In 2011, the long-disused north end of the NStC&T’s Lakeshore spur was put back into service after a marine supplier opened a warehouse just across the canal from St. Catherines. This spur passed through an long established residential neighborhood that did not want diesels smoking up the joint, which was just the excuse that the OSW needed to string wire up instead and put a tiny chunk of the old radial back under wire.

Fortunately – at least for railfans – this meant that a new motor wasn’t in the budget, so instead a long-disused MOW flatcar (with a steel underframe, so it had been kept in service as a transfer caboose instead of going to the breakers with everything else after CN turned off the power) was quickly remotored and put back into service as a very specialized freight motor.

At 250 HP, it has basically enough power to pull 3 boxcars on this very flat spur, and that’s what it’s doing now, as the single piece of equipment with NC&T reporting marks on the OSW’s NStC&T subdivision.

It’s not legal for any sort of interchange, obviously, but it has been equipped with ditch lights so it can safely haul traffic down the back alleys between the (dieselised) mainline and Lakeshore Road.