Comments on: As of midnight on April 30th 2020 the CN Cayuga sub is now officially out of service between mile 114.55 (New Sarum) and mile 87.22 (Tillsonburg), with mile 87.22 to 80 (End of Steel in Delhi) seeing abandonment. Originally build by the Great Western Railway 147 years ago as a connection between Buffalo and the ferries in Windsor this line has seen many different owners over its existence to the likes of Wabash, N&W and CN. CN operated through trains up until roughly 1998 with NS through traffic (327, 328, 145 & 146) up until 1995. After 98 the future of the entire line was uncertain. From Delhi to Buffalo fell to the fate of abandonment and was torn up. In 2013 the St Thomas and Eastern (Trillium) took over the still CN owned line to service the industries between St Thomas and Tillsonburg. After 3 years of operation they did not find it profitable and OSR took over the business. Now after less then 4 years of running it, OSR too has found in not economically reasonable to continue service. With the few industries along the line, the fate of the “Canada Air Line” falls into the hands of CN. Here we see OSR’s pair of matching F units roll out of Tillsonburg past the manufacturing facility of Shaw’s Ice Cream.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Thu, 07 May 2020 16:25:43 +0000

Checking my Timetable collection, in 1970 there was a CN through freight (road switcher?) called CN 756 that departed St. Thomas at 0700 and arrived at Duff at 1215.

The usual N&W/Wabash trains 90 and 28 show up in the timetable through the 70′s, and not there in 1985. When a train is not listed it means all trains ran as Extras. I have no idea what operated otherwise (Westbound N&W/NS trains operated all as extras and were not in the TT)

By: Mitchell Gault

Mitchell Gault — Tue, 05 May 2020 22:19:34 +0000

James – yeah that’s understandable. No worries, appreciate the correction. As well as Jason’s snip bit of info!

Will have to check those books out Steve.

By: Noe

Noe — Tue, 05 May 2020 19:00:31 +0000

Really nice photo Mitchell.

The last CN local train between St. Thomas and Delhi operated on October 31, 1998. STER began operations a week later in November 1998.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Tue, 05 May 2020 12:11:45 +0000

James – very true. A lot of misinformation out there as people read others captions then repeat what they heard from others… it gets muddied quickly if you don’t have a firm source of information.

Try books Mitch, books. Lines of Country, Canada Southern Country, CN timetables from the past, Kevin Holland “rails to the border” series, etc.

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Tue, 05 May 2020 05:58:36 +0000

All good, Mitchell. I try not to be one to be the “well, actually” type, but given the historic moment and the fact people may reference this and other images from this day to learn about the history, felt it pertinent.

By: Mitchell Gault

Mitchell Gault — Tue, 05 May 2020 05:58:32 +0000

Oh then my source of info must of been wrong on the CN trains.

Thanks Todd!

By: Todd Steinman

Todd Steinman — Mon, 04 May 2020 23:25:31 +0000

Well done sir! Another ‘iconic’ sign included in the last of OSR operations on the Cayuga Sub. Well framed.

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Mon, 04 May 2020 22:22:45 +0000

The Dunnville sub is ripped up from Caledonia to Fort Erie, but the Cayuga sub from Black Rock is still in place to Miller Road.. now the Stamford sub.

NS continued to run off and on the cayuga until 1996. Cn did not operate any through trains in the 90s that I am aware of.

By: Mitchell Gault

Mitchell Gault — Mon, 04 May 2020 19:17:54 +0000

Yes my mistake. I knew they stopped running in 2013 as I’ve seen photos from the last run. Not sure why I worded it that way.

By: jknott86

jknott86 — Mon, 04 May 2020 13:04:29 +0000

STER went as far east as the fertilizer facility on the aptly named Fertilizer Road just east of Delhi. http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=12413