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Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBRY)

Bordercollie said:
Why is Sandy Brown so against looking at the big picture?
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Okay, get your tinfoil hat on.

Orangeville is entirely within greenbelt land. While not impossible that they can annex some land just beyond it. I imagine their mayor who was previously a realtor (not saying that necessarily means much, but it could result in a bias towards a certain POV or mindset) likely wants the industry gone and to develop more detached houses on the land since they don't have many directions to go or land to build on. And of course taking away the city subsidized railway that many rely on it a good message from Orangeville to these businesses to GTFO. That’s just a theory. Tinfoil hat off now
 
Nomad_87 said:
Okay, get your tinfoil hat on.

Orangeville is entirely within greenbelt land. While not impossible that they can annex some land just beyond it. I imagine their mayor who was previously a realtor (not saying that necessarily means much, but it could result in a bias towards a certain POV or mindset) likely wants the industry gone and to develop more detached houses on the land since they don't have many directions to go or land to build on. And of course taking away the city subsidized railway that many rely on it a good message from Orangeville to these businesses to GTFO. That’s just a theory. Tinfoil hat off now
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Residents are going to see more trucks on their streets without the railway. I suspect that will only make them more opposed to the presence of the industry in their community.
 
junctionist said:
Residents are going to see more trucks on their streets without the railway. I suspect that will only make them more opposed to the presence of the industry in their community.
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But just because the railway terminates at Orangeville doesn't mean it only serves that community, and doesn't mean that th communities surrounding Orangeville won't benefit.
 
There weren't enough paying industries to keep it going, and Clorox already made plans to end rail service, by reconfiguring its property to accommodate transloading. The spur there was ripped out weeks before the end of service.

Anyway, most people in Orangeville won't notice the trucks. They'll come up Highway 10 from Caledon, take the 109 bypass, and avoid the centre of town. They'll notice the trucks in Alton, Caledon, and Erin though.
 
ShonTron said:
There weren't enough paying industries to keep it going, and Clorox already made plans to end rail service, by reconfiguring its property to accommodate transloading. The spur there was ripped out weeks before the end of service.

Anyway, most people in Orangeville won't notice the trucks. They'll come up Highway 10 from Caledon, take the 109 bypass, and avoid the centre of town. They'll notice the trucks in Alton, Caledon, and Erin though.
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Context is missing on the paying industries, it has been looking like Orangeville desired to kill the railway for years, and the uncertainty made it near impossible to attract new industries. If Peel bought it and guaranteed industrial train access for two trains a day, that would have been enough to allow industries to invest for the future. Businesses like certainty, making an investment based on a piece of infrastructure that might close next year does not make sense.
 
ShonTron said:
There weren't enough paying industries to keep it going, and Clorox already made plans to end rail service, by reconfiguring its property to accommodate transloading. The spur there was ripped out weeks before the end of service.

Anyway, most people in Orangeville won't notice the trucks. They'll come up Highway 10 from Caledon, take the 109 bypass, and avoid the centre of town. They'll notice the trucks in Alton, Caledon, and Erin though.
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For the record, some current industries wanted to expand, but wanted 10-20 year guarantees that the railway would be there, which Orangeville wouldn’t provide. A bulk fuel shipper, a major food producer, and an agricultural commodity shipper (who would have re-extended the line to Fraxa Jct at their own cost) were all interested but turned away. More than enough business to cover operating costs, and even take on the $400,000 annual property taxes. The line would have been viable for freight if Orangeville let it thrive.

That’s not even including the Credit Valley Explorer 2.0 which was close to launching but never did. Website is even still up. That’s how close it was.
 
SaugeenJunction said:
For the record, some current industries wanted to expand, but wanted 10-20 year guarantees that the railway would be there, which Orangeville wouldn’t provide. A bulk fuel shipper, a major food producer, and an agricultural commodity shipper (who would have re-extended the line to Fraxa Jct at their own cost) were all interested but turned away. More than enough business to cover operating costs, and even take on the $400,000 annual property taxes. The line would have been viable for freight if Orangeville let it thrive.

That’s not even including the Credit Valley Explorer 2.0 which was close to launching but never did. Website is even still up. That’s how close it was.
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Sounds like political sabotage to me...
 
ShonTron said:
There weren't enough paying industries to keep it going, and Clorox already made plans to end rail service, by reconfiguring its property to accommodate transloading. The spur there was ripped out weeks before the end of service.
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I would argue that prior to the announcement of the end, there were. All of the industries in town were quite happy with the service that they were receiving, and Cando - for all of its warts - had been actively canvassing other companies in an effort to drum up business right until the end of its contract.

The biggest issue was that there was a municipality who benefited from the line in many ways, but without paying any of the costs to bear - and thus leaving the costs on the smaller "partner". Had Brampton and Orangeville come up with a better arrangement with regards to the taxation of the line, it's financial situation would have been far less precarious, and thus it is possible that it could have weathered the storm of the current mayor and round of councillors.

Dan
 
The rails are still in place, rusting under the snow. The signal protecting the diamond remains active.

Photos taken Tuesday.

CED7E081-AE1D-4BDF-9E76-49A009BFC7FD.jpeg
4F5427CE-2C8B-46C6-9461-1A1D42EB5E28.jpeg
 
Nomad_87 said:
From Google streetview it looks to be a siding
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Correct. There were once several tracks south of the CN diamond to just south of Queen Street, as this was CP Brampton station area, with a team track (freight loading/unloading) and a passing siding. There were also spurs servicing industry south of Railroad Street, and a fuel depot.
 
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