Ontario Southland Railway

The Ontario Southland Railway Inc. is an independently held short line operator. The company was founded in 1992 to purchase 17 miles of track from Canadian Pacific, which travels from Tillsonburg to Ingersoll, Ontario. In 2009, a second line was added, as 32 miles of CP track from Woodstock to St. Thomas, Ontario were integrated into the system. Additionally, Ontario Southland operates the Guelph Junction Railway on behalf of the city of Guelph, Ontario,[1] which is the owner of that railway.[2] In 2015, Ontario Southland began leasing the ex-Canadian National Cayuga Subdivision between St. Thomas and Delhi, Ontario, which had been abandoned by its former shortline operator the St. Thomas and Eastern Railway in 2013.[3]

Ontario Southland Railway

OSRX #505, an MLW RS-23, at Guelph in 2009.
Overview
Headquarters	London, Ontario
Reporting mark	OSRX
Locale	Southern Ontario, Canada
Dates of operation	1992–Present
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

Ontario Southland Railway Port Burwell Subdivision
OSR St. Thomas Subdivision 0.0 Ingersoll Hwy 401 Overpass 4.50 OSR Salford Shop Cargill Spur 7.7 Mount Elgin 12.1 Ostrander Kissner Spur 15.2 Tillsonburg Johnson Controls Spur 17.5 Loop Line Transfer Future Transfer Spur CN Cayuga Spur

Ontario Southland Railway St. Thomas Subdivision

CP Galt Subdivision 0.0 Woodstock 0.77 Jct CN Dundas Subdivision (50.8) 4.0 Beachville to CN Dundas Subdivision 8.9 Ingersoll OSR Port Burwell Subdivision TFT Global Spur CAMI Spur Sylvite Spur 13.8 Putnam Hwy 401 Overpass Belmont Farm Supply Spur 24.8 Belmont Messenger Freight Services Spur A. Schulman Canada Ltd Spur Dowler-Karn Spur Hwy 3 32.0 Wabash Transfer 32.3 Jct CN Talbot Sub, Cayuga Spur (117.8) 32.7 end of steel 33.6 St. Thomas

Operations

Tillsonburg Operations

OSR's Tillsonburg Division operates on the remaining 17.6 miles (28 km) of the ex-Canadian Pacific Port Burwell Subdivision between Ingersoll and Tillsonburg, Ontario. Customers served include Future Transfer, Cedar Crest Wood Products, Kissner Group, Johnson Controls, International Beams, and Wellmaster. Traffic destined for Growmark Inc. in Delhi, Ontario, as well as Cargill and Norfolk Co-Op in Courtland, Ontario is also handled.

St. Thomas Operations

On December 14, 2009, the OSR began leasing the St. Thomas Subdivision from Canadian Pacific consisting of 33.6 miles (54 km) of track from Woodstock to St. Thomas, Ontario. Customers served include Ontario Refrigerated Services, Auto Warehousing Company, Agrium, Belmont Farm Supply, Sylvite, Messenger Freight Services, and Factor Gas Liquids. Interchange with CN at St. Thomas and with CP at Woodstock.

Guelph Junction Railway Operations

The Guelph Junction Railway division operates 24 miles (39 km) of the ex-Canadian Pacific Goderich Subdivision between Guelph Junction near Campbellville and Guelph's northwest industrial park. The city is the owner of the railway but OSR provides the freight movement services[4] with connections with both major railways and provides common use track for rail to transloading for its customers.

CAMI Automotive Operations

OSR does all switching at the CAMI Automotive plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. Approximately 100 multis are switched in and out of the facility each day.

Cayuga Subdivision

In November 2015, the OSR and Canadian National Railways announced that the OSR would be overtaking operation of CN's abandoned Cayuga subdivision from St. Thomas to Tillsonburg and further on to Delhi, Ontario, once necessary track maintenance was completed, in order to service a windmill turbine factory which had opened east of Tillsonburg.[3] Other customers served include two grain elevators in Courtland, Ontario, an ethanol plant in Aylmer, Ontario and a fertilizer plant in Delhi.

Locomotive Roster

Number	Builder	Model	Serial	Build Date	Remarks
51	EMD	NW2	5703	1947-12	Nee TH&B 51
52	EMD	SW9	A151	1951-02	Nee C&O 5242
175	EMD	GP9	22576	1956-11	Nee C&O 6193
180	MLW	RS-18u	82450	1958-04	Ex-CP 1860, née CP RS18 8769
181	MLW	RS-18u	82458	1958-05	Ex-CP 1861, née CP RS18 8777
182	MLW	RS-18u	82258	1958-04	Ex-QGRY 1801, ex-CP 1801, née CP RS18 8764
183	MLW	RS-18	M3497-02	1968-05	Nee INCX 208-3
184	MLW	RS-18	M3497-03	1968-08	Nee INCX 208-4
378	EMD	GP7	14008	1951-03	Nee SOO 378
383	EMD	GP7	16481	1952-07	Nee SOO 378
500	ALCO	S-6	81819	1956-11	Ex-VWL 29, née SP 1073
501	MLW	S-13	82548	1959-01	Ex-GWWD 501, ex-BCOL 501, ex-BCOL 1001, née PGE 1001
502	MLW	S-13	82549	1959-01	Ex-VWL 827, ex-BCOL 502, ex-BCOL 1002, née PGE 1002
503	MLW	RS-23	82581	1959-09	Nee CP 8029
504	MLW	RS-23	83286	1960-08	Nee CP 8044
505	MLW	RS-23	82573	1959-09	Nee CP 8021
506	MLW	RS-23	82476	1959-08	Nee CP 8013
507	MLW	RS-23	83290	1960-08	Ex-Spruce Falls 109, ex-DEVCO 201, née SL 201
641	MLW	M-420W	M6068-02	1973-09	Nee BCOL 641
644	MLW	M-420W	M6068-05	1973-09	Nee BCOL 644, Sold to Sartigan Railway in Quebec.
646	MLW	M-420W	M6068-07	1973-10	Nee BCOL 646
647	MLW	M-420W	M6068-08	1973-10	Nee BCOL 647, Sold to Sartigan Railway in Quebec.
1116	MLW	RS-18u	81621	1957-06	Ex-CP 1116, ex-CP 1802, née CP RS18 8746
1210	EMD	SW1200RSu	A1492	1958-08	Ex-CP 1210, née CP SW1200RS 8112
1244	EMD	SW1200RSu	A1897	1960-07	Ex-CP 1244, née CP SW1200RS 8151
1245	EMD	SW1200RSu	A1909	1960-09	Ex-CP 1245, née CP SW1200RS 8163
1249	EMD	SW1200RSu	A1914	1960-09	Ex-CP 1249, née CP SW1200RS 8168
1400	EMD	FP9ARM	A1399	1958-07	Ex-RLK 1400, ex-VIA 6303, ex-VIA FP9A 6539, née CN 6539
1401	EMD	FP9ARM	A1195	1957-03	Ex-RLK 1401, ex-VIA 6312, ex-VIA FP9A 6523, née CN 6523
1620	EMD	GP9u	A1115	1957-02	Ex-CP 1620, née CP GP9 8659
6508	EMD	FP9ARM	A638	1954-12	Ex-WSJR 6508, ex-TTSL 6305, ex-VIA 6305, ex-VIA FP9A 6508, née CN 6508
8235	EMD	GP9u	A1474	1958-03	Ex-JLCX 8235, ex-CP 8235, née CP GP9 8822

References

1. "Guelph Junction Railway". City of Guelph. City of Guelph. 9 November 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
2. "Ontario Southland Railway Inc". Archived from the original on 2007-06-01. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
3. McCallum, Ian (5 November 2015). "After two-year closure, wind turbine blades will turn around fortunes of St. Thomas to Tillsonburg rail line". St Thomas Times-Journal. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
4. "Guelph Junction Railway". City of Guelph. City of Guelph. 9 November 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.