Throwback Thursday 28 CP Winter Action at Galt 1972 2014

The low winter sun illuminates CP C424 #4238 as it is about to pass the depot at Galt with an extra westbound in February 1972. Chuck Begg photo, author's collection.

The same view as above, 42 years later (3 January 2014). The MLW's are long gone, replaced by an ES44AC and a SD40-2 (also now gone). No longer is this location Galt, but now the city of Cambridge - unless you're a railfan, in which case this will always be Galt!

Today’s Throwback Thursday takes us back to the Winter of 1972. We’re at Galt, ON, standing in front of the CP depot that still bears the name of its’ Scottish novelist namesake (John Galt). A year later, the civic merger of Galt, Preston, and Hespeler would result in the city of Cambridge, where the modern counterpart photo was taken (even though I’m standing essentially where photographer Chuck Begg did 42 years earlier, I’m in another city!).

In this view, we see a CP westbound extra lead by three MLW C424’s, with the lead unit #4238 still in it’s as-delivered classic Tuscan and grey paint scheme. The unit is seven years old, built in 1965, and would survive another three years before being repainted to CP’s attractive Action Red paint scheme in early 1975. The engine would serve its original owner for 33 years until a sale in 1998 to New Brunswick East Coast Railway took the unit to the Maritimes. As Alco/MLW technology faded from the shortline scene, the unit was sold for parts to sister railroad Ottawa Central before being scrapped in March 2004.

Not only are the Burlington Route boxcar and the head-end stock cars long gone, but the scene itself has changed substantially as well. Absent in Chuck’s photo is the #8 highway/Dundas St. bridge constructed over the Galt yard and Galt Sub mainline. Auto traffic now dominates activity in the yard with a Toyota manufacturing plant located on the old Grand River Railway line a few miles north of the yard (the line merges into the yard near the Burlington boxcar on the other side of Samuelson street). 

Though the scene has changed, Galt is still a busy place with several through freights and a daily local passing through on the main line. A pair of locals based at Wolverton yard east of Woodstock also call on the yard, heading up the old GRR line (CP Waterloo spur) to serve the Toyota plant. Additionally, the station and freight shed still stand, so it’s still possible to relive the scene in Chuck’s photo – too bad the MLW’s are gone though!

‘Til next time,

Cheers,

Peter.

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Throwback Thursday 5 Grand River Railway 228 and Lake Erie Northern 337 at Galt in May 1959

GRR 228 and LE&N 337 make a move through the yard at Galt, ON in May 1959. Uncredited slide, author's collection.

The subject of today’s Throwback Thursday is one of the oldest images in my collection, dating back almost 66 years to 1959. Though me and all things electric generally don’t get along well, I do have a soft spot for the former Canadian Pacific Electric Lines that once ran out of Preston, ON (in modern-day Cambridge). That is, the old Grand River Railway and the Lake Erie & Northern Railway which combined to span between Port Dover and Waterloo by way of Simcoe, Brantford, Paris and Galt, which is where today’s image was taken.

We’re standing in Galt, ON on what appears to be a fine spring day in May 1959. Though we don’t know who the photographer is (uncredited slide), we can reasonably assume he was having a pretty good railfanning day when he snapped this frame. Looking southeast from a location near Samuelson Street & #8 highway, CPEL motors GRR 228 and LE&N 337 seem to be making a reverse move towards the camera, judging by the presence of the crew member on the rear platform of the 228. Both motors were 1921 home-builts, products of Preston Car and Coach. Interestingly, though the two railways were separate on paper, they operated as one subsequent to a consolidation in 1937 but maintained separate reporting marks and numbering schemes for equipment (even numbers for GRR equipment and odd for LE&N, except for LE&N 230, 232, and 234, which were secondhand acquisitions). These two motors served faithfully for their owner for forty years, until the end of electrified operations came on October 1, 1961. Replaced by a handful of SW8’s and SW1200RS’s, the two motors were sold in 1963 to the Iowa Terminal Railway and shipped to Mason City, IA. The two motors became ITR #81 and #82 (ex-LE&N 337 and GRR 228 respectively).   ITR 82 was never repainted or saw active service, and was scrapped in 1968; ITR 81 held on a bit longer, meeting the torch in 1973.

Aside from the CPEL motors in the shot, a number of other features in the background are also of interest. It would appear that CP was doing trackwork in the area at the time the photo was taken, judging by the MOW-service four-axle wooden passenger car behind the motors. Also giving credence to this theory are a pile of untreated ties and spare switch stands at lower right. The long-removed water tower used to supply the Orr’s Lake helper stationed here can also be seen in the background. Seems odd seeing a water tower next to catenary, doesn't it?

While these two motors that once served the electric lines have long since met their demise, the line that they are on (now known as the CP's Waterloo Subdivision) continues to be an important part of the Canadian Pacific system in Southern Ontario. A Toyota automobile assembly plant built in the mid 1980’s a few miles down the line near Hagey provides a substantial amount of high-value traffic to the rail line. Who would have thought when this photo was taken that instead of facing abandonment like most of the rest of the former CPEL, this line would not only survive but thrive?! Trilevels of Toyota Camry’s and Matrix’s are indeed a long way from the days of steeplecabs and interurban service.

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Peter.

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