Comments on: This was another somber event for myself, as I didn’t start serious railfanning until the mid 1990′s I missed out on all the regular train action on not just the Canada Southern, but CN’s Cayuga Subdivision as well. When I finally made it to the area the CASO had been discontinued and the Cayuga had been freshly ripped out east of Delhi. Trillium was my one chance to photograph what was left of the Cayuga Subdivision and luckily I made a few trips to Tillsonburg to catch them. This trip to catch Trillium started in the dark of the early morning after finishing work. It was my second week in a row and I knew they most likely would only make one more trip before giving up the line. The fresh snow added to the occasion with a bit of drift busting along the way and at the time RS18 1842 (a former CP unit rebuilt from a retired CN unit) was usually the main power. The train is seen returning back to Tillsonburg and crossing regional road 73 in Alymer. The old elevator was once served by the railway but I heard it was demolished this past summer after OSR ran it’s last train over the line. The faded stop sign and signal switch were used for the south service track that has since been ripped out. Trillium would run at least one more time over the line and to many people’s surprise OSR would briefly revive the line thanks mainly due to an odd twist if fate that found their bridge in Tillsonburg taken out of service and too costly to fix. Running the Cayuga Subdivision allowed them to continue serving customers on the south side of town as well as further east. As we all know this arrangement only lasted a few years and today the Cayuga Subdivision sits lifeless once again, this time most likely for good.

By: Klaucker

Klaucker — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 17:14:07 +0000

Great capture and kudos on the photo. It is amazing how the promise of cheap fuel from corn in the late 20XX’s came and went with merely a footnote. I cycled the Simcoe to Delhi rail trail (former Cayuga Sub) a few weeks back and when you reach Delhi the lifeless rails are still on the ground overgrown and unusable… railways cannot exist without industry…industry cannot exist without railways….the slide continues

By: Marcus Stevens

Marcus Stevens — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 13:48:24 +0000

I remember there being a lot of hype about the ethanol plant back then, too bad it never got busy like they hoped.

By: BradKetchen

BradKetchen — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 13:08:20 +0000

Marcus, I too did a trip to Tillsonburg and Aylmer in 2010 on the way bck from a show in London. At that time Trillium seemed to be in full swing with a new Ethanol plant, IGPC (I ended up modeling it), just East of where your shot is. The Ethanol plant, a kit as Stephen Host calls it, was plugged with tank cars. And they were proud of the first delivery on their website showing Trillium 3582 delivery a single car. At the time I caught 3582 at Future Transfer (the Southern Tillsonburg) Yard without a truck. I posted a shot here: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2194354 Thanks for the memory!