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I really like this image, Roy. I particularly enjoy studying the slightly blurred crowd gathered around the locomotive. The joyous smile on the young lady on the engine… the gentleman in the buttoned dapper suit… the man wearing the military-style hat… the guy bent over with his black Instamatic Kodak camera. Funny thing is I remember the somber looking guy wearing the black baseball cap from the 6060 trips fifteen years later. I don’t recall ever talking to him, but he was always there – never saw him smile. Funny how an image like this can fire little memory joggers. Thank you for sharing, Sir!
Hi Peter. Glad you enjoyed the photo that was taken by my father (Roy). Your descriptive commentary on the crowd was a delight to read. Thank you!
This is a great photo! Paying homage to Stratford as a railway city. Wish I was alive during the times these excursions were run. However, I wasn’t born for another 8 years yet when this photo was taken.
However, I did live in Stratford from Aug. 1985 to May 1988. It was still a busy center for train activity. VIA would always have a mix bag of engines, from the old F units, to RDCs. CN still owned the line, before 1992 when GEXR took over freight operations for the next 30 years. CN came back after it became profitable again, although the GEXR still operates the Goderich Sub. And of course, GO Transit now runs trains from Stratford.
After all these years a fleury of activity still makes Stratford a great place to go and railfan, even though it’s now known as the ‘Festival City’ with Shakespearean roots. What the future holds is always uncertain, but….I would hope that if GO becomes successful, that eventually they would build their own terminus on the old shop lands (without knowing if this is actually being redeveloped yet or not).
I’m glad you enjoyed the photo, Todd. Stratford has a great railway history indeed! #6218 is still around, on display at the Fort Erie Railway Museum – https://www.forterie.ca/museum/museum-sites/railway-museum/