond at CN Carew

I've seen photos of the OSR at CN Carew by many railfan photographers. Now I have my own!

As I wrote above, I had never been to Woodstock so I didn't know where to go. My vague memories of looking at the map told me that the Ontario Southland went north-northeast along the west edge of town. I followed the train as best I could and caught it at Dundas Street / highway 2.

Ontario Southland in Woodstock

After the train passed, I kept going and got to the CP yard in Woodstock at the corner of Ingersoll Avenue and Tecumseh Street.

They pulled up beside the (ex?) CP station there.

OSRX 1620 and 1400 by the CP station in Woodstock

Switching in Woodstock

Without much of a pause, they started to do some switching. There are a series of tracks south of Ingersoll Avenue and they started drilling those tracks, putting autoracks away.

Drilling for autoracks

A longer distance photo of them at work. The CP main line curves off to the right. There are a few storage tracks behind the locomotive that they were stuffing cars into.

Switching autoracks

The photo below might give a better indication of the operation.

Stuffing autoracks into storage tracks

I took a lot of photos - probably too many - of the switching operations. That's probably enough to give you a flavour of the operation.

After watching them switch for half an hour, I decided to duck out to see the VIA Rail station in Woodstock.

Exploring Woodstock

I asked my phone to take me to the VIA Rail station, and it did so with no fuss or misdirection. Thank you!

Woodstock has a very unique looking VIA Rail train station.

This station was built by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1885. Unlike the Ingersoll station, the Woodstock station is protected by the federal Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act.

There are three boxcars across from the station that are supposed to depict the past, present and future of railways in Woodstock. They are faded and have been defaced by the usual vandals so their message is a little unclear.

Three boxcars in Woodstock

There is an overpass near the station which would be a great place to view passing trains on the CN line.

If you'd like to see a map of Woodstock, there's one in this Trains article about Woodstock from 2014.

The Video

Here's a little video I put together - a bit at the Salford shop, two clips between Ingersoll and Woodstock, and some switching action in Woodstock.

Wrapping Up

I went back to the CP station / Ontario Southland track and they were wrapping up shunting for a bit. I took this one last photo and then they tied the train down.

My last Ontario Southland photo... this visit

The conductor said they needed to get a clearance from CP before they could go on the main and continue their work. I had to clear out to meet my son, so we shook hands and I went on my way.

It was a great little chase and the Ontario Southland Railway is a great shortline with a great reputation, both with customers and with railfans. Highly recommended. As always, be safe and respect private property.

Back to part 1 of this series

A darn good burger

PS - I met up with my son and his girlfriend in Waterloo and we went to an early supper at The WORKS "Gourmet Burger Bistro". They make fantastic burgers - definitely worth visiting one of their many restaurants in Ontario.

See Also

• Part 1 of this two-part series
• My Ontario Southland Railway page
• The Ontario Southland's official web site
• All my Ontario posts

The Ontario Southland Railway Woodstock Job - Part 1

One item on my "bucket list" was checked off early in August when I finally saw the Ontario Southland Railway and part of its unique fleet of hard working diesel locomotives.

A Brief History of the Ontario Southland Railway

The Ontario Southland Railway was founded by Jeff Willsie, who is now the president of the company. The OSR started in April 1994, working the Petro-Canada lubricants refinery in Mississauga and hauling to Clarkson, Ontario. On January 1, 1998 it started operating the city-owned Guelph Junction Railway, and later it took over the CP Tillsonburg spur and the CP St. Thomas subdivision. Recently it started working the CN Cayuga subdivision as well.

The OSR has a diverse collection of older locomotives, including three ex CN FP9 locomotives, several MLW units (RS-18, S-13, M420W, RS-23) and some EMD GP7s and GP9s.

The Ontario Southland has been well photographed by the railfan community, and I wanted to get my own photos of this unique and friendly shortline.

Reconnaissance

On August 16 I drove up from southern Ontario to Waterloo to visit my son and his girlfriend. Nick has been going to the University of Waterloo and has finished his class work. They were just about to move to New Brunswick and we arranged to meet just before they hit the road for the Maritimes.

En route I ducked into Salford, Ontario for a very quick visit to the Ontario Southland Railway shop there.

All was quiet when I came by. There was a "dead line" of locomotives on the shop track on the west side of the facility: CITX 6016, UP 9444, OSRX 175 (GP9), OSRX 500 (S-6), OSRX 183 (RS-18) and OSRX 51 (NW2u) with ex CP snowplow 401005. A little research shows that freshly repainted UP 9444 arrived in August 2016 for some work. I'm not sure why it's still there a year later!

Not many MLW S-6 locomotives around!

I was using my "long lens" (70-200mm) to get roster shots of each locomotive. It was a hot day so there's a bit of heat shimmer in the photos.

OSRX 51, painted for the Toronto Hamilton and Buffalo

On the other side of the shops were OSRX 1594 (ex CP GP9) and one of the Ontario Southland's three "F" units, OSRX 1401 (ex CN, ex VIA, ex Raillink FP9u).

Family Time

After grabbing those photos, I kept on to Waterloo and met up with my son Nick and his girlfriend. We wandered through Waterloo and had dinner at a lovely little Korean restaurant. No kimchi for me, though! I enjoyed the meal greatly.

That egg... what the heck? Still tasty.

Nick playing a VR game

Afterward, we had ice cream, then Nick and I went to Ctrl-V, a virtual reality arcade. SO. MUCH. FUN. After some solo gaming, we teamed up to shoot zombies. It's hard to describe the experience.

You have this big thing on your head that projects a 3D view - tethered to the ceiling so you don't strangle yourself - and you hold two wands that act as your hands.

You can grasp things and pick them up, fire guns, turn door handles, and lots of other actions. When you walk, your "avatar" walks in the virtual world. It's quite an experience.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. It's pretty expensive at $25/hour so it's easy to run a big tab up, but we spent $75 for one shared hour and another hour for each of us. Much fun was had.

Visiting the Shop

I had hoped that Nick and I could chase the Ontario Southland Woodstock job on Thursday morning, but he had to do one last shift at work before leaving. I couldn't let the opportunity go, so I went solo to Salford in the morning to chase the train.

I noted that there were a few changes to the power behind the shops from my visit the previous afternoon. The OSRX 1401 / 1594 pair was gone, and in its place were OSRX 1620 / 1400. Also, OSRX 378 and 383 were visible behind them.

I parked off the road near the shop entrance and walked onto the property, camera clearly visible. There were a couple of crew standing in the open shop door and they greeted me. We chatted for a bit and they were very friendly and clearly used to railfans walking up to see their railway.

They pointed out "CJ" the shop cat, so I had to take a couple of photos. Apparently she has been in a few articles.

The Salford shop cat

The crew told me their plans for the morning. They were going to take 1620 and 1400 and run light to Ingersoll with 1620 leading, switch the small yard in Ingersoll, then go work the GM CAMI assembly plant (currently making the Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain). After that, they were heading to Woodstock to interchange with CP.

The weather was pretty gray and it was forecast to rain. Not ideal photo weather but what can you do?

Essex Terminal Railway #102 and FP9u 6508 in the shops

A quick glance inside the shops showed Essex Terminal Railway 102 with hood doors open, and the OSR's third "F" unit, 6508, behind it. I understand 6508 is out of service at the moment, which is a shame as it is the prettiest of the three units in my opinion.

After a few minutes, OSRX 1620 and 1400 came up to the side of the shop.

OSRX 1620 in Salford, Ontario

They paused by the shop for a couple of minutes, then headed north toward Ingersoll.

Heading to Ingersoll

The going away shot was nice.

Mmmmm... F unit.

I hopped in my car and headed to Ingersoll... but where, exactly?

Lost in Ingersoll

I've never been in Ingersoll. I did some scouting on Google Maps the night before, so I knew the general layout of the town, but I didn't know where the train would be.

Once I arrived in the town, the first order of business was to find them.

This proved frustrating.

Both CN and Ontario Southland have track through Ingersoll. I drew a little map.

So the units came up from bottom right to join the Ontario Southland St. Thomas subdivision. When I arrived, I wasn't sure if they had gone to the GM CAMI facility yet or not. I decided to go there first, but there was no action there, just a lot of autoracks.

I drove back northeast along the track and spotted them just east of the junction of the Port Burwell and the St. Thomas subdivisions. I parked nearby and walked over in the growing rain, but they took off to the east!

Back to the car... then I drove into downtown Ingersoll. I went all the way east out of Ingersoll to ensure they weren't there.  Too far!

I drove back into town and went down to their tracks downtown, but they weren't there. I did stumble across the VIA station and the ex-CN station on the CN Dundas subdivision.

Ingersoll's Train Stations

Old and new train stations in Ingersoll

The VIA Rail station is the utilitarian one on the left, obviously.. I appreciate that an attempt was made to make it a little more attractive than a square box of a building.

That sad station to the right was built by the Great Western Railway (GWR) - in 1886, I believe. The Great Western became part of the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR), which itself became part of the Canadian National Railways (CNR).

Postcard of the GTR Ingersoll station - circa 1915

Notice that the baggage / freight section was added on after this postcard's date.

There's an "urbex" (urban exploration) video showing the exterior of the ex CN station. It looks like it is in the same shape as the Fredericton, NB station was when it was finally refurbished. There were calls in 2014 to do something about the station but I haven't found any reports since on any progress to refurbish or demolish the station.

Oddly the station is not protected under the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act like many old Canadian train stations are. I wonder why it wasn't protected?

The CPR station was demolished in 1976. There's more information on Ingersoll's train stations here.

Picking Up the Chase

After grabbing a few photos of the stations, I went back to CAMI and found the locomotives pulling autoracks out of the facility. To be more accurate, I saw autoracks moving but never saw the locomotives there.

I figured they were going to shuffle cars for a bit, but they just took off right away heading east toward Woodstock!

I felt pretty dumb... stumbling around the town and never really seeing them.

Well, no time to feel sorry for oneself... the chase was on. Fortunately highway 9 parallels the track between Ingersoll and Woodstock so there was no possibility of losing the train!

OSRX 1620 in the rain

I raced along highway 9 and grabbed a couple of roadside shots in the growing rain. I was down to f/8 and 1/80s shutter speed due to the low light from the cloudy sky.

OSRX 1400 and 1620

Back in the car and give 'er!

Next

In part 2 I posted photos and video of the chase to Woodstock, as well as switching operations in Woodstock itself... plus photos of the ex CP and CN train stations in Woodstock. Read on!

PS - I will probably post the video of my morning with the Ontario Southland on my YouTube channel before I post here again. Why not subscribe to my channel to get it first?

10 Questions for Eric Geissinger

This series is modeled after the "Interesting Railfan" series in Railroad magazine from years ago. I'm asking each railfan 10 questions, some standard and some customized for the particular person. I hope you enjoy it. (See all in the series)

Eric

Eric Geissinger is a railfan / hobbyist photographer based in London, Ontario. I met him on Google+ where he often posts railway photos.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I live in London, Ontario, a city I've called home for the past 35 years. I work as a Systems Analyst, a job that I enjoy very much. Woodworking and photography are my two main hobbies these days, although most of my tools are in storage until I get a place to woodwork.

2. What got you into photographing trains?

When I joined Google+, one of my favourite communities was Railroad Photography. I wanted to participate more than just commenting and plussing others' work, so I decided to try taking a few photos. I had a small point and shoot camera and started taking photos of the trains in the CN and CP yards in London, Ontario. I quickly graduated to a better camera with a built-in telephoto lens and started to explore the area outside of London, looking for different spots to take photos. After a year of using that camera, I graduated to a Nikon D5200 DSLR. My current favourite lens for shooting trains is a Tamron 16-300.

3. Where’s your favourite place to railfan?

The Ingersoll and Woodstock area, which is about 30 minutes outside of London. CN and CP have lines that go through that area and my favourite shortline, the Ontario Southland Railway (OSR), operates there. They are also fairly rural so the scenery is nice and there are many places to get good photos.

Ontario Southland Railway #6508

4. If you could railfan anywhere, anytime, where and when would it be?

I think railfanning in the 1930s in St. Thomas, Ontario would have been really interesting. They had several large railway shops there where they serviced the steam locomotives travelling between Chicago and New York.

5. What’s your favourite railway?

I have a real soft spot for the Ontario Southland Railway. They are a short line railway headquartered in Salford, Ontario, about 30 minutes from London. They operate vintage locomotives built between 1947 and 1973 including three of my personal favourite diesels, the FP9u. They really keep their locomotives in good condition and are very friendly to railfans.

6. We've met virtually on Google Plus/G+. What do you like about G+?

I was originally attracted to G + because many of the people there are technology geeks and/or artists, and technology and art interest me. I like that people share their art, and their interests, and I like meeting new people. I find that people on G + seem to be more honest than on other social platforms and post their failures, fears, and failings as well as their triumphs.

7. A glance at your G+ profile shows you photograph a lot more than just trains. What other subjects do you like to photograph and why?

I like to photograph older buildings, bridges and machines, preferably in a state of decay. I've always been fascinated with how we construct things with great effort, and yet eventually nature tears them down. We're in a constant struggle against nature that we will never win.

8. Do you share your photos on other platforms other than G+?

No. Currently, I just share my photos on Google+. I have made half-hearted attempts at using other platforms, but I don't want to invest the time at the present.

9. Do you see yourself remaining on G+ or moving to other platform(s)?

I see myself remaining on G+ for now. It has a good mix of people and I find interesting and entertaining things to read there daily.

10. Can you tell me some tips on railfanning the Ontario Southland Railway? :)

Certainly! I have had the most success in photographing them around the Ingersoll and Woodstock area. Their main shop is located in Salford, Ontario which is just outside of Ingersoll. They have an assortment of retired locomotives parked outside the shop, and the working units are always coming and going.

They switch the autoracks at the CAMI auto manufacturing plant in Ingersoll, so you will often see a couple of the switchers there. They usually have a tandem of the larger locomotives take the autorack trains from the CAMI plant through Ingersoll to Woodstock where they get picked up by CP. Usually around 11 am you'll see the autorack trains in Ingersoll, and generally later in the afternoon (3 – 4 pm) you'll see them in Woodstock on the CP tracks.

The OSR employees have always been very friendly to railfans and are quite used to us taking photos of their locomotives.

See Eric on Google+

See all 10 Questions posts