The expiration of a 20 year lease by Goderich-Exeter of CN's Guelph Subdivision finally came on 11/15/2018, and even though the weather was lousy, I wanted to document the final day of "modern" GEXR operations.

We start with road freight #432 in Guelph (Stratford-Toronto), with the customary trio of GEXR 3394-RLHH 3404-GEXR 3054 which had been used on this train nearly all summer.

A bit of OSR action is included which filled a gap between GEXR #432 and #582. A nice elephant-style pair of RS18u's provide the power on this day.

Fixing a flat tire cost me a bit of time so I didn't catch GEXR #582 (Preston-Guelph turn) arriving in Guelph, but did catch them arriving back from the OSR interchange with RLK GP40 #4095. GEXR #580 (Kitchener-Guelph turn) arrived a bit later with QGRY 2008-SLA 3806-GMTX 2289 & 2274. The crew from 582 would give their unit to 580 to take back to Kitchener, and later Stratford, and would take a pair of CN-leased GMTX units to work the spurs in the north end of town.

After assembling their westbound train in Guelph, 580 would head back to Kitchener, stopping to lift cars at Shantz along the way. Shortly after arriving in Kitchener, they would meet up with #431, on this day using leased/CN power as the SD's were left at Mac Yard; they were also running light this day and made good time, arriving back in Kitchener just as a major snow system started to unload.

It wasn't filmed, but 580's crew would take the 2008 & 3806 to the tie-up track in front of the Kitchener VIA station before departing for Stratford with RLK 4095. By my count, the remaining GEXR roster (for operation of the Goderich/Exeter subdivisions) looks like this: RLK 4095, RLHH 2117, GEXR 3030, GEXR 2303, and GEXR 2073, along with currently out-of-service GEXR 3393 and SLA 806 which will likely be shipped out at some point.

Thanks for watching!