OSR Move Part II: Kitchener to London on CN L568 || September 25, 2020

Back in September 2020, OSR faced the challenge of moving their equipment from the recently-ended operation on the Guelph Jct Railway (upon GEXR takeover) to home base at Salford, Ontario. Though only about 50 miles apart as the crow flies, the rail route that would be required to connect the equipment with the railway's own line west of Woodstock would be almost three times that distance and would take about a week due to a few challenges and the series of trains required for the move. Still, at least the weather was good!
On this day, I caught up with the OSR equipment in Kitchener, having spent the night here following a slower-than-intended run across the eastern part of the Guelph sub due to a non-functioning SBU that meant travel was restricted to 15 MPH. Whereas the previous day the equipment was moved under its own power in a dedicated train, this day would see the equipment towed on daily local L568 which operates on the western end of the Guelph sub. Fittingly, the power for L568 this day was a nicely matched pair of CN GP9Rm's led by 4028, the last 4000-series GP9Rm to operate on CN's roster (still has the barrel-style spark arrestors!).
Starting in Kitchener, we watch as both L540 (Guelph turn) and L568 (London turn) switch the west end of the yard. With the OSR equipment marshalled at the end of the train, we catch L568 at the landmark Krug Furniture company building opposite the Kitchener station. On this day, L568 would work New Hamburg, Shakespeare, and Stratford making it relatively easy to leapfrog the train to Stratford. West of Stratford however, the old Thorndale sub runs diagonal to most roads making chasing somewhat a challenge, and on this day, the CN crew was not sparing the ponies... I was hoping for a decent shot at St. Mary's Jct but by late summer the weeds were unmanageable on the west side of the tracks and I settled for a shot on the east side with relatively little time to spare. After that, due to union operating rules on the Guelph sub, the crew was not permitted to tie down the train in CN's London yard (where CN and GEXR interchanged before CN took over the Guelph sub in 2019) so the OSR equipment was left on the west leg of the wye that leads to the CP interchange in London.
As always, thank you for watching!
00:00 Switching in Kitchener (L540 & L568)
14:00 Departing Kitchener & Petersburg
17:26 Approaching and Departing Shakespeare
19:40 Stratford
25:39 West to London

[@dboakville7436]

Nice work Peter!