No. 9

Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society

I took this picture a few years ago during an excursion between Tillsonburg, Ontario and Delhi, Ontario. This shot was taken in Courtland, Ontario, the half way point between Tillsonburg and Delhi. Its sitting at the former “Ram Fertilizer” plant, where my father worked for 30 years.

I grew up in Delhi, running distance from the Cayuga Sub that ran between St. Thomas and Fort Erie. The Cayuga Sub was very busy in those days, with a train every couple of hours or so 24 hours a day. In the night you could tell a train was on its way as the windows would start to rattle 10 minutes before the horns would blow us out of bed. Today, the Cayuga Sub has been cut in two, with the tracks lifted just past Delhi all the way to outside of Fort Erie. They still run a couple of trains a week to the outside of town to switch out the fertilizer plant there, but the days of 100 car freights at 80 mph are gone forever, replaced by 2 car trains, with no caboose to wave at, lumbering at 15mph.

With the collapse of the tobacco industry in the area I have a feeling the fertilizer plant might not be around much longer, and the inevitable abandonment of the tracks into Delhi will happen.

This is the image we use on the cover of our instruction CD’s and in the background of the Fast Tracks site.

This is the original image.

The St. Thomas Locomotive Restoration Society maintains and operates this great little 0-6-0 and occasionally runs it down to Delhi as well as various other excursions in Ontario. It has been sidelined for a year or so and didn’t run at all last summer. This past winter they were able to do the necessary repairs and are returning to steam this year! I will be there for sure!

-Tim

-Tim

About the Author:

I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!

Posted by: Tim | 05-10-2007 | 11:05 AM
Posted in: Picture of the Day