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501 southbound thru Portage at noon. Two engines but too far away to see the numbers. About 17 cars, seven were loaded centerbeams for Indiana, I presume. That has developed into a good business.

Saw my in-laws from Three Rivers today and asked if he knew what was happening on the south side of Three Rivers where excavating was taking place near where all the ties are piled up. He said he read somewhere that it was to be a railroad warehouse to store ties, track and related items. He is not ...

Pretty dark but looking closely at the photo shows a auto rack.

On the south side of Three Rivers where M-86 turns east towards Centreville there has been a huge pile of used ties about a quarter mile south of the crossing. Thanksgiving day I noticed that there has been a lot of dirt excavated from the highway towards that pile. Does this have anything to do wit...

Twice recently (today and a month ago) I've seen a GDLK freight parked at Mosel Ave in Kalamazoo facing south in the late afternoon. Does this train get combined with other freight in Botsford Yard and then head to Elkhart later Saturday night? I know that on Saturdays something runs south in the ev...

A few years back ( maybe two to four years) in was moved to Wisconsin. I think it might have been Spooner WI, either for the Vreeland RR or the Wisconsin Great Northern. Either way I can't find it using Google but it should be preserved at either place. It was built in 1939 so its a relic.

Very interesting. I believe this is the same owner that recently sold the C&NW 175 to the Steam Railroad Institute. It will be interesting to see if either engine actually makes it to steam again.

And Saturday afternoon about 4 p.m. 4225 was siting just north of Mosel Ave in Kalamazoo with a train of about 30 to 40 cars. It has really been getting around.

"Then I look at all the brand new track in place for the never going to happen stone project..."

It seems this has been taking a long time to happen but why is it never going to happen?

I have seen or heard 501 heading north thru Portage about noon-ish on several Tuesdays. Is their pattern to run south on Mondays, turn and head back then die on time somewhere, then continue north on Tuesday? If so, what about the other days? Or, if different, what is their usual pattern? Where in B...

Any signs of activity or movement toward bringing this engine down to SRI now that summer is here?

Along the Grand Elk tracks beside Shaver Road in Portage there are many bundles of new ties, even longer ones for the switch into the lumber yard. They weren't there yesterday.

Any more word about the stone trains to Kalamazoo? They were the talk of last summer but nothing seemed to materialize.

The proposed paper mill would have been in Arnheim. There were studies done to see if there was enough current in Keweenaw Bay to minimize pollution but the public was never convinced. Instead all they got many, many pulpwood trucks on the road but no paper mill jobs. I was on the committee to retur...

I've wondered for a long time what the GDLK does to protect the rear (south) end of the Grand Rapids train when it shoves out of Gearhart Yard. Does the conductor ride on the last car all the way until the whole train clears the Gibson switch? Then does he walk back to the head (north) end while the...

Outstanding video. You've answered my questions. Thank you very much.

When time does the NS typically run into and return out of from Kalamazoo? What would be a "typical" train? I know it would include coiled steel cars to/from Mason but what else? What motive power, etc? So many questions...

I noticed that A&L added a new location in Ishpeming. At one time they loaded scrap on the Mineral Range RR near National Mine but that ended a few years back. I wonder if they are using the old Mineral Range location again or if a new location has been established on the CN?

Saw one of the cottonseed cars in White Pigeon Saturday and got the reporting marks: GINX. Then did a little google research and found that the marks were for Chickasha of Georgia LLC. Further research led to this: http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/mechanical/freight-cars/new-from-nsc-high-capacit...

Maybe that is what my friend saw a month or so back when he reported "wood chip hoppers" at the log loading place in White Pigeon.