November 26th, 2009
Trevor had American Thanksgiving off and so picked me up first thing in the morning to head up to Goderich and see what was happening. We left the house a little after 9, catching Via 84 at P&H in Breslau. P&H's sign is gone and there's a rezoning application at the facility, but the backtrack is still full of grain hoppers. After that, we hopped over to the bridge coming into Kitchener and saw GEXR 580, found nothing at the station in Kitchener, and went on to Stratford where we found 433 with 4001-6061 preparing to head east. We went back to Shakespeare to shoot 433 on the bridge over Highway 7, got out of the car, and heard a loud hissing noise. We abandoned the chase and returned to Stratford to rectify the rapidly flattening tire and have lunch. It worked out well, as when the car was ready and we had eaten, 433 returned from Kitchener. We shot it working and then shot 85 at the station, then pushed on to Goderich, where we happened upon the two CN units GEXR is using moments before they headed into the salt mine. Don't know the last time CN power worked that mine...
Breslau, Ontario
(map) This is a small town between Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo on the GEXR Guelph Sub.
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario
(map) Kitchener-Waterloo is on the the GEXR Guelph sub between Guelph and Stratford. The GEXR Elmira spur heads North to service Elmira and the CP Waterloo sub out of Cambridge joins the GEXR Huron Park spur for interchange traffic here.
Stratford, Ontario
(map) Stratford lies between Kitchener-Waterloo and London on the GEXR Guelph sub and is the home of Cowie junction, where the GEXR Goderich sub begins.
Goderich, Ontario
(map) Goderich is the site of the shops for the GEXR and hosts a port and salt mine.
video
GEXR #581 with CN power works the salt mine in Goderich, the first tine in recent memory that CN power has been in the Lake Huron harbour. The video was shot as a single uninterrupted clip but several minutes of tape had to be cut to fit it on youtube with the end of google video.
Stratford, Ontario
(map) Stratford lies between Kitchener-Waterloo and London on the GEXR Guelph sub and is the home of Cowie junction, where the GEXR Goderich sub begins.