Comments on: The mornings were once a great time to be at Guelph junction. Often a trio of freights almost block on block would arrive. CP 142 the “sprint train” was one of the hottest trains operating over the line. Daily automotive frames from St. Thomas to the large GM assembly plant in Oshawa would polish the rails. Unfortunately a number of years ago the plant in Oshawa shut down ending any need for the train. The plant has since opened to a certain extent but the trains have yet to return. The unique MLW control cab sets were a nice catch on train 141/142 until they were retired. Here train 142 has just entered Guelph junction in the mid morning hours.

By: smithgl

smithgl — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 17:10:07 +0000

Nice, Marcus! I saw a CN 434 recently that had some loaded frames and suspected they were for Oshawa… for a time before the plant closed, CN 434 handled frames this way. But wouldn’t it be great to get the “frame train” back?!

By: Stephen C. Host

Stephen C. Host — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 17:09:47 +0000

Oh yeah…. those were the days. Three eastbounds in the morning like clockwork.

One day I had the radio on and there were 8 eastbounds in an hour…. after a work block… went down and only got 1 or 2 more…

now you’re lucky to have two in a day.

BTW the Oshawa plant has returned to rail service, it’s just not on dedicated trains as it was. The frames are shipped CN, the autoracks are going CP, and G&W switches the plant for both.