The Goderich–Exeter Railway is a short line

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

that operates of track in

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario (census population 2,796,367 in 2021) is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula, bounded by Lake Huron (includ ...

, Canada. Created in 1992, it was the first short line railway in Canada to be purchased from a

class I railway Railroad classes are the system by which freight railroads are designated in the United States. Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With a ...

, in this case

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

(CN). It took over operation of further CN trackage in 1998. As of 2004, the railway had 44 employees. Its headquarters are in

Stratford, Ontario Stratford is a city on the Avon River (Ontario), Avon River within Perth County, Ontario, Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population of 33,232 in a land area of . Stratford is the County seat, s ...

, and owned by

short-line railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

Genesee & Wyoming Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom; and formerly in Australia. ...

.Genesee & Wyoming - Goderich-Exeter Railway (GEXR)
/ref>

History

The Goderich–Exeter Railway was created in 1992 by its owner,

RailTex RailTex was a transportation holding company that specialized in owning and operating short line railroads across North America. Based in San Antonio, Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central U ...

(subsequently purchased by

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it t ...

in 2000, and

in late 2012), to operate over

's Goderich Subdivision, of track between Stratford and

Goderich, Ontario Goderich ( or ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario and is the county seat of Huron County. The town was founded by John Galt and William "Tiger" Dunlop of the Canada Company in 1827. First laid out in 1828, the town is named after ...

; and its Exeter Subdivision, of track between

Centralia, Ontario South Huron is a municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the southern part of Huron County. It was formed by amalgamation of the townships of Stephen and Usborne with the Town of Exeter in 2001, in an Ontario-wide municipal ...

and Clinton Jct. 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 between Silver Junction (in Georgetown) and

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

. The railway had expressed an interest in acquiring the former CN branchline from Stratford to

Owen Sound Owen Sound (2021 Canadian Census, 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat, seat of government of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi River, Pottawatomi and Sydenham River ...

, but was unable to do so as a result of changes to Ontario labour law which made the acquisition uneconomic. On February 1, 2021, train 581 ran away down the hill in

. They hit a pickup truck, semi truck and a shed. Some cars and the locomotives derailed as a result.

Freight services

The railway handles around 25,000 carloads of freight annually, consisting mainly of automobile parts,

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

and

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and le ...

soy meal Soybean meal is used in food and animal feeds, principally as a protein supplement, but also as a source of metabolizable energy. Typically 1 bushel (i.e. 60 Pound (mass), lbs. or 27.2 Kilogram, kg) of soybeans yields 48 lbs. (21.8 kg) ...

and

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

. From Stratford the line serves the east west corridor of Huron and Perth Counties serving Mitchell, Dublin, Seaforth, Clinton, and Goderich. There is also a spur line running south from Clinton, serving, Brucefield, Hensall, Exeter, and Centralia.Goderich–Exeter Railway map
/ref> Traffic on the Goderich Subdivision mainly consists of agricultural products and salt from the

Sifto Canada Sifto Canada, Sifto Salt, or simply Sifto Salt Canada is a salt mining and marketing company based in Canada, with its primary products being table salt, fine evaporated salt, water conditioning salt, agricultural salt, and highway deicing salt. ...

salt mine Salt mining extracts natural salt deposits from underground. The mined salt is usually in the form of halite (commonly known as rock salt), and extracted from evaporite formations. History Before the advent of the modern internal combustio ...

s in Goderich, and construction equipment produced by a Volvo Motor Graders plant in Goderich (closed 2010). It also connects with the

port facility A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manches ...

at the Port of Goderich. As of 29 August 2020, GEXR operates on the

Guelph Junction Railway The Guelph Junction Railway is a shortline railway owned by the City of Guelph, Ontario, and serves the city's northwest industrial park. The railway was the first federally chartered railway in the Commonwealth of Nations to be owned by a munic ...

Interchanges

The Goderich–Exeter Railway

interchange Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

s with CN in Stratford yard.

Locomotives

As of 2017, the railway owned 13

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

s, which were acquired used. Its first four locomotives, purchased between 1992 and 1994, were given names of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

an characters (#177 was named " Titania", #178 "

Paulina Paulina or Paullina (, ) is a common female given name Latin. Paulina was a name shared by the mother, sister, and niece of the Roman Emperor, Roman emperor Hadrian. Paulina Major, mother of Hadrian (Domitia) Paulina (or Paullina) Major (''Ma ...

", #179 "

Portia Portia may refer to: Biology * ''Portia'' (spider), a genus of jumping spiders *Portia tree, a plant native to Polynesia *''Anaea troglodyta'' or Portia, a brush-footed butterfly Other uses *Portia (given name), the history and usage of the give ...

", and #180 "

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays ''Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

"), as Stratford is the home of the Canadian Shakespearean Festival. Units 178, 179, and 180 have since been sold to other railways. GEXR was acquired by

in 2012. The railway also leases a few locomotives. All of its locomotives were made by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and include

EMD GP38 The EMD GP38 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1966 and December 1971. The locomotive's prime mover was an EMD 645 16- cylinder engine that generated . The company bui ...

EMD GP35 The EMD GP35 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between July 1963 and December 1965 and by General Motors Diesel between May 1964 and January 1966. 1251 examples were built for American railr ...

EMD GP40 The EMD GP40 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between November 1965 and December 1971. It has an EMD 645E3 16-cylinder engine generating . The GP40 is longer than its EMD 567D3A-engine ...

s, and

EMD SD40-2 The EMD SD40-2 is a AAR wheel arrangement#C-C, C-C diesel–electric locomotive built by Electro-Motive Diesel, EMD from 1972 to 1989. The SD40-2 was introduced in January 1972 as part of EMD's ''EMD Dash 2, Dash 2'' series, competing against t ...

s. As of March 2017, some of its locomotives are owned by subsidiaries of

Roster

List of GEXR's active units on home rails (as of December 2024) EMD GP38-2 RLHH 2111, nee SOU 5058 (High Nose) - working GEXR 581

EMD GP38-2 The EMD GP38-2 is an American four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors, Electro-Motive Division. Part of the EMD Dash 2 line, the GP38-2 was an upgraded version of the earlier EMD GP38, GP38. Power is provided by an EMD 645E 1 ...

HESR 3510, nee UP 2108 - working GEXR 581

2500, built in March 1965 Nee QRGY 2500 - stationed in Goderich, purchased by GiO Rail for rebuild (scrap condition) EMG GP9 RLK 4001, nee SP 3708 - stationed in Goderich, purchased by GiO rail for rebuild (scrap condition)

Return of CN

After a 21-year lease to GEXR, CN took over GEXR's yards and the Guelph Subdivision on Nov. 15, 2018. Metrolinx assumed ownership and responsibility for the Guelph Sub from Georgetown to Kitchener. However, GEXR still runs on the Goderich and Exeter Sub.

References

External links

Goderich-Exeter railway on Genesee & Wyoming
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goderich Exeter Railway Ontario railways Rail transport in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo Rail transport in Stratford, Ontario Rail transport in Huron County, Ontario RailAmerica Genesee & Wyoming 1992 establishments in Ontario Standard-gauge railways in Canada