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Ontario Southland Railway St.Thomas Subdivision by R.L.Kennedy All photographs: Walter Pfefferle unless otherwise credited. (Last updated December 9, 2022) CPR St.Thomas Subdivision A major expansion came about effective December 15, 2009 after the CPR decided to shortline their St.Thomas Subdivision 33.6 miles between Woodstock and St. Thomas where connection is made with CN. Prior to this Ingersoll was the start of OSR's operations. This new operation brought OSR into Woodstock and included trackage rights in the yard and on the Galt Sub. to Coakley to facilitate exchange of traffic. The CPR thus ended all branchline operations out of Woodstock. Included with this was access to the CAMI Automotive plant in Ingersoll. Originally owned 49%/51% by Suzuki and General Motors producing Japanese Suzuki Sidekick and Geo Tracker vehicles beginning April 1989. In 1994 adding Pontiac Firefly. In 2004 Chevrolet Equinox. Others were built from time-to-time. By December 2009 Suzuki had withdrawn and it became 100 % subsidiary of General Motors of Canada Ltd. (GM CAMI Assembly) producing GM vehicles on the 570 acre property employing nearly 3000 by 2015. The popularaty of these GM vehicles has grown to 1. 5 million vehicles a year requiring 90 multi level auto carriers daily. It expaned operations to 3 shifts 7 days a week. In addition to assembling new vehicles this is also a mixing centre where vehicles built in USA plants are brought in by rail unloaded, sorted and reloaded for their final destinations. Loads in, loads out! Note: In 2015 GM announced a $560 Million expansion to build the new Chevy Equinox. CN had access to the CAMI plant over CPR track with CN switching certain hours and CPR at other times. This arrangement ended with CN no longer having trackage rights to the plant. OSR assumed these additional switching requirements effective July 1, 2012 handling CN traffic to/from CN Ingersoll. This required 2 OSR jobs every day utilizing two sets of two units each. This way if one train got delayed running to and from sidings on the CPR Galt Sub. or for any other reason the second crew could start work on time thus providing dependable service to this very important customer. Woodstock Area Gallery Features trains to and from CPR interchanging traffic including CAMI at Coakley. Woodstock
Bridge repairs undertaken by OSR. Near Mile 1.5
6508_1401 northbound approaching Woodstock.
1400_1594 southbound (circa Mile 2) working hard with an impressive train of 54 loads! Beachville
6508_182 passing the Beachville Welcome sign.
6508_182 heading to Woodstock with 26 cars. Beachville 12/24/2016
6508_1620 with CAMI multis through Beachville.
6508_1620 in a rural scene about to cross an unprotected crossing Beachville.
Forest-like scene with 182-1620 hauling CAMI multilevels. See next view closer up.
182_1620 passing the post office in "downtown" Beachville!
Both ex SOO GP7's 378 and 383 with CAMI multis. Note 378 has newer
paint scheme with staggered lettering.
Ballast regulator doing track work on St. Thomas line Beachville. Two views.
Excellent track work has long been the pride of OSR, not typical of many shortlines!
Beachville siding used for setting off and lifting cars. Here we see 503_182 passing by with CAMI multis. 4/30/2011
CPR track gang at work. Likely the last work done by CPR anywhere on
St. Thomas Sub.
Changing out lots of bad ties. Siding Mile 4 is 2453 feet long. Ingersoll Ingersoll yard consists of a few short tracks immediately south of Thames Street South level crossing. This is Oxford County Road 119 and is a main street through Ingersoll. Located here is a recently built short transload track which is available for use by any customer making a direct transload. No storage facilities etc. It is like an old fashioned team track (more technically a public team track) available for shipping or receiving carload freight by anyone not having their own private siding. It has been used by OSR for their own OCS supplies such as ties etc.
1249 in new paint and 1244 with multis.
1244_1210 showing off their new stack spark arrestors!
1401_6508 with 16 multis through Ingersoll. 5/21/2019
503_1244 heading from CAMI to CN interchange with 23 multis. 1400_1620 far left. 5/16/2017
502_501 working 1700 job leaving CAMI with 15 multis for CN interchange. 6/18/2016
1620_182 lifting cars in Ingersoll. 2/27/2016 James Gardiner
F9A 6508 and GP7 378 lift one car in Ingersoll yard
after leaving the CAMI plant. 11/02/2015 Dave Seitzer
Here is RS-18 182 fresh out of Salford shop from getting
complete new ZTR control system.
1244_1245 nose-to-nose for better visibility in both directions.
1401_6508_1400 all three A units together with multis passing St.Pauls
Presbyterian Church in Ingersoll.
Tank car spotted with three OCS ballast hoppers behind
and stacks of ties on ground. A little farther down is the junction with the Port Burwell Subdivision where the following took place. A track relocation project in Ingersoll was a major project for a shortline. It came about when a small watercourse next to the right-of-way threatened to undermine the track. OSR planned to shore it up with cement blocks. However, the local conservation authority insisted on an elaborate and expensive method involving heavy rip rap for this tiny water stream. OSR decided to eliminate the problem with a simple solution shown in the photographs below.
Port Burwell Sub. at left and St.Thomas Sub. at right with new switch and track between. 10_20_2013
Switch cut in with track leading to Charles Street West level crossing. 10_27_2013
Completed new alignment with old track still in place
at far left. 11_07_2013 Above three photos looking south. Opposite direction views below.
Shortened before level crossing. This created more yard
storage capacity. October 3, 2015.
503_1249 with a long train of mixed freight through Ingersoll. Track curving to the right is Port Burwell line. See below for before photograph.
This view of RS-18 182 southbound on the St. Thomas
Sub. shows the pre-relocation track. Port Burwell Sub. at right.
Pretty full yard on this quiet Sunday. St.Thomas Sub. mainline at far right.
501_502 both sold 2018 to Waterloo Central 1001 1002.
Ontario Refrigerated Services Aerial view of warehouse including lead off St.Thomas Sub. A locally owned warehouse decided to take over an adjoining
warehouse and convert half of it to a cold storage warehouse. This required
constructing a connection off the mainline and private sidings to the
modified warehouse. Initial effort to reuse an old abandoned private
right-of-way to another small industry was deemed not suitable due to
curvature required and the length of newer refrigerator cars (the newest
are even longer!) It did require a fairly steep curved track leading
into the new warehouse operation. Various refrigerated food products
are placed here for reloading into tractor trailers for delivery.
OSRX 201 and two other ex CP hopper cars used in ballasting along with CRYX 3193 reefer load being spotted.
This view shows grade and curvature especially for second
siding.
Gallery of sidings construction. 2011 CAMI Assembly 300 Ingersoll Street,
CAMI Assembly wye and spur to auto ramps. Aerial CAMI plant including wye
off St.Thomas Sub., lead, storage tracks for multilevel auto carriers,
First opened in 1989 on 582 acre property (inc. facility of 53 acres).
Brand "new" siding Mile 10.8 built next to main line between
wye switches. Used to store empty multilevel auto carriers
Other end of the extended siding.
Caboose 67 on CAMI 1700 job shoving multis through Ingersoll to CNR
interchange.
Caboose 67 (fully operational) used for backup transfer moves with CAMI traffic.
378 and 6508 carefully snake their way along the CAMI lead. February 25, 2014
All three "covered wagons" (1400_6508_1401) are on their
way back to Ingersoll after a run down to Putnam.
Putnam
This small point has long been home to a good sized agricultural industry handling unit trains of potash in season and other farm supplies. Both Nu-gro Corp.and Sylvite Agri-Services were situated here side-by-side. Farm land surrounds this rural facility and this attracted a new facility to serve industry supplying propane and other products in tank cars.
New eight car siding in service.
Track gang building new 8 car siding at Sylvite Agri-Services
for transloading to trucks for delivery to area farms etc. Note: Sylvite had previously taken over adjoining Nu-Gro facility.
1400_1620 switching a cut of covered hoppers at the
Sylvite elevators in Putnam.
378_383 departing Putnam for St.Thomas. 1/14/2020
1594_6508 both in newer style lettering. Outstanding!
Two trains on the Subdivision this day.
182_1620 with two high cube box cars separating two
cuts of five tank cars each.
1401_1400 with mixed of freight heading through Putnam
on the St.Thomas Sub.
CEFX 6537 GP38-3 and OSR 378 switching Sylvite.
383_378 stopping in Putnam to set off seven loads of
fertilizer in Sylvite plant.
Sylvite car mover handling a single car. Putnam Terminal Co. Ltd. N.G.L. Supply Co. Ltd.
Two views of terminal with Ag plant on opposite of mainline in background.
Two tracks hold 5 tank cars each. Belmont
1400_1594 southbound with loads for Messenger plus cars for Cayuga line. St.Thomas Factor Gas Liquids, Inc
FGLX 77116
Lifting one empty tank car out of the nine car siding as crew member
prepares to close the gates.
Dowler-Karn Lubricants Distribution Centre
Dowler-Karn a family-owned local business has expanded in recent years
by acquiring similar businesses Note: D-K's main facility is located on Highway 3 near the St.Thomas
Airport.
CN 78326 (acq. 8/2018) displayed beside CN Cayuga Sub. Built CNR/PSC 12/1941 April 16/2020 Messenger Freight Systems
Note: Next to Messenger is Takumi Stamping Canada Inc.
Two photos: Messenger Freight Systems.
Rail King
Shoving in to lift two auto parts boxes. 7/25/2014
Wabash Transfer and in the distance St. Thomas sign approaching Highway 3.
End of the line! Highway 3 looking south towards CASO.
1620_1400 has just backed over the CN Cayuga diamond after setting
off some tankcars.
Note: CASO long abandoned and removed. CN Payne Sub abandoned just west of trestle west end of yard. Description of tracks in aerial view. Aerial. At left running on an angle the from top of screen to bottom is CPR St.Thomas Sub. ending at Talbot Street a.k.a. Highway 3. This is where the Frame train's power sat. It once ran across this street into the former CASO/MCR yard. Diamond at top of left of screen at Mile 32.3 St.Thomas Sub. (32.4 south connecting track) and Mile 117.8 Cayuga Sub. running to the right is Formet storage tracks and the plant itself below CN Cayuga Sub. Track to the left runs into CN St.Thomas yard via Wabash Transfer Mile 32.0 which OSR uses to interchange with CN since taking over the CPR St.Thomas Sub. CPR did not its own yard in St.Thomas nor did the Wabash which used part of CNR yard. Formet Industries, a Magna International plant opened
in 1998 in St.Thomas, Ontario makes truck frames, at one time including
those for GM in Oshawa which were delivered by a dedicated (DTS), scheduled
CPR train ("frame train")
CCGX_1329 (nee CN 1329 Windsor 8/1991) SW1200RS GMD A1566 11/1958 St.Thomas 5/22/2006
Aerials views July 2, 2005 David Graham CNR Cayuga Sub. OSR has running rights over the CN Cayuga spur to reach CN St.Thomas yard for interchange.
Bridge to nowhere! Located just west of the small CN
St. Thomas yard it now ends in the distance past a level crossing.
1400_1401 westbound in St.Thomas . Two views. Below, shoving back into the yard.
Kettle Creek viaduct 822 feet long. Decades ago "covered wagons" of a different railway crossed this large trestle on their way between Windsor and Fort Erie. Also built by GMD in London in the era when diesels and plenty of other equipment and goods were "Made in Canada" before Free Trade destroyed hundreds of thousands of jobs for Canadian workers. Wabash was unique in that although it operated through AND local freight trains (no passenger) in Ontario between Windsor and Fort Erie they actually had no track of their own! Instead they operated under a very old agreement (1898) of trackage rights over CNR dating from predecessor years with Grand Trunk Railway of Canada.
Two sets of A units headed by 676 and 725 Fort Erie Summer 1964 Bill Thomson
Wabash 671 stopped by the train order board at Simcoe. 1964 Bill Thomson On to CN Cayuga spur Tillsonburg - Delhi Back to OSR main page
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