UP in Antoine, MI??????

[tsinoms]

Was looking at UP symbols and noticed AN for Antoine, MI. Never heard of Antoine and wondered if they still run something there.

[Raildudes dad]

looks like its the wye in Iron Mountain

[AARR]

IIRC Antoine is east of Iron Mountain. There was a couple large paper mills in that area but I don't recall if one of them was in Antoine.

One of the mills is still open and is serviced by CN. E&LS interchanges some logs now and then with CN for that mill in Iron Mountain.

[SW]

Trevor, if you enter Antoine, MI in Mapquest it will take you right there, just north of Iron Mountain. The Ore Line sub branched off there, around the north side of Lake Antoine, and headed east toward Escanaba.

Some info from the RRHX site:
http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/T ... erview.htm

[Standard Railfan]

UP acquired trackage into Antoine when they bought CNW. There was a yard, engine facilities, etc in Antoine back in the mining era to support locals serving the area iron mines. Trains were built for the docks in Escanaba. UP sold the lines north of Milwaukee including the Upper Micigan lines to Wisconsin Central now CN. IIRC Antoine is still a CN yard with interchange with ELS although unused.

[CAT345C]

I find it fascinating towards the bottom of that link that the LS&I would bring Ore out to Little Lake to interchange with the CNW. If that is a correct statement, the ore would have go all the way to Marquette, down the shore line to Munising then back south west to Little lake. The connecting track would have put them right into the main line and they would have had to pull by the "south" (time table) passing siding switch and then shove the train into the siding.

What they could have down was come down the Soo Line to Marquette's lower harbor yards then went on to Munising but still that doesn't seem like a logical railroading move...but then again a lot of railroading is not logical to the people not directly connected to it.

[elshogger]

Antoine Yard is no longer in existence, the rails were removed several years ago. All that remains is the switch off the E&LS to the yard. The CN tore down the last remaining buildings at the same time that the rails came up. The DNR is acquiring the right of way for a snowmobile trail. The remaining paper mill in the Iron Mountain area is the Verso Paper mill east of Quinnesec. The E&LS has trackage rights into Quinnesec to interchange pulpwood for this mill. The New Page mill in Niagra, WI is in the process of being torn down. It was served by a four mile spur off the CN at Quinnesec. The new owners of the mill are trying to lure businesses to the mill site by leaving up some of the buildings including a fairly new warehouse with rail service.

[Standard Railfan]

I find it fascinating towards the bottom of that link that the LS&I would bring Ore out to Little Lake to interchange with the CNW. If that is a correct statement, the ore would have go all the way to Marquette, down the shore line to Munising then back south west to Little lake. The connecting track would have put them right into the main line and they would have had to pull by the "south" (time table) passing siding switch and then shove the train into the siding.

What they could have down was come down the Soo Line to Marquette's lower harbor yards then went on to Munising but still that doesn't seem like a logical railroading move...but then again a lot of railroading is not logical to the people not directly connected to it.

Not quite. The LSI line to Munising included a junction at Dukes where the line also lead west to Carslend, Little Lake, and onto Gwinn/Austin/Princeton. There were a number mines in the Gwinn area. LSI would pull loads from these mines and drop them at Little Lake for CNW.

[CAT345C]

I was under the impression that those mines were already closed by the time the LS&I acquired the Munising Railway. But yes I seemed to have forgotten about the mines that were in my family's home town. An interesting note about Gwinn, they are known as the Model Towners from when the mines were built, Gwinn was supposed to be the "model town" for future mines that were planned in the area.