Important railway system links many smaller centres in southern Ontario
By
Mark Schadenberg
Often,
you don’t know how convenient and necessary something is until you take it
away.
At
the Woodstock Museum there is a city map showing where all the railways once
were that either skirted through Woodstock or literally dissected the
community. Some of those rail lines are gone and replaced by houses or even the
VanSittart fire hall location as a former caboose thoroughfare.
The
Woodstock –Beachville – Centreville – Ingersoll corridor once had an electric
car named Estelle which would trolley between the centres to transport folks.
Today,
there is a supposed under-utilized rail system which its users are battling to
keep on track. The upkeep and list of possible repairs might be staggering, but
the railways necessity (read / watch links) can be confirmed by a rise in transportation
costs if it is abolished. A fleet of transport trucks, I would guess, are more
expensive than one clickity-clack express.
SCOR
– or the South Central Ontario Region – which was created to attract and
maintain businesses in this geographical sector of the province, is truly
hoping this rail line stays open.
Many
of the best cycling / hiking trails in southern Ontario are former train spur
lines, but SCOR wishes that the service operating through Tillsonburg, Norfolk,
Aylmer and St Thomas areas continues and does not become an enjoy-the-nature
berm.
"If that rail line is shut down east to west, then our
manufacturers that use that rail line will have to find an alternative, which
will likely be more expensive for them to operate their business," says
Tillsonburg mayor John Lessif (pictured) in the Tillsonburg News story presented below.
I personally would hope a solution can be found because we
need more railways and not fewer.
On a slightly different topic, we require high-speed railway
along the Windsor and Quebec City corridor, which would obviously run through
Woodstock. More people would enjoy this mode of transportation if they (VIA)
made it easier to take the train (more stops).
On another interesting note, Kitchener-Waterloo is working on
a system to connect the Waterloo Region to Toronto’s Go Train program for
commuters.
The bottom line, if something is obsolete or obviously
yesteryear (manual typewriters, for example), let them fade away, but many
stalwarts of the past are as important today as they were 100 years ago,
including train tracks.
“It is just not about saving it for today, it is about saving
it for the future because once that rail line is done, it will never be
replaced," Lessif added.
LINK:
Always thinking about what is best for Oxford County . . .
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757 Dundas
St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519) 537-1553,
cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
Discussion
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