Summer observations and musings

I spent a wonderful few days with my family in Southwestern Ontario for the Canada Day weekend. It was fun to be in my hometown for Canada Day for the first time in decades. While there, I was able to amass countless photos from the local railway operations. My challenge now is how to organize it all thematically so it makes sense in the context of this blog.

First, a bit of news passed along from a reader (thanks Michael F.). The City of Ottawa is planning to widen Carling Avenue and do away with a railway bridge over the road in the west end of the city. This old bridge carried transcontinental freight and passenger trains through Ottawa for generations, but the Beachburg Subdivision was torn up past Nepean Junction years ago, making this bridge a relic of the past. It will now go so that the one narrow stretch of Carling can be alleviated.

This is a photo I took from the passenger seat of my car three years ago. It always pays to take photos of the mundane, because you don't know when the mundane might become something worth remembering. I will be glad to see this stretch of Carling widened because the narrow fit beneath the rail bridge is dangerous and the rails are long gone, so it's time to do the practical thing. The city doesn't mention on its site whether there will be any bridge over Carling once the road is widened. I would imagine the old rail right-of-way would make a nice bike and pedestrian trail.

Isn't it interesting that, at a time when yet more of Ottawa's rail infrastructure is being removed, there are open musings from our federal government of building new railway infrastructure as part of the government's drive to devote two percent of the country's GDP on defense spending. Given how much of our area rail network has been removed, it would seem remote that there would be any strategic new rail infrastructure built here. However, those who have lived here for a while know that military vehicles and equipment were once delivered to CFB Petawawa via rail. I dare say this wasn't a huge source of revenue or regular thing for CP, CN or Ottawa Central, but there was a time when rail served our defense industry in the area. Check out this post from Trackside Treasure for more information about this piece of railway history.

Also, here's a YouTube video of Ottawa Central making a military delivery to Petawawa. 

Before I get to my treasure trove of rail images from the Sarnia area, I'd like to share a few attempts at rail photography on the 401/407 and the other major highways between Ottawa and my hometown. I did see two freight trains going through Kingston, but neither could be photographed from my vantage point in the passenger seat. 

Then there was the stretch of the 407 near CN's MacMillan Yard. This is wide highway and the safety barriers make a shot of the yard challenging to say the least, but with a little bit of cropping and luck, you can at least get a glimpse of this huge operation.

This image might look a bit strange. Why so much sky and so little actual railways? Well, that's because I had to crop out the highway safety barrier from the shot. You can at least get a small glimpse of a former CitiRail lease unit making its way toward the 407 while a string of autoracks to the right await their next destination. There are also some boxcars next to the CN building to the left of the shot. I wish I could offer something a bit more detailed, but I like scanning through this shot for all the various interesting elements.

Also, I did catch a passing container train making its way over the highway near Airport Road.

Here's one final shot that I had been meaning to get for years. It once again qualifies as one of those mundane shots that might not mean anything at the time, but can one day become more important. Here's a shot of the old CN ferry landing in Sarnia, as seen from Front Street. The old yard that the railway once maintained for shipping oversized cars over the St. Clair River is now occupied by a gravel dock. But notice how the rails are still there at the edge of the old ferry dock.

 

Given how quick CN is to tear up every last scrap of track here in Ottawa, I was surprised to see rails still there at the end of the old ferry dock, some 30 years after the new tunnel was put into use beneath the river, making the ferry operation obsolete. 

 

I also caught an interesting meet while looking over the old ferry operation, which was once connected by the CN Point Edward Spur, which is still in place today as it serves the grain elevator on Sarnia Bay.

 

Okay, so it's not the type of meet we usually like to see in a railway blog, but I thought it was cool to catch two Great Lakes freighters making their way north and south along the river. The southbound ship is the Mark W. Barker, an American ship owned by the Interlakes Steamship Company. This ship carries taconite, salt and limestone, although it has carried parts of wide turbines in the past. I was not able to get a clean enough shot to read the name of the northbound ship.

 

As I am about to head out on the second vacation with my family, which promises more railway photos to come, I thought a post with some random shots might work best, as I am still thinking about how to properly organize the stacks of images I intend to share from Sarnia in the months to come. Stay tuned. 

The Ghosts of Bedell, Part II

As I mentioned in my last post, Bedell is an interesting spot on the Canadian Pacific Winchester Sub. It's an area that has rich history. Now, as much of its old infrastructure has been removed, it's also a testament to how railways have evolved. Small towns are rarely much more than a passing landmark to freight trains these days and Bedell is no exception. There are no diamonds here, the interlocking is long gone, the station is only visible in old photos and much of the former Prescott Sub connection has been removed.

So what is there to see in Bedell these days? Well, in the last few years at least, there was a fair amount to see, to be honest. The Canadian Pacific has been very busy reshaping the Winchester Sub, which connects Montreal with Smiths Falls. The double tracks have been slowly merged into a single track governed by modern signalization. Bedell retains some extra trackage, as the railway still makes use of passing sidings, but most of the old remnants of the Bedell rail yard have disappeared. 

The image above is a shot I took in February last year as maintenance of way crews continued their work in the area. Much of the consist was parked on the South Prescott Spur. The caboose, which had the modern CPR letting on it, seemed to be the crew breakroom, where they could escape to a warm place and get out of the howling winter winds. You can see the smoke rising the smokestack, indicating that there is something cooking or running inside the old car. The earliest photo of this caboose I could find was from 2004, meaning it's been assigned to engineering services for nearly two decades.

This shot above shows you a hint of the gondolas on the South Prescott Spur. The entire consist was being marshalled around by a flatbed truck equipped with flanged wheels for use on the rails. I was disappointed to see this. It would have been cool to see one of CP's old MoW locomotives on point, possibly with some old multimarks on the long hood, but it was not to be.

What's also striking about this image is the fact that so many old ties were piled up in the area. In the several times I have been to Bedell in 2020 and 2021, the amount of rail ties was pretty impressive. It seemed like this was the spot where many of the old ties were dumped. The shot below was taken in July 2020. This pile was just the tip of the iceberg.

I haven't been to Bedell in more than a year to see what it's like these days, but seeing those cabooses when I did was incredibly gratifying, especially for someone who is old enough to remember when trains still had cabooses. I remember the debate when railways unions pressed their cases about the issue. I still have a pin somewhere that says "Trains are safer with a caboose." It was given to me by a Teamsters union representative that was pleading its case at a Sarnia mall in the 1980s.

When you drive through Kemptville these days, you wouldn't know you were in a railway town. The last remnants of the old Prescott Sub were lifted shortly after I took this photo in 2014. In fact, you won't find that old industrial building anymore either. It's all been razed. Nothing but a flat expanse of development land for sale. 

Despite the removal of much of the infrastructure at Bedell, it still remains one of my favourite spots to sit trackside. Go there in the summer and listen to the sound of the wind swishing through the trees. It's a very peaceful spot. Catching a train there is tough, given the decreased frequency of traffic, but the newly installed modern signals will give you some clues. You can see these signals safely from the Bedell Road crossing, which might be able to let you know if you will be waiting an entire afternoon or whether you might be in luck. 

You see? Progess isn't so bad.

The Ghosts of Bedell, Part I

This post was supposed to be the first stop on my blog's reunion tour, as I called it when I restarted things in August 2021. Since then, I have accumulated much more material, which has pushed back this post for months and now more than a year. It's not a bad problem to have.

Bedell, Ontario, a spot along the Canadian Pacific Railway's Winchester Subdivision. Bedell once housed a station and an active rail yard. Over the course of my extended hiatus from blogging, I did manage to visit this spot a few times. Truthfully, I wouldn't have been able to visit this spot were it not for the fact that I had surgery on my knee at the Kemptville District Hospital and subsequent follow-ups with my surgeon a few times. That meant a few free passes to railfan at a time when I would usually not be able to get away from Ottawa.

Those who know their history know that Bedell once boasted a station, a tower, an interlocking crossing between the Canadian Pacific and the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway and later a diamond that connected the CP Winchester Sub to the railway's Prescott Sub. Read about the history of Bedell's rail operations here.

The Prescott Sub lasted until the late 1990s, when it was finally deactivated and the rail removed south of Ottawa. The rail in Ottawa was spared, some of which became part of the O-Train Trillium Line while the remainder was used by Ottawa Central and then CN in its local operations. A small portion of the Prescott Sub still ventured into Kemptville as the North Prescott Spur. That spur was lifted several years ago. The South Prescott Spur is still hanging on, as a turnout for eastbound locals on the Winchester Sub. That spur serves CP customers in Oxford Station.

So, what's left in Bedell these days? Not much but memories and a few ghosts no doubt. I've been here a number of times and detailed the ongoing process of rails being lifted and area being cleared of anything resembling a rail yard. 

This shot above was the scene on November 30, 2020 when I was in Kemptville for an appointment, which led me to Bedell, of course. Throughout 2020, CP maintenance of way crews were quite active in Bedell as the Winchester Sub was single tracked in many places, due to modern signalization improvements that do not require two tracks. For my purposes, I was interested to see the two old yard tracks removed on the north side of the area (left on the photo). One of the tracks was once clearly labelled as a bad order track. You could see the sign from the side of Bedell Road. The south track with gondolas marked the first time I have ever seen cars parked in this area.

The North Prescott Spur was being used that day as a staging ground for this maintenance of way consist, including a genuine caboose. I was quite surprised to see the last vestiges of the CP multimark on this car. The white scheme with no identifying marks or numbers was quite odd, although it might have been a case of a car being repainted after being heavily marked by graffiti. 

Here's a closer look at the caboose. You can see from the ends that its original yellow paint scheme is clearly visible. As if a caboose on a main line wasn't odd enough, this one had two paint schemes. I was disappointed that I didn't see any freight trains pass by, but this was a great consolation prize, to be sure. 

Still, I couldn't help but feel a little sad for the ghosts of Bedell. At one point, this was a real community gathering spot, where families embarked on long journeys or reunited. It once saw upwards up 30 trains a day. By most counts, it now sees anywhere from five to seven, based on what I hear from various railfans. Occasionally, there will be a seasonal extra, such as a semi-regular ethanol unit train, but the frequency is not really conducive to regular railfanning.

This Soo Line gondola has definitely seen better days.

 

Progress or is this the end of an era? Depends on your perspective.

 

Despite the fact that very little is left in Bedell from the area's heyday, it's important to understand today's reality. Canadian Pacific is definitely a railway in growth mode, even if it isn't evident in this area. The railway's purchase of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway (formerly Montreal Maine & Atlantic) gave CP its transcontinental connection to the East Coast once again. The railway has been promoting its new eastern terminus as a competitive advantage for shippers (read: intermodal and containers). The railway also clearly sought to establish a link to Mexico with its prolonged struggled to acquire Kansas City Southern.

 

So what does this have to do with Bedell? Well, if the minds running CP have their way, the railway is clearly going to be busier as a true transcontinental transportation concern once again. That could mean a few more trains passing through Bedell. They might not stop there anymore, but the ghosts would likely notice the increase and smile.

Winter observations in Ottawa

Happy New Year everyone. I just returned home from a family vacation in Florida. I was planning to do some railfanning down in the Sunshine State and managed to spend some time trackside, the results of which I will share in the coming weeks. I did have a few Ottawa specific items and images to share, so I thought I would start off the year with those.

A few housekeeping items to pass along before I get into my images. The first is that, despite the questions about CN's status in Ottawa, the railway is still operating its freight services as per usual. Several posts have appeared on the Eastern Ontario Rails Facebook group that show the railway making the rounds on local rails. Of course, we don't know what will happen to freight services in the capital once CN officially discontinues service here, but I would be very surprised if someone doesn't at least attempt to step forward to carry on these operations such as they are.

Keep in mind that the railway is planning some sort of event from June 30 to July 5. Wouldn't it be ironic if the railway held this event after it officially pulled out all its services from the city and region?

Secondly, I should point out that several readers have contributed rail images in the last few weeks, which I will share in a future post. Many thanks to those who reached out to me over the Christmas break with images and thoughts for new posts. One of the shots that was contributed featured the GATX leased geep that is serving as CN's power in the region right now. It makes me want to get out there and try to capture it again. I did get a shot of it last year, which you can see here.

So, on to business. In mid-December, I found myself on my way to a Christmas party in Orleans when I found the time to stop at the Central Station to get a few photos. Sadly for railfans, Via Rail has erected tall chain-link fencing between its tracks and the eastern parking lot, which will make photographs especially difficult.

Seeing this barrier, I opted to try and get some shots in the fog from the Belfast Road overpass. I snagged this shot below of a wrapped Love The Way Via F40PH-2. This was the only angle I could get without having to deal with the mess of hydro wires that obscure much of the view from this overpass.

Even in this shot below, you can see a hydro wire in the bottom left. This was the only way I could capture this shot of the three trains in the station yard. The one on the far right is loading while the other two are parked. You can just make out the P42 on the other end of the consist from the wrapped F40.

I wasn't expecting to get anything great, but a corridor train from Montreal just happened to be making its way to the station when I was there, which allowed me to snap a few quick shots. You can see the fog obscuring much of the cityscape just beyond the station's platforms. Also, you can just make out the wrapped F40 in this shot as well. As you can see from the overhead wires, getting a good shot of the side of the wrapped unit was tough, as I did not have anything to steady my hands when I zoomed the camera in for a closer shot.

This shot gives you an idea of the visual hazard that the overhead wires present when you're shooting from this vantage point.

I also wanted to share this photo below that my wife took from the passenger seat of our car as we headed down to visit family for Thanksgiving in October. She took some shots of a conjoined train with three locomotives, but sadly the trees all but ruined all the shots. This is a tricky spot along the Kingston Subdivision, especially when you're shooting from the 401 while travelling at 110 km/h in the opposite direction. Oh well. It made me think that I should put together a post of some of my best (or worst?) visual hazard shots.

So those are the few observations from Ottawa. I could add in a few lines about the O-Train Confederation Line, but I won't get into it. It's still an unreliable and problem-plagued service, which has the city's commuters growing more impatient by the day.That is hardly news anymore. C'est la vie.

City of Ottawa looking to acquire CN's remaining Ottawa trackage

Here's a breath of fresh air if you are a long suffering railfan or rail advocate in Ottawa. According to the Capital Current, the city is actually in talks with CN to purchase the small pieces of trackage it still owns in the city, which includes the tracks in and around Walkley Yard and the Beachburg Subdivision leading up to the old Nepean Junction. 

The story notes that the talks are very preliminary but are a priority since the old CN line roughly parallels Hunt Club Road through numerous large subdivisions in the southern portion of the old City of Ottawa and in the western suburbs of Nepean. The story also notes that the talks will likely pick up once the discontinuance of service is made official and the line is offficially on the block.

The story itself has some curious statements. A city official told the Current that the city already owns the Renfrew, Carleton Place and Prescott trackage. But, back up a bit and that statement doesn't make a lot of sense. 

Yes, the city owns the land for the Renfrew Spur, although not the actual tracks, which are owned by Nylene Canada in Arnprior. The city may "own" the Carleton Place trackage, but that is also a misleading statement, since no part of the old Carleton Place Sub is intact anymore. The last little bit in Bells Corners was ripped out to make way for a suburban street that will lead to an infill residential development near the Bellwood trailer park community. And the rest of the old right-of-way is now a recreational trail through parts of southern Kanata and the older part of Stittsville. The Prescott trackage, the remnants of the old CP Prescott Sub, are being transformed into an extention of the O-Train Trillium Line leading to the Ottawa airport and the Riverside South community. The trackage was still used occasionally to spot cars at the NRC research facility near the airport. Beyond that, the line was ripped up.

The story does point out that a government would be able to buy the rails at the salvage rate, rather than the going commercial rate. This is also a statement worth examining, because there was a great deal of controversy when the Pontiac municipality in Quebec desperately tried to salvage the old CN tracks within its boundaries, but found that the railway's idea of "salvage" rate was exorbitant.In other words, the municipality thought the price was set far too high, as a way to lift the rails and use them elsewhere on the CN system.

I have to ask, if securing these tracks was such a priority for the city, where were city officials several years ago when a portion of the Beachburg Sub leading into North Kanata and beyond to Fitzroy Harbour was torn up? What a waste of an opportunity to connect Kanata via rails to the rest of the city. As it stands now, Kanata will have to wait for Stage 3 to get light rail while much of the rest of the city (Orleans, Blackburn Hamlet, Westboro, Riverside South, Crystal Beach, Bells Corners, Algonquin College, parts of Nepean) will have rails within close proximity when Phase 2 is complete. 

If I lived in Kanata, I would find that utterly unacceptable.

Councillor Shawn Menard did say that, "it is the city's intention to acquire these lands." I just hope that means for rail purposes. As we know all too well, once the rails are gone, they're gone.

That raises the next question of what will happen to the remaining freight services in the city and Eastern Ontario. CN is clearly checking out of the region. I wonder if that means that someone like James Allen from the old Ottawa Central is looking at starting a scaled-down freight short line operation in the city that would provide freight services in off hours under a running rights scenario with the city. I also have to wonder if such an operation would even be worthwhile.

Although, it's important to remember that a short line could very well reach out and attract new business, since they are much better equipped to run this type of operation, compared to CN.

Any freight operation would require some cooperation with the city since the rails would have to accommodate both standard freight trains and light rail operations.

I suppose we can at least be content for the moment that the city is actually doing something constructive for once. In my opinion, they should have been taking this approach years ago, but what's done is done. Let's just hope that there might be railfanning worth pursuing in this city in the years to come.

CN leaving Ottawa? A look at the possible scenarios

As several local rail enthusiasts have noted in recent weeks, Canadian National has listed all of its Ottawa-related trackage on its three-year abandonment list. That includes the entire Alexandria Sub, the section of the Smiths Falls Sub where is operates with running rights from Via Rail, one mile of the old M&O, its Vankleek Spur, L’Orignal Spur, its connections to Walkley Yard and the last remnants of the Beachburg Sub.

Here's a link to the CN page, where you can find the PDF report.

What does this mean? Well, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen, but it’s obvious that CN no longer wants to foot the bill to maintain what little trackage it does own in the Ottawa area, not to mention in Eastern Ontario (not including its Kingston Subdivision main line through Prescott).

There are many possible scenarios and consequences at play here, depending on what does happen. No doubt, CN will argue its operations in this area are no longer viable to its bottom line, which is probably fairly accurate, given the scale of the operation and the massive overall structure of the company itself.

This is how I see it, from my limited knowledge of CN and railways in general.

1. CN will sell what little trackage it owns on the Alexandria Sub/Smiths Falls Sub corridor to Via Rail. There is no question this will happen. On its abandonment list, it’s not clear to me if CN owns any of this trackage anymore. Someone with more information than me can fill me in. It is listed with an operating rights designation, which likely means it's not theirs.

2. Depending on what’s left to be sold off and what CN still owns in the city, is there a chance CN would continue operating freight services here on a strict running-rights basis? I don’t think so, but I’m raising the point for someone who knows more than me. If CN doesn't own much of anything, it would make no sense to continue on a running rights basis.

3. The opportunity for a new shortline railway to take over CN’s operation is now very real. For this, I reached out to the former General Manager of the much loved Ottawa Central Railway, James Allen. This is what he told me via email: “Can a go be made to operate traffic from Arnprior, Ottawa and L'Orignal/Hawkesbury...I think so. However much due diligence is required.”

We can only hope that someone as professional as Mr. Allen would step in and refocus all local efforts from a more effective shortline mindset. Ottawa will never again be a freight railway hotbed. But, Ottawa Central’s success from 1998–2008 is proof that a freight railway can succeed here.

If CN does indeed pull out, the question becomes who steps in? Is there an existing shortline company or company along the lines of Genesee & Wyoming (G&W's Goderich-Exeter Railway seen below near Mitchell, Ont.) that would be interested in Ottawa? It all depends on what is actually left and what new business could possibly be attracted.

4. If a shortline does step in, then the question of what to do with Walkley Yard becomes a moot point. I’m guessing a number of interested parties would be watching this situation carefully, including OC Transpo, which uses a portion of the yard as maintenance facilities for its fleet of Alstom diesel light rail trainsets that ply the Trillium Line. That line, as you know, will be extended as part of the second phase of the city's LRT expansion.

5. This development causes another headache for one of CN’s sole remaining customers in the west end, Nylene Canada, in Arnprior. This company has stated in the past that it has to have its caprolactum delivered via insulated tank car, given the nature of the substance. Trucking is not an option. A shortline would no doubt continue its weekly deliveries to Arnprior, but the company must still be uneasy.

It’s hard to see CN’s pending departure from Ottawa as anything but inevitable. I once tended to agree with those who stated at the outset that CN was only interested in OCR for the scrap value of the Beachburg Sub from Nepean Junction to Pembroke. That’s a lot of rail, worth tens of millions of dollars that it was able to retrieve and use elsewhere on its system. And I’m not mentioning the other assorted pieces of track it has removed in the last several years in and around Ottawa.

But, given that CN has been operating in Ottawa for 10 years now that argument doesn’t seem to hold up. If the company was only interested in rails only, then why would it stay in Ottawa so long? Maybe the opposition from Renfrew County and the Pontiac Region in Quebec held up its plans for the Beachburg Sub longer than it would have liked. Maybe the OCR acquisition was something CN had to shoulder as part of its purchase of the entire Quebec Rail Corp. portfolio in 2008.

As a railfan and major proponent of regional commuter rail, I’m hopeful that a shortline operator can step in and make a profit here. From a very selfish point-of-view, it would great to see more than one train a week on the railway tracks going through my neighbourhood.

Once again, Ottawa drops the ball

I shouldn't be surprised by the city's latest gaffe on another piece of rail infrastructure. But even by my low expectations, the city's decision to do nothing about the Prince of Wales Bridge is astounding.

The city is considering spending $300,000 to fence off the 136-year-old bridge to prevent people from using it as an informal link across the Ottawa River. For those keeping score, that means the city has essentially sat on its hands since it purchased the bridge in 2005.

So, let's simplify things before I go off on yet another rant about this city's utter lack of vision when it comes to railways.

This bridge could essentially be used for two different things right now. It could either be transformed into a recreational pathway, which would seem like the typical thing for Ottawa to do. I wouldn't mind this option, except for one tiny little detail.

This railway link represents this city's only chance to expand its light rail system into Gatineau. So far, neither Ottawa nor the City of Gatineau seems terribly excited by the prospect of extending the O-Train into Quebec. I understand there are complexities with extending an Ontario railway into Quebec. I understand there are jurisdictional issues as well as questions over how such an extension would be funded.

But once this bridge is gone as a railway link, it's gone. There are no second chances. And, if these cities don't think light rail is necessary to facilitate the movement of commuters between the two sides of the river, consider the alternative. All the interprovincial bridges are packed at rush hour, since so many public servants travel across the river for work. In fact, it's well known to everyone in the capital region that both Ontario and Quebec would dearly love to have one more bridge spanning the river to take the heat off  the Macdonald-Cartier, Champlain, Alexandra and Chaudiere bridges.

This Prince of Wales Bridge represents a relatively affordable alternative where thousands of cars could be taken off the road every day. No new bridge to build. Easy, right?

Nothing is easy in the capital when it comes to rail.

I applaud the recent efforts of the Moose Consortium, which has attempted to hold Ottawa's feet to the fire when it comes to this bridge. The consortium's dream is to tie together what is left of the rail network in the capital region and create a private regional rail network, similar in scope to GO Transit in Toronto, if not in ownership.

For years, this group has urged the city to at least maintain the Prince of Wales Bridge to keep it in reasonable shape should there be a change of heart.

The situation has gotten to the point where people are actually signing a petition to save the bridge, although I think most signees are joining the fight in order to convert the bridge into a recreational pathway.

Happily, there seems to be a chance that the city will reverse course and actually stop this plan to fence off the bridge and leave it to further deteriorate. In recent days, some councillors have mused that this plan is not a done deal.

We can only hope that, one day, someone will see the value of this bridge.

New life for the old Prescott Subdivision

I recently made it back to Bedell, Ont. on the Canadian Pacific Railway's Winchester Subdivision. When I arrived in Kemptville, I passed over the old remnants of the North Prescott Spur, formerly the Prescott Subdivision. The North Grenville government has made major strides in converting that portion of the old subdivision into a recreational trail. Most parts of the trail looked like this, with signs warning of herbicides being used to clear the trail's right-of-way of weeds. I like the fact that a sign was put in place to show anyone on the trail what is coming up. The shot below shows you the the old Prescott Sub right after it branched off the Winchester Sub at Bedell. This is a section of trail just north of Bedell Road.

This is what the same stretch looked like in the summer of 2014 from the other side of Bedell Road. The rails were in the process of being pulled when I arrived at the scene. Shortly after I was there, a reader from Kemptville told me that the remaining rails were taken up by the end of that summer.

Here's what remains of the old Harvex spur in Kemptville. As you can see (or not see), the old roadbed is grown over with weeds as the old fertilizer facility has remained vacant since the last time I shot photos here. The same Kemptville reader mentioned that Harvex's fertilizer facility moved to Oxford Station, along the CP South Prescott Spur. The other local customer in Kemptville was Highland Lumber, which was located just beyond the old Harvex facilities on Van Buren Road.

This is what the scene looked like 2014 when I shot the last remnants of this spur. The main roadbed is now a well maintained trail that looks to be just about ready for regular use. This part of the trail has also recently been sprayed with herbicides to keep the right-of-way clear. The Harvex spur, of course, is all but buried in weeds now. In 2014, you can see the weeds were already beginning to take over.

Here's a 2014 shot of a westbound CP mixed freight passing by milepost 104.3 right where the old North Prescott Spur branched off from the main line (you can see it on the left). This area is now fenced off and off limits to photographers. I managed to get this shot from well behind where the fence now sits, thanks to some creative use of the camera's zoom function.

All of this was all a prelude to some railfanning, of course. I have recently been told that the frequency of trains on the Winchester Sub is not what it once was, so catching trains of this stretch of track is not as easy as it once was. But I hung around long enough to see a fast-moving tank train. More on this next week. Here's a preview.

You can read my 2014 three-part series on Kemptville, the old Prescott Subdivision and Bedell, Ont. by clicking Bedell Part I, Part II or Part III.

The story behind the post: CASO's long lost St. Clair branch

Last week's post was nearly three years in the making. When I first started this blog in 2013, one of my first ideas was to trace the history of Canada Southern's St. Clair branch between St. Thomas and Courtright. Up until late last year, the post was in various stages of disrepair, owing to my utter lack of photographs of this line and my limited knowledge about this ghost of railroading past. Thankfully, in the past few months, several elements came together to get this post online. The end result reminded me of how much work it is to examine history, especially when there is very little to go on.

The Hotel Bedard, a railway hotel at the end of the CASO St. Clair branch in Courtright, Ont. The building, which faced the St. Clair River and served boat traffic in its heyday, was torn down in recent years.

Truthfully, this post's genesis happened long before I even started this blog. For years, I had no idea that a rail line terminated in Courtright. But one afternoon, as I was driving down the old Highway 80 (now County Road 80), I saw something in a farmer's field that sparked my quest to learn about this railway line. I was merely glancing out the window what I saw was I thought looked like a small railway bridge in the middle of a farmer's field. The bridge had to be an old railway bridge since nothing else made sense, seeing as the structure was nowhere close to any road or even private drive. That was my first indication that there was history begging to be discovered.

Years later, as I was beginning to wonder what to do with my old railway photos from the early 1990s, I began to actively search for railway blogs online. After a while, I came across one of the most extensive railway history websites about railways in Ontario, CanadaSouthern.com. This site has to be the most definitive source of information and photographs on CASO that you will find online. Searching around that site, I found information about the St. Clair branch, a rail line with deep historical roots in Lambton County.

Once I read about that branch, some elements began to come together. I already had purchased this photo (above) of the Brigden train station years before not to mention a shot of the Hotel Bedard in Courtright. I didn't know for sure what railway the Brigden station served. Soon after, I found some other photographs, including a shot of the Oil City station, that began to fill in the picture of what this old operation looked like.

Last year, I found a document that outlined the operations on the branch. In November, my Dad was able to find some historic photos of CASO operations in Petrolia that helped me fill in some more gaps in my knowledge. Finally, my brother was able to determine that the old CASO station in Petrolia was long ago moved to Bright's Grove where it has served as a private residence ever since. My brother was able to get a shot of the old station, which helped fill in another gap.

Finally, I was able to search through some very active Lambton County history groups online where I discovered a few more images that illustrated certain elements of this rail line. Finally, I tracked down a shot of the old Courtright station from the Moore Museum.

All these elements came together late last fall when I began to piece together the history of this long vanished rail line. I had to rewrite sections of it several times, since my understanding of the line changed several times. For example, I didn't know that Oil Springs was on a spur off the St. Clair branch, which dramatically altered the post, since I had originally written it with the understanding that Oil Springs was on the main line. The end result was last week's post, which was years in the making. It was definitely the more labour-intensive post I have put together for the Beachburg Sub. I would have liked to share it back in 2013, but better late than never.

This leads me to a question. I have been asked by a few readers whether I have done any research into old branch lines and subdivisions around the Ottawa area. I have stayed away from doing any historic posts about old subdivisions in this area, simply because there are better sources of information out there than this blog. Several rail history buffs have written books about Ottawa's rail past, which would be the best resource for those interested. However, if people are interested in hearing about old subdivisions in this area on this site, I'd be glad to take a crack at it. For example, I have uncovered an old right-of-way in the Crystal Beach area of the city, which I am researching right now. Feel free to leave a message with your thoughts.

CASO's long lost St. Clair branch

Almost as long as the famed Canada Southern Railway was proposed, a branch through Lambton County, south of Sarnia, was on the books. Barely a year after the original CASO was planned in 1868, the St. Clair branch was proposed as a way to connect the railway to oil fields in Lambton and to Michigan via a ferry crossing at the St. Clair River. That river crossing, which was the railway's top priority since it would have allowed for a Buffalo-Chicago connection, never happened. The St. Clair branch kicked off operations with an excursion train in July 1873, followed by the beginning of regular service in January 1874.

Although it was technically known as the Canada Southern Railway, most people came to know the railway by the names of its parent companies. CASO was ultimately owned by the New York Central Railway, but for a time it was part of a NYC subsidiary, Michigan Central Railroad, so either one of these monikers were what people saw on the trains that plied these railways.

This rail line is significant to Lambton County for several reasons. Not only did it spawn towns, industry and other development along its right-of-way, it also holds the distinction of being the first rail line to be abandoned in the county in the 1950s, at a time when most railways had not yet begun to actively shed trackage.

Today, very little is left to actually see. The right-of-way is all but invisible in most places while artifacts from the line are scarce. But the line's history is fascinating, particularly in a few towns that we will examine. Let's begin at the end of the line.

Photo - Moore Museum archives

COURTRIGHT (WESTERN TERMINUS)

This photo above is the St. Clair branch's terminus in Courtright, Ontario, a small town on the St. Clair River, south of Sarnia. Courtright is a quintessential railway town, for many reasons including its name. The town's name was a product of gratitude. Those who bought land where the branch line ended were grateful enough to CASO to name their town after the president of the company, Milton Courtright. Not satisfied with that honour alone, the town also named one of its streets Milton.

In terms of its contribution to revenue service, Courtright wasn't a huge source of business for the branch. The town once boasted a grist mill and other small scale industries, but nothing of major importance to the branch. Before the branch's end, Courtright accounted for 80 revenue carloads in 1955 and 225 in 1956. Shortly before the branch was abandoned, CASO's customers in Courtright included the province's transportation ministry (likely for road maintenance salt), the local township and a construction company. All orders were handled through an agent in Brigden, a small town just east of Courtright.

Of greater importance, before the line began to decline, Courtright was CASO's connection with the C&O (now CSX) Sarnia Subdivision. This junction was obviously some sort of diamond since records show that the two railways interchanged cars.

Undated photo of Brigden railway station, which was a typical-looking structure on this branch. The railway agent in this town also took orders from shippers in nearby Courtright.

BRIGDEN

East of Courtright, another small town was spawned by CASO. The town of Bridgen owes its existence to this rail line, being that it was otherwise in the middle of the wilderness when the railway was built through the area. Over time, Bridgen spawned some small cottage industries that were typical of such towns in the 1800s and early 1900s. By the time CASO abandoned the St. Clair Branch, Bridgen accounted for a handful of shippers, including two lumber companies, a farmer's co-op, a coal supplier and a shipper that appears in numerous railway documents as "Lyle Allen." This name is also listed as a shipper in Courtright, so it might have been a large-scale farmer. Today, there is again little trace of the railway in Bridgen, which was also named (according to Wikipedia) after a CASO official, William Bridgen, who was a railway engineer. Today, Brigden is a farming community and is best known as the site of the annual Bridgen Fair, the premier Thanksgiving event in the county.

Even today, some sixty years later, you can see evidence of this old line near Brigen even though it was last operational in the late 1950s. Other sections farther west are all but indistinguishable from County Road 80, former Highway 80. The orange arrows show you the old right-of-way while the blue circle shows you the old pilings of the railway bridge over Bear Creek. Those pilings can still be seen from County Road 80, for the railway archeologist.

Here's a photograph posted in the Lost Lambton Found history website. For those interested, this history group has largely migrated to Facebook and their photos and conversations can be found there. Some locals call these pilings Lambton's "Stonehenge."

OIL DISCOVERY DISTRICT

Once east of Brigden, one enters the Oil Discovery district of Lambton County. Few people realize that the site of the first commercial oil discovery in North America was in Lambton County in a town called Oil Springs. Soon afterward, another large discovery was made in Petrolia while another was made in the ambitiously named Oil City, which is little more than a hamlet now. These discoveries were made in the 1850s, but a century later, oil was still being transported by CASO along the St. Clair Branch.

PETROLIA (PETROLIA SPUR)

Six miles west of Brigden and two miles west of Oil Springs, you would find Petrolia Junction and the beginning of the Petrolia Spur.

Besides the typical shippers you would find like local farm co-ops and other small commercial shippers like hardware stores, Petrolia's main contributions to this branch included Reliance Petroleum and National Steel Drum Company, two companies that were still in the oil business. Amazing as it may sound, there is still oil being steadily pumped out of the ground in Petrolia. A few companies in this area still regularly supply oil to energy companies, including Fairbanks Oil, which has been around since the boom days and is still family owned.

The other key element to this spur was the fact that it provided CASO with an interchange point with the Grand Trunk Railway, later the Canadian National. The railway line paralleled Albany Street and met up with the GTR/CN once it crossed what is now known as Petrolia Line. CASO even had a station in Petrolia. That little station, which had a witch's hat turret, was moved to Bright's Grove, north of Sarnia, and now sits as a private residence near Lake Huron. Here's a shot of the station now, taken from public property. Thanks to my brother for grabbing this shot. Can you see the lake in the background?

Below is a map of where the rail lines once made their way into Petrolia's downtown. I have not been able to access historic maps to figure out exactly how these lines connected, but as you can see below, CASO, in red, made its way up Albany Street while the GTR/CN, in yellow, made its way to the town's main station where its spur off the Strathroy Subdivision ended. Somewhere between the red and the yellow, there was some sort of junction where CASO and CN interchanged cars. I'm guessing on the property now occupied by the Scotiabank.

Below is a shot of a CASO 4-6-0 engine working along Albany Street in this undated photo. I found another photo of a 4-6-0 working in Courtright, which you can see here. The photographer of the Courtright engine mentioned that it was taken in 1956 and, by that time, the water towers were gone, which explained why there was an extra tender behind the engine to ensure it had enough water. My dad tracked down the photo below at a photo shop in Petrolia. You can see a tank car behind the tender, which may mean this image was taken as late as the 1950s, when steam locomotives still prowled this branch, but without the use of water towers. This image was the first I had ever seen of CASO operations in Petrolia. As you can see, CASO always operated under the name of its parent company, New York Central, or for a time, the Michigan Central Railway, which was a subsidiary of NYC. You can see a small piece of the town's United Church to the far right. That church is still standing.

OIL CITY

Oil City was a relative flash in the pan when it came to the oil boom, with a brief boom and a quick bust. The town still provided a few shippers to CASO, mostly small scale agricultural customers as well as local government.

As you can see from the photo, the railway was listed as "MCR" since the line was essentially a Michigan Central operation by all appearances. The one interesting note about this town is that its main rail customer was the Canada and Dominion Sugar Company. It should be noted that sugar beets were once a major staple of railway operations in Lambton County at one point, although I can't say if that was the source of the traffic.

EDDYS (EDDYS MILLS SPUR)

Travelling west from Petrolia and Oil City,  you would encounter the Eddys junction near the Oil City station. First stop on the Eddys spur would have been Oil Springs.

OIL SPRINGS

When this St. Clair branch was built to Courtright in the 1800s, it was done so with the oil fields in mind, no doubt. Oil Springs was the site of the birth of Canada's oil industry and the town continued to pump and ship oil well into the twentieth century. When CASO discontinued operations on the St. Clair branch, Imperial Oil (Esso) was still listed as a shipper from Oil Springs. Given that CASO had a connection to CN close to here in Petrolia, I'm sure there were a number of tank cars interchanged in Petrolia that originated in Oil Springs.

Today, those interested in a glimpse of this old line would find it at the Oil Museum of Canada in Oil Springs. Besides telling the story of Canada's first oil discovery and the related industrial development, the museum also features the town's 1895 CASO railway station and an old tank car, which was typical of those used on the line up until it was removed.

EDDYS MILLS

Today, Eddys Mills is little more than a place name on the map. It is located a few kilometres due south of Oil Springs on the spur. Two customers listed for this spot include the county and the local township. There was a siding here and all freight orders were handled through Oil Springs, a little east of this spot. Most of the freight originating here was based on local farms.

INWOOD

Back on the main branch, if you remained on the main line at Oil City, your next stop east would be another town created by the railway, Inwood. At this point in the line, CASO's operations took on more of a rural feel, with most shippers being local hardware and construction concerns, not to mention the farmers' co-operatives. When looking at the documents for this line, most customers in towns outside of the oil district fell under three categories: farming, construction/hardware and local government.

ALVINSTON

Before leaving Lambton County, you would travel through Alvinston, another town created by the railway. Its primary shipper on CASO before the line closed up shop was a feed mill. At one point, there was a GTR/CN crossover near Alvinston where the Strathroy Subdivision crossed over the St. Clair line. Here's a shot of the junction, undated.

So, as we leave Lambton County, the St. Clair Branch served two more rural towns, Melbourne and Muncey. There it served feed mills and other agricultural customers. From there, it was on to St. Thomas, where the branch originated.

Along the way, the branch crossed the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National main lines to Windsor (due to the path of the CN line, the St. Clair Subdivision actually crossed CN's line twice).

This branch has been gone for more than half a century and there is precious little to see along its former right-of-way now. However, the importance of this line to swath of Lambton County is undeniable. The same can be said for a number of former rail lines in any part of this country. That's why I am fascinated by the history of these old branches. Revisiting history helps us understand just how important railways were in the building of this country.

Who killed the train in the Ottawa Valley?

These past few weeks have been frustrating for me as an Ottawa rail fan. I was twice able to leave the house early to try and catch the one weekly freight train that travels over this blog's namesake subdivision. Only to be disappointed.

As I spent time waiting for the train that never came, I began to wonder, are railways in any way relevant in the Ottawa Valley anymore? And who or what killed the train in this region? As I pondered those questions this week, I surprised myself with some of the conclusions I reached.

This deer was the only thing I saw on the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 16, as I waited for the Arnprior local.

My first conclusion is that, despite everything that has happened since the 1950s, railways are still very much relevant in the Ottawa Valley, more specifically Ottawa, although the impact of the decisions in decades past are now being felt more than ever. What I mean is that trains, specifically passenger trains, could be relevant in the Valley, if the infrastructure was still in place. I won't wax on about the possibilities if the CN northern main line and CP Chalk River Sub were still in place. The reality is they are gone and for good reason. Rail lines need heavy industry trackside and other rail-friendly businesses in order to thrive. This, in turn, allows passenger lines to thrive by extension. The sad reality is globalization has killed many small-scale manufacturing businesses that were once common throughout Canada. Railways, specifically CN and CP, have become continental long-haul railways that do a good job moving imported goods from port to major centres, not to mention moving bulk commodities from their source to refineries and the market. These railways are not in business to provide local services on local spurs.

So, why do I think railways are still relevant in Ottawa? Well, it's clear that Via Rail is doing quite well in Ottawa, as evidenced by the opening of its second local passenger station, Fallowfield, in 2001. More recently, major track improvements have been made in the city, including a new passing siding at Wass. Via's local schedule of trains departing for and arriving from Toronto and Montreal is impressive. This is Via's third busiest hub. That says something.

Typical busy day at Ottawa's main railway station, April 2014.

The distance between Montreal and Ottawa is such that driving between these cities is no big deal. But the train still thrives between these cities because it is not all that convenient to drive to either city during rush hour and it's certainly not advisable to drive in either city's downtown core without a solid game plan.

This reminds me of European railways. They connect neighbouring cities where cars aren't always a feasible means of transportation. For this reason, Ottawa's passenger rail service will more than likely continue to be strong, government willing.

This leaves one question in my mind: What happened to the towns in the Valley that once had a reliable rail link? This is where I think you can make several arguments, but I think it's more easily explained by a chain of events. To be clear, the loss of passenger trains in the Valley isn't as cut and dried, or as romantic, as railfans would have you believe. It's simple economics. The rail lines in the Valley became less busy for freight railways, driven by the same economic factors that have hallowed out manufacturing towns in eastern North America for decades. In CN's case, a northern main line was overly expensive to maintain, particularly through stretches like Algonquin Park.

A CN freight train passes over a shoo-fly track near Moodie Drive in 1973. This rail line now hosts one round-trip per week (Canada Science and Technology Museum).

Once the freight railways lost business on lines like the Beachburg and Chalk River subs, passenger rail was in trouble. There were two reasons why these passenger trains have disappeared. The first reason is simple: passenger trains travel over CN and CP tracks at the whim of these freight railways. Once a line is redundant to a freight railway, Via's chances of keeping that route are slim. Ask those who fought to have that rail line in New Brunswick retained for Via's service there (happily, the line was retained, but not without lots of drama). More close to home, the Canadian travelled on CP's Carleton Place Sub only until CP decided it wasn't worth keeping that line around.

The second reason passenger trains have disappeared are closely tied to the first. When business dries up in these small towns, the very nature of these towns change. Unless these towns manage to reinvent themselves as tourist hotspots or in some other way, their economy suffers. The demand for rail travel diminishes as there are fewer reasons to go to these towns by train.

We can't overlook the obvious fact that passenger rail in small towns has also been affected by the development of bigger, better, safer highways, even in fairly remote areas in the upper Ottawa Valley. This was a continental trend, which has resulted in a number of problems in American cities where freeways have destroyed neighbourhoods and segmented cities. But for towns in the Valley, highway construction has become the main form of local transportation.

Finally, deregulation made it much easier for CN and CP to dispose of rail lines that were not profitable, including the Beachburg, Chalk River, Ellwood, Prescott and Lachute subdivisions, all lines that were once prominent in the region. Of course, this factor is not unique to Ottawa. Rail fans in every corner of the country can point to a line close to home that has since been abandoned. The complicating factor for rail fans is that the Canadian government does not have strong legislation that prevents railways from ripping up track when there is a compelling local case to be made for retaining those rails. For example, if the city wanted to save Beachburg for whatever reason but could not immediately afford the asking price, there would be little to stop CN from ripping up the track. The situation in the United States seems much easier for local groups who are interested in retaining rail lines.

All these factors have combined to make stops like Carleton Place, Almonte, Perth, Arnprior, Pembroke, Petawawa but a memory.

The question that I often have when I think of these old train stops is what do people do for a living in some of these more remote towns (Petawawa being the exception, everybody knows it's a military town)? The businesses close, the rails disappear but these towns persist. What keeps these towns alive? Some exist as bedroom communities for people who commute to Ottawa, but the others struggle. It's a question that I cannot answer.

CN Rapido service on the Beachburg Subdivision in 1972 (Canada Science and Technology Museum)

We cannot discount how much of an impact the Greber Plan has had in driving railways out of Ottawa. The plan, for those who might not know, was devised by what is now the National Capital Commission in the 1950s. The plan called for the removal of most railway lines from the central part of Ottawa. Most of those lines were removed in the late 1960s, including the main passenger line to Ottawa's former Union Station downtown. The beautification scheme mostly made sense, since there were too many rail lines in Ottawa, including a large rail yard where much of the University of Ottawa's more modern campus now sits. It makes no sense to have such a large railway presence and related industries so close to the Parliamentary precinct.

But, I truly believe anyone who is fair minded would agree that the plan went too far. Having a passenger rail link in Ottawa's downtown core makes more sense today than ever. Via still does quite well in this city. The value a railway brings to a city like Ottawa very much depends on its ability to deliver passengers to the downtown core. Railways understood this 100 years ago and Via understands this today. If you have to drive out to an airport on the edge of town, pay a king's ransom for parking or cab fare, arrive hours early to clear security and check your baggage and wait for your plane to take off after it taxis behind a string of other planes, you will begin to consider the train as a viable form of transportation.

Ottawa's main station is perched in no man's land, beside the Queensway, without an efficient link to the highway. On the station's back side is a massive big box store development (former railway land); on another side, a busy four lane divided arterial road; on another side a cluster of small-scale office buildings and shops. Just beyond that small industrial area is a small subdivision with streets named after the letters of the alphabet. You get the idea. Imagine if the city still had use of its Union Station downtown. Granted, it would infringe on parkland near the canal, but I have never understood how having a busy parkway on either side of the canal makes any more sense than having a single railway track.

As an example of a city where this arrangement works, allow me to submit for your consideration, Quebec City.

Quebec City's Via Rail Terminal in August 2010.

This station, much like Ottawa's old Union Station, is an architectural marvel very close to old Quebec. I would imagine if Ottawa had retained a rail connection along the lines of the one in Quebec, residents would come to appreciate having such a connection in the heart of their city. But the car-crazy 1960s beautification scheme that transformed Ottawa will never permit this to happen. And make no mistake, the Greber Plan was very much geared toward creating major car thoroughfares. Anyone who sees the truck traffic on Rideau Street or the patchwork quilt of roads and abandoned stores behind the Rideau Centre mall in the downtown can thank the Greber Plan in part for this mess.

Also, the existence of the Queensway and the Vanier Parkway are both largely thanks to the use of railway lands and tracks for roads. In many respects, these thoroughfares are a product of a time when highways were seen as a showpiece of a modern city. Just look at some of the original renderings of the Queensway and you will see the vision, however flawed, that planners had at the time.

The city did do one very smart thing with old railway tracks when it created the bus-only Transitway. This rapid bus road crosses much of the city with very minimal stoppages, allowing commuters a convenient option for getting to and from work. The system has flaws, of course, like the bottleneck of buses in the old city core, where the Transitway makes use of downtown arterial streets, but on the whole, it's an excellent system. When I heard that politicians wanted a light rail system and wanted to operate it through downtown with a tunnel, I scratched my head and wondered why the same consideration wasn't given to buses. After all, the city already has much of the Transitway infrastructure in place and buses offer more flexibility than trains for commuters. No matter what your view of the new light rail system, you can't deny that using old railway lines for a bus road was a silver lining to the worst elements of the Greber Plan.

So, for those keeping track, those are all the elements that I believe led us to where we're at today. Economic forces have caused a great deal of industry to leave the Ottawa Valley, which includes pulp and paper, manufacturing and other commodities that freight railways used to rely on for revenue. Once those businesses closed, the freight railways scaled back their operations and eventually abandoned their rights-of-way. That in turn has killed passenger rail along those rail lines. Those economic factors combined with an anti-rail development plan in Ottawa, which further reduced the rail network's prominence in the region. Deregulation further eroded the national railway presence in the Valley.

The more recent developments include CN taking over for former shortline Ottawa Central and subsequently tearing up much of the remaining Beachburg Subdivision between Pembroke and Nepean Junction.

That moves leaves several remaining industries along that former line and the shortened Renfrew Spur (wood pellet plant in Portage-du-Fort, aerospace manufacturing facility in Arnprior and other businesses without rail service) with no other option than to use trucks. Despite efforts to re-establish rail service on the old Beachburg line, the rails are gone and the last remaining rails in the Valley are now only a memory.

Switcher and two old cabooses in Pembroke, 1973. That rails in this Ottawa Valley community are now gone.

All this leaves the question in my mind, what's next for railways in Ottawa? I think there is reason for faint hope and here's why.

The first reason there could be hope is that Ottawa is busy re-establishing rails for a 2018 launch of its electrified commuter rail service. While this won't have any impact on the Valley's rail network on a larger basis, it will at least bring railways back into prominence in the city. There was some talk years ago of freight railways using the city's LRT line for freight operations outside the hours of O-Train operation. I don't see this happening anytime soon, but it at least raises the possibility that it could happen, if there was a willing partner.

I think it's highly probable that a shortline operator could return to Ottawa in the future, if there is a business case to be made. Currently, I don't think there's enough carloads or traffic to entice a shortline operator along the lines of the Ottawa Central. But I think that if the CN was given a chance to leave Ottawa, it would leave in an instant for the right price. It's fairly common knowledge that CN had very little interest in returning to this city when it was given control of the OCR as part of a package of railway operations it purchased in 2008. It seems to me that Ottawa would be a natural fit as an intermodal hub, since our city is the largest urban centre this far north and could potentially act as a gateway hub for cities further north. American railways have followed this model, but CP and CN seem content to funnel their container trains to the major centres exclusively. Perhaps Ottawa is too close to Montreal for any container train facilities. But it seems like a good spot for a regional container offloading spot where trains offload container trains and trucks take them to cities throughout the Valley and into Northern Ontario.

Finally, if there was ever the political will to do so, I think Ottawa would be an integral part of a high-speed rail corridor. We seem to have lost our interest in nation building exercises, which include high-speed rail links. Thinking of the last attempt at a project of this scale, one might be able to make a case for the Trans-Canada Highway as the most recent example. I am encouraged that other countries have pursued high-speed rail with some success. Heck, if the United States can do it in California (so far anyway), then surely it's not out of the question for Canada to pursue this. But that would require the political will, which is the tricky part.

A few backers have suggested that Ottawa and its surrounding municipalities could benefit from a GO Transit model that would deliver commuters to Ottawa via commuter trains, but the appetite for that type of system has not attracted any political backers, sadly.

Unfortunately, Ottawa has been spoiled by half a century of not really having to live alongside an active rail network. Most people in the city have very little idea of just how much potential Ottawa's rail network holds. The current LRT love-in among city politicians notwithstanding, there is very little understanding of railways in Ottawa.

So, that's my take on what's happened to the rails in the Valley and what might be ahead for this form of transportation. To answer the question I first posed in the title, no single factor or person killed rail in the Ottawa Valley, but I think a number of bad decisions need to be rectified if there is to be any realistic future for this mode of transportation here.

Beyond my self interest as a rail fan, the benefits of a healthy rail system to any major city are obvious, even beyond the benefits for inter-city passenger rail. Anyone who sees the truck traffic on Highway 401 or Highways 416 and 417 can attest to the stress this puts on the highways. I'm not saying that trains would ever overtake trucks for short-haul cargo traffic, but I do think a healthy rail corridor could have prevented the flood of trucks we now see on highways here.

And to close the loop on my anecdote, I decided to head back out in the afternoon to catch the Arnprior local returning from Nylene Canada and finally had some success. This picture below, in  the context of this post, represents what is left in the western Ottawa Valley. This train is all that is left of railways in an area that was once very much defined by railways.

More on this meet in a future post.