Locked out Electro-Motive workers in London have ended their blockade of a locomotive in Ingersoll.

Members of the CAW, which represents workers at the London plant, had prevented the locomotive from moving since Jan. 25.

The locomotive was one of the last units to be produced at the Electro-Motive plant before parent company Caterpillar Inc. locked the workers out on New Year's Day. The train engine was on its way to be painted at a facility near Tillsonburg.

The CAW members said if they weren't locked out, it would have been painted at their factory in London.

Local CAW president Tim Carrie said the blockade ended because of an injunction the company had sought. The issue was to go to court Wednesday.

"We believed, from our perspective and strategically, we might as well move away from the locomotive now because our guesses were that a judge would order it anyway," Carrie said.

Carrie said the blockade of the locomotive sent a clear message to the company that the fight to protect the workers jobs isn't over.

The factory workers refused a contract offer that would cut some of their wages by more than 50 per cent.