Goderich–Exeter Railway

Company History: GEXR was established in 1992 by the RailTex shortline family to take over operation of Canadian National’s Goderich Subdivision. This was a 70 mile line between Goderich and Stratford, Ontario. Allegedly, this was the first “spin-off” shortline in Canada. Since Stratford, Ontario is home to the Canadian Shakespearean Festival, GEXR’s first four locomotives were named for characters in Shakespearean plays: Titania, Paulina, Portia and Fallstaff.

Late in 1998, GEXR took over as operator on CN’s Guelph Subdivision between Georgetown and London, Ontario. This brought the total mileage up to 169. Another 12 miles has since been added. They tried to acquire CN’s line from Stratford to Owen Sound but Ontario politicians passed a rule demanding that GEXR adopt the union agreement that CN used on the line. That caveat made the line unprofitable which killed the deal. The line to Owen Sound was later pulled up.

GEXR parent RailTex was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000 which in turn was acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in 2012. GEXR had a paint scheme in the early RailTex years. It was the same green over tan used by RailTex stablemate Austin & Northwestern but with “Goderich-Exeter Railway Co. Ltd.” lettering. However, it didn’t take long for that to be subsumed into a dog’s breakfast of patched RailTex schemes, followed by patched RailAmerica schemes. G&W orange black and yellow is the current standard.

Traffic (to the tune of about 625 cars in a typical week) has included auto parts, chemicals, construction equipment, grain, rubber, and salt.

Successor/Parent History: Known today as the largest of the shortline holding companies, Genesee & Wyoming began as a shortline by that name in 1899 with a 15 mile line between Retsof and Caledonia, New York, just south of Rochester. In 1982, they extended southward to Greigsville by buying a former Lackawanna line from Conrail. In 1985, another purchase extended their reach north to Rochester and southwest to Silver Springs. This brought the mileage up to about 90. The Wyoming in the name is a reference to the Wyoming Valley.

In 1977, the railroad set up Genesee & Wyoming Inc. as a parent company. In 1985, they began to buy other shortlines and launch new ones as various Class One routes came up for sale or lease. Each of these lines operates under their own names but share the orange, yellow and black GNWR paint scheme, variations of which have been used by GNWR for decades. The logos of these related lines also use the GNWR style but with different wording and the occasional personalized element.

As of this writing, the Genesee & Wyoming family includes 121 shortline and regional railroads spread across North America, Europe and Australia. As of 2019, G&W became a subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. G&W has also bought other shortline groups, notably Rail Link in 1996, Summit View (the Ohio Central System) in 2008, Rail Management in 2005,.CAGY Industries in 2008, and largest of all RailAmerica in 2012.

Ironically, the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad was merged into the Rochester & Southern in 2003. The GNWR exists as a paper railroad but the logos on the diesels patrolling the old GNWR now say Rochester & Southern or the neighboring Buffalo & Pittsburgh.

Brief History: Canada is a North American country stretching from the U.S. in the south to the Arctic Circle in the north. Major cities include massive Toronto, west coast film centre Vancouver, French-speaking Montréal and Québec City, and capital city Ottawa. Canada's vast swaths of wilderness include lake-filled Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains. It's also home to Niagara Falls, a famous group of massive waterfalls.