The Windsor Star | Trevor Wilhelm
Publishing date: Oct 25, 2021
Link (video and more photos): https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news ... locomotive
Essex Terminal Railway is on track to celebrate its 120th year in business, and the company is marking the milestone by putting its longest-serving locomotive back in action.
Management surprised staff Monday by unveiling the newly restored 1956 locomotive.
“It was a big deal for us,” said Michael Semande, corporate director of operations. “We wanted to take extra care with it. It was supposed to just go in for the engine work to be updated. We decided to take it a step further in commemoration of our 120 years. It’s more for our staff and what they do for us on a daily basis. The weather doesn’t stop us, so they’re out there battling the elements. It was kind of a trophy for all of our staff who put the effort in every day for us.”
The company, which hauls commodities ranging from grain and lumber to wind turbines and hazardous goods, was incorporated in 1902.
To celebrate the anniversary, the company has restored No. 105. The SW1200 diesel engine was a state-of-the-art locomotive when it was built in 1956.
It is now updated for the 21st century.
“We replaced the motor, the prime movers, basically everything other than the frame and body,” said Semande. “We also outfitted it with GPS and some modern technology which it wouldn’t have had back in 1956 when it was born.”
While getting it ready for the future, the company also paid homage to the locomotive’s past by dressing it up in its original green and yellow “heritage” colours.
“We added ‘established in 1902’ to the side of it,” said Semande. “It will probably bring back some memories to the older generation that used to see it going through the community, but also maybe the younger generation who were kids who saw it back in the 70s and are now grown.”
It took nearly five months and about $500,000 to restore the locomotive.
Despite the large scale of the project, the company managed to keep it under wraps with only a select few in the know about what was going on.
“It was kind of a surprise for everyone,” said Semande. “It was nice to see the cellphones come out as soon as we brought everyone into the engine house, taking video of it. One of our assistant chief mechanical officers actually broke down into tears. He had a lot of involvement with it and he’s been part of the railroad for 30-plus years. So it really hits home for a lot of the folks that take a lot of pride in operating the railway.”
But Semande said the locomotive will be more than a showpiece.
“It’s going to be put back into service, hopefully for another 30 or 40 years,” he said.
It is scheduled to go into service next Monday, making it one of four locomotives running Essex Terminal Railway’s 54 kilometres of track between east Windsor and Amherstburg.
“It’s definitely big for us as a company,” said Semande. “With the challenges of COVID-19 and the challenges that everybody faced over the years, it’s nice that our little company is still growing.”
