TILLSONBURG, Ontario — It was a historic day for the company, most of the seven minutes were spent taking photos with Townsend Lumber staff. “This is Townsend Lumber’s first outbound shipment of rail, ever,” said Mike Penner, the co-owner. After its one hour and 25-minute ride to St. Thomas, the shipment of ties transferred to CN Railway for the remainder of its approximately 700-km trip to Stella-Jones Inc.’s treating plant in Delson, Quebec, near Montreal. …“This one was just the icebreaker – set up our CN account, figure out the process, what we have to do for rail and how it works.” …As southwestern Ontario’s largest sawmill and kiln drying operation, Townsend Lumber draws its lumber from the Lambton, Chatham-Kent and Middlesex areas to the Niagara region. Their mill in Kitchener draws from areas to the north including Orangeville and Durham.