Caption: With the RERA crew in a celebratory mood, and extra flags flapping, smoke was coaxed out of 3612's 251 block for the photographers waiting for the final departure out of Goodwood on March 29 2026.

It took three months, and it was only supposed to be a single day of movements back on December 21 2025, but the Railroad Equipment Restoration Association pulled it off. Despite numerous attempts over the winter, extreme cold, snow, and motive power that can be best described as "temperamental", warmer weather coupled with mechanical repairs to 3612 and the movements started actually going off without a hitch. Goodwood, a hamlet that once had a Station and passenger trains, along with a grain elevator and frequent service, was mostly silent for the last few decades. Between December and March, Goodwood became a beehive of activity: Mechanical repairs were conducted on equipment, locomotives were watered, repaired and tested, crews reported for duty and when everything worked, trains operated along the Uxbridge sub between "the dip" (A location 4 miles south of Uxbridge) and Lincolnville all based out of Goodwood. The best part? It was all done with locomotives with prime movers designed in 1944 and 1951, MLW/ALCo's, which as noted in December, are a dying breed in Ontario.

All of it came to an end on March 29 2026: Pictured the last cut of cars is now ready to go, mechanical modifications to the cars are completed, and the last order of business is to load the train with *everything left* that wasn't already tied down into the coaches. You see, the RERA purchased *everything* that the former YDHR owned, including all sundries: this included old souvenirs, TV's, mechanical equipment, uniforms, stuff in storage, historical artefacts, everything. The RERA was tasked, contractually, with removal of it all and it took a team of about 10-15 people to hand bomb what remained all into these coaches and send it to Saskachewan and North Bay. After the picture you see above the train would stop on the crossing and the last of it would be loaded from waiting trucks and vehicles. Then they'd reverse back to Goodwood to make one final run out of town, blasting the horn, again, to a gaggle of waiting cameras and a few locals observing the end of their tenure on the Uxbridge subdivision.

What does the future have in store for this line? At the moment, nobody knows for sure, but it would appear GO transit isn't exactly done with the railway and neither is the town. The town is working on a "railway district improvement plan" and their plans show trains calling at the Uxbridge station but with much improved lands surrounding what I would call a GO station platform. The town and Metrolinx are also re-negotiating the lease in 2026. Could GO service happen? Is a 6 car train that far off the mark when it's only a 10 mile run and about 30 minutes from Uxbridge to Linconville at 30 MPH, then they can blast off at the Uxbridge's 50 MPH after stopping at Old Elm. Until the tracks are ripped out, never say never. A train or two to Uxbridge would also help the town re-develop the lands and reach the Province's goals of urban intensification, by right, near transit stations. We'll just have to see what happens from here. In the meantime, the 244's and 251's are silent in Uxbridge and the York Durham's legacy is now gone for good and on to better things.

Over the next few days and weeks, all this equipment would move over Metrolinx and CN to Mac Yard, and then to North Bay and Kronau, Sackachewan. For updates on the equipment and their plans, visit the RERA Canada website at www.reracanada.ca where announcements are yet to be made as I type this. I couldn't be happier to see the equipment at least preserved, it took a ton of money and effort to pull this off and folks, please give the RERA a good look. They deserve it.