The Winnipeg, Selkirk and Winnipeg Lake Railway is a shortline running from a junction with the CPR at Middlechurch, MB to Toulon, MB. It started as an interurban line that ran from Winnipeg to Selkirk, with a branch at Middlechurch to Stonewall, but when it was abandoned in 1938 a grain elevator in Stony Mountain and the limestone quarry east of Stonewall jointly purchased the Stonewall branch and trackage rights on the Winnipeg Electric Company’s line from Middlechurch to a junction with the CN in Winnipeg to have an alternative to the CPR for shipping.

This line ran without incident until 1955, when the Greater Winnipeg Transit Commission decided to convert their streetcar lines, including the Main Street line that the WS&LW used to connect to the CN in downtown Winnipeg, to bus service.

This meant that the WS&LW lost their interchange with the CN, but after meeting with the GWTC they negotiated a payment for relinquishing their trackage rights, which was enough to make a downpayment for constructing a bridge over the Red River between Middlechurch & Birds Hill and keeping the CN interchange.

By the mid 1980s, their original fleet of freight motors (constructed on the frames of some of the old interurban cars) were starting to wear out, so they purchased five 50t motors from INCO (103-107) to replace them all. In 2005, another two – INCO 122 & 123 – joined the fleet after INCO deelectrified their Sudbury operation.

In 2010, the CPR abandoned most of their Arborg subdivision, and the WS&LW picked up some of their industrial sidings in Stonewall, as well as the line from Stonewall up to a idled grain elevator in Toulon (the elevator – an ex Manitoba Grain Pool one – was in the process of being reactivated by a group of local farmers who were not satified with with the pricing and service provided by the corporate successor to the Manitoba Grain Pool.)

This would cost a pretty hefty chunk of cash to electrify, and while the owners were discussing whether to take out loans to electrify this extension or to deelectrify and buy a handful of GMD1s the LT&L made an offer to purchase the line and underwrite the cost of electrification.

Well, sure, not gonna look that gift horse in the mouth. So the railway was sold, wire was strung up to Toulon, and it operates to this day as one of the GFM group of railways.

Roster

The WS&LW maintains their own roster of seven ex-INCO motors. They are:

number	weight	HP	builder	notes
103	50t	500	CC&F/CGE	Stonewall switcher; originally HEPC E-14
104	50t	500	CC&F/CGE	out of service; originally HEPC E-16
105	50t	500	CC&F/CGE	Toulon elevator switcher; originally HEPC E-13
106	50t	500	CC&F/CGE	Stonewall switcher; originally HEPC E-15
107	50t	500	CC&F/CGE	out of service; originally HEPC E-17
122	85t	1060	GE	originally Kennecott Copper Corp. #50
123	85t	1060	GE	originally Kennecott Copper Corp. #62

122 & 123 are the main road locomotives on the railway, and operate together pulling grain and aggregate trains.