by Stephen Host/photos by the author
Canada: The Great White North. Snow. La Belle Province. Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, right? What about CSX? Correct — CSX has substantial operations in Canada, found in two Canadian provinces.
Through acquisitions and mergers, CSX now operates two railway lines in Canada. The first and oldest, the Sarnia Subdivision in Ontario, was part of CSX Corporation since Day One of the 1980 merged Chessie and Seaboard systems, having come from the Chesapeake & Ohio families.
The other CSX operation actually speaks French, being in Quebec, and is the Montreal Subdivision (Massena Line) that came over in the Conrail split in 1999, originating largely as a New York Central operation.
Both these lines can be considered endangered, with CN’s attempt to purchase the Massena Line in 2019, only to fail to close the deal. The Sarnia Subdivision has been reduced significantly due to Precision Scheduled Railroading. It remains quite profitable, but is isolated from the rest of the CSX network.

ABOVE: CSX Y190 has just entered the Sarnia “C” yard on October 8, 2017, while a CN yard job switches in the background. At top left is the CN roundhouse (now used by Lambton Diesel Specialists, a locomotive repair/leasing outfit) and the CN “C” yard power tie-up tracks. In the top right corner is the VIA station and the CTC signal bridge for the St. Clair Tunnel.
Sarnia Operations
The Sarnia Subdivision came over to CSX from the purchase of Pere Marquette by C&O in 1947, heading to Chessie and CSX by 1980. Once stretching from St. Thomas to Windsor/Detroit, with rights to Buffalo and a branch line to Sarnia, CSX in Ontario was a 300-mile operation. But track removals and, of course, the Conrail split changed the game, and CSX has cut down Ontario operations significantly. While 70 miles of Sarnia Subdivision track remain in place today, only about seven miles return the majority of CSX’s business between mileposts 71 to 64; the rest has an uncertain future or has been already sold.
Headquartered in a Pere Marquette depot built in 1929 on Clifford Street in Sarnia, CSX’s current operations are almost daily with up to two jobs per day. Parking at what remains of the 1910-built Erie & Huron Railway roundhouse, two engines share duties: Y190 the day shift, and Y290 an afternoon job. Y190 will go to CN to interchange cars and then perform yard work, while Y290 switches the remaining customers as required.
With most of CSX’s Sarnia operations deep in industrial plants, photography is limited on home rails except for a couple spots such as Vidal Avenue and Clifford Street, with the rest largely inaccessible due to high security. However, when Y190 heads to CN to interchange cars, there are many public crossings at grade to see the action. You can also choose to watch them at the Sarnia VIA station most mornings as they will pass by twice.

ABOVE: 120 is done for the day, March 15, 2015, and is ready to park its engines. At right is the 1929 Pere Marquette depot now used as the main office for operations. The right track is the “old main” used for the car department/repairs, and the “new main” at left goes around the large Imperial Oil Refinery in the back-ground. It once formed what was called the “North Interchange” with CN along the waterfront.
Outside of Sarnia, action can be sparse. The plentiful train traffic of nearly two decades ago (two each way per day) has been reduced to once or twice a month. The only active customers outside of town are Biox and Trillium Distribution in Sombra. Until 2022 there were regular trains of scrap from the demolition of the Lambton Generating Station also in Sombra. These extras were ordered about once or twice a month. A few years ago, trains ran once a week outside of town, with three or four customers that have since stopped using rail. Pickings are slim and service outside of Sarnia is as needed.
In 2013, the Sarnia Subdivision from milepost 45 (Wallaceburg) to milepost 18 (Chatham) was sold to the Region of Chatham Kent, which in turn resold it in 2020 to a numbered company that has yet to reveal its plans. With potential for a short line that would likely interchange with Sarnia operations, tracks remain in place despite being idle from mileposts 65 to 45. The southernmost portion, from Chatham (18) to Blenheim (9), was sold to CN and is serviced once weekly out of Chatham by CN.
CSX Sarnia as recently as spring 2021 had as many as four locomotives on the property, but the number was reduced to the same two GP40-3s that are still here in 2025. Jobs have also been reduced to the bare minimum, a sure sign PSR bean counters have hit Sarnia. However, profit-ability surely remains high as the customers ship thousands of carloads. Customers on CSX track in the Sarnia area include Imperial Oil, Lanxess, Esso, Shell Canada, VIP Rail, Nova, Arnalexo, Suncor, Praxair, Nova Chemicals, Dow Canada, and OWS Railcar. CSX gets Sarnia traffic to home rails through a haulage agreement (CN hauls the cars on CSX’s behalf) to Buffalo and Toledo meaning CSX does not operate its own trains. The Sarnia Subdivision is isolated from the rest of the CSX network…