Essex Terminal Railway

Essex Terminal Railway reporting mark|ETL, ETR, ETX is a Canadian shortline terminal railroad, travelling from the Town of Amherstburg, Ontario, through La Salle, to the City of Windsor, Ontario in Essex County, Ontario, a distance of 21 miles (32 km), with connections to Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway. The railway is owned by Essex Morterm Holdings.

History

The railway was founded in 1902 as a western connection of the GTR (Now present-day CN) to factories in the western end of Windsor. Construction of the line took place between 1902 and 1918. During World War II, the trains hauled troops, their families, military, and industrial equipment from Amherstburg, Ontario to Windsor, Ontario, and across the river to Detroit, Michigan, via the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel in Windsor. Its turnaround, engine garage, and main offices are on Kildare Road in downtown Windsor. Due to heavy development along much of the mainline, Essex Terminal has run its trains at a maximum of 12 MPH (20 km/h) in the city, and 20 MPH (30 km/h) in the county.

As a part of the urban renewal of Windsor, the railway sold several kilometers of long-abandoned spur lines in downtown in 1998 to the City of Windsor and various developers, allowing new homes and businesses to be built in the former train tracks' right of way. The Mainline was generally untouched, however.

In September 2002, the ETR celebrated its 100th anniversary and brought its newly restored 1923 Number 9 0-6-0 locomotive down from St. Thomas, Ontario, where it normally operates on the St. Thomas Central Railway, a heritage railway. The company was loaned several 1930s CPR and CN passenger cars to give free rides to nearby residents that celebrated with the company.

Ironically, a week after the centennial celebration, the ETR had its first accident in over 10 years, when some railroad ties gave way due to abnormally heavy rains, causing a derailment of soybean-carrying cars in the west end of Windsor. There were no injuries, but the tracks were closed for 2 months, and two nearby grade crossings had to be repaved, with the railroad ties being replaced.

On September 12, 2007, Essex Terminal Railway had its second accident in 5 years when a transport truck tried to race the train across the Weaver Street at-grade crossing towards the Windsor Salt Mine. The SW-1200 locomotive clipped the rear of the trailer, tipping the whole transport truck onto its right side (the truck was heading west at the time and the locomotive was headed northbound) and ripping the axles right off from the trailer's box frame. Aside from damaged to the transport truck, the switcher locomotive (which was pulling some box cars) also sustained damage to one of its couplers, which had impacted the trailer. The driver (who was from Ohio) was uninjured and cooperating with Essex Terminal Railway officials and Windsor Police. Essex Terminal Railway later said in the "Windsor Star" that this is a reason why people should never try to "beat the train", as they could be injured or killed.

ETR currently serves the Amherstburg Quarry and several other industrial and commercial customers.

ETR Locomotives and Rolling Stock

All images are (c) Trainweb.org

External links

* [http://www.etr.ca ETR official website]
* [http://www.trainweb.org/rrgifroundhouse/etrgif.html ETR Rolling Stock GIF Images at Trainweb.org]
* [http://www.trainweb.org/swontariotrain/ Southwest Ontario Train at TrainWeb.org]
* [http://usloki.tripod.com/comp2.htm ETR train paint schemes]