Goderich-Exeter Railway

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Goderich-Exeter Railway
logo_filename=
logo_size=
old_gauge=
locale=Southern Ontario
start_year=April 3, 1992
end_year=present
hq_city=Kitchener, Ontario
marks=GEXRThe Goderich-Exeter Railway reporting mark|GEXR, WSJR is a short line freight railway that operates over convert|169|mi|km of track in Southern Ontario. Created in 1992, it was the first short line railway in Canada to be purchased from a class I railway, in this case Canadian National Railway (CN). It took over operation of further CN trackage in 1998. As of 2004, the railway has 44 employees. Its headquarters, formerly in Goderich, were moved to Kitchener in December 1998.

History

The Goderich-Exeter Railway was created in 1992 by its owner, RailTex (which has since been purchased by RailAmerica, in 2000), to operate over Canadian National Railway's Goderich Subdivision, convert|70|mi|km of track between Stratford and Goderich, Ontario that was acquired from CN. The railway started operation on April 3, 1992. On November 15, 1998, the Goderich-Exeter Railway took over operation of CN's Guelph Subdivision, which runs over convert|99|mi|km between Silver Junction (in Georgetown) and London, Ontario.

The railway had expressed an interest in acquiring the former CN branchline from Stratford to Owen Sound, but was unable to do so as a result of changes to Ontario labour law which made the acquisition uneconomic. [ [http://www.parl.gc.ca/35/2/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/tran-e/02ev-e.htm?Language=E&Parl=35&Ses=2&comm_id=19 Quote: "We tried to buy a rail line in Ontario for over four years. It runs from Stratford up to Owen Sound. It was during the time the NDP was in power when there was successor rights legislation in Ontario. This meant that we would have had to take all the existing CN rail unions. We worked very diligently to accommodate rail labour in this case. We could not come to an agreement, and all that track has now been torn up."] ]

Freight services

The Guelph Subdivision handles over 19,000 carloads of freight per year, consisting mainly of automobile parts, chemicals and paper products. Many industries in the area rely on rail shipments. Spur lines exist to access industrial parks in Cambridge, Kitchener, and Guelph. There is also a spur line to Elmira that serves a Uniroyal plant.The Goderich Subdivision handles over 8,000 carloads of freight per year. Much of the traffic on the Goderich Subdivision is salt from the Sifto salt mines in Goderich. Other commodities handled on the line are grain (there are some grain elevators on the route) and construction equipment produced by a Volvo Motor Graders plant in Goderich. It also connects with the port facility at the Port of Goderich.

Interchanges

The Goderich-Exeter Railway interchanges with CN in London and Toronto (it has running rights between Silver Junction and MacMillan yard north of Toronto to interchange cars with CN), with the Canadian Pacific Railway in Kitchener, and with the Ontario Southland Railway in Guelph.

Locomotives

As of 2005, the railway owns around a dozen locomotives, which were acquired used. Its first four locomotives, purchased between 1992 and 1994, were given names of Shakespearean characters (#177 was named "Titania", #178 "Paulina", #179 "Portia", and #180 "Falstaff"), as Stratford is the home of the Canadian Shakespearean Festival. Unit #'s 178, 179, and 180 have since been sold to other railways. The railway also leases a few locomotives. All of its locomotives were made by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and include EMD GP38s, EMD GP35s, and EMD GP40s.

External links

* [http://domino-hq01.cn.ca/IT/Shortlines/SL_Static.nsf/0/93747AE1D566ACF885256763005E9CFE?OpenDocument Goderich-Exeter Railway shortline overview at www.cn.ca]
* [http://www.railamerica.com/railmaps/GEXR.htm RailAmerica map of Goderich-Exeter railway]
* [http://www.trainweb.org/rosters/GEXR.html GEXR locomotive roster]

References

Notes