Winter hit Southern Ontario hard over the Feb. 19-20 weekend. A widespread blizzard whipped up snow for hundreds of miles, accumulating on rights of way and proving especially difficult on Canadian National and Southern Ontario Railway branch lines in Southwestern Ontario.
CN’s north mainline is an internal short line, operated by crews formerly of the Goderich-Exeter Railway, that runs for 90 miles between Georgetown and London, Ont. In the week before the blizzard, flooding around Mile 82 of the Guelph subdivision shut down the railway toward Stratford, Ont., halting through VIA Rail Canada passenger service. In some areas, no trains had operated for almost 36 hours, with winds leading to heavy drifting. Seen above is the first train after that period, CN’s L540, blasting through a drift in Mosborough, Ont., on Feb. 20.
CN had a spreader on duty on Tuesday, Feb. 22, but it did not leave the yard at Kitchener, Ont., because of operational issues. It is expected to run today (Wednesday, Feb. 23).
On Canada’s Family Day holiday, Monday, Feb. 21, Ontario Southland Railway crews called for duty at the railroad’s Salford Shop, with three trains planned to operate. Crews noted the heavy snow just north of the shop and notifed OSR President Brad Jolliffe, who found snow 5 to 6 feet high in for 14 car lengths in the “Salford Cut.” Concern that the snow had become quite hard and
concentrated on the west rail, which might cause locomotives to derail — along with the fact the railroad’s plow was facing the wrong way for the cut — led Jolliffe to call a contractor to dig out the cut.
The call was also made to bring out the plow and the railway’s F units to dig out the railroad south of Salford, after which the CAMI job would follow the plow north. That job could not be cancelled because CAMI Automotive, a GM assembly plant, had 30 cars of empty auto racks to be delivered, and propane distributors near St. Thomas, Ont., needed deliveries. Once plowing was completed, that crew would become a switching job to work the CN interchange and Factor Gas so area farmers could get more propane.
Thanks for the nice photos