CP to abandon two industrial spurs in Peterborough Ont

[miklin]

according to today's Peterborough Examiner. CP intends to abandon two industrial spurs citing traffic doesn't justify the $800,000 in maintenance expense the two sets of tracks require. One of the lines is active and sees an occasional covered hopper delivered to United Cdn Malt on Lansdowne St.-just west of the Fairgrounds. The other line is the the trackage that extends to the Industrial Park in the SE part of town. CP cites that it has no customers there and that it will cost $400,000 alone to fix the swing bridge over the Otonabee River, just north of Lansdowne St, which is stuck in the open position and has been so for a number of years. This is the line that crosses George St at Romaine and I believe was originally part of the CNR line which ran from Belleville up to Anson Jct and then over to Peterborough via Keene. It extends under Hwy 115 for about a mile on the original right of way. When CN abandoned the area, CP took over some of the remaining industrial spurs.

[D. DeLarge]

The first spur you mentioned has the malt place, the second had/has(?) Trent Timber Treating, and further down Polytubes. Unless they've moved/switched to trucks/went out of business.

Otherwise, the only customers in the area are Quaker Oats and Cavan Agri to the west in Cavan. Last I've heard, Canadian General Electric's spur into their property is OOS or very infrequently used.

If it wasn't for Unimin's mines in Nephton and Blue Mountain, the KLR/Havelock Sub and Nephton Sub would have probably been gone long ago.

[skyfirenet]

Out of curiosity, was this a notice that they are commencing with abandoning those lines in Peterborough or they are merely expressing their intent at this point with the possible goal of getting the municipality to cough up part/all of the costs of the repairs?

[miklin]

todays Examiner mentions that Polytubes did shut down the end of 2011. And the last car delivered to the Industrial Park was May of this year so obviously they were fudging things a bit about the bridge being completely inoperable, but still insists it needs $400,000 in repairs. It sounds like some folks are hoping the "Shining Waters" Railroad proposal re commuter service to Toronto might get involved. But local MP Del Maestro has been in hiding ever since all the spending irregularities on his last election campaign came to notice.

[rollsign29]

... fudging things a bit about the bridge being completely inoperatable, but still insists it needs $400,000 in repairs. It sounds like some folks are hoping the "Shining Waters" Railroad proposal re commuter service to Toronto might get involved.

Why should they? I say only fix it if they can get businesses on the line to sign on for service that would break even the cost of fixing the bridge.

[D. DeLarge]

Why should they? I say only fix it if they can get businesses on the line to sign on for service that would break even the cost of fixing the bridge.

I think it's curtains for that spur. With Polytubes gone, the only one on that spur is Trent Timber, unfortunately on the wrong side of the bridge.