Michigan Trip

[JDavis21835]

A lot seem to think Saginaw is a rough world. If you are here and out and about before noon, most of the thugs are out of site out of mind. Unless it is really warm out, your probably good until 3-5pm, and will be fine all the time as long as you keep your wits about you. If you make it to Saginaw, take 675 to Vets mem parkway, go north, first road is wadsworth, hook a left. There is a pedestrian bridge that will give you a decent view of the SBS yard.

Wandering around should not be an issue. If you go to M13 and head towards saginaw, you will get to the other end of the yard. You can see whats left of Potter st Station. Again, a little common sense, and you will be fine in Saginaw.

Some say your chance of traffic is slim to none. It is, but the Peavy elevator in Carrolton is cleaning up their outside stockpiles, so there may be some grain action. I have seen SBS switch the elevators on plenty of weekends. Last sunday HESR had a local running, I caught them around noon. That being said, it is a holiday weekend, but you never really know for sure.

[SD80MAC]

Avoid M-13 right now between Saginaw and Bay City. The bridge in Cheboyganning (sp?) is gone and they're putting in a new one.

[TSB]

Life is strange and unpredictable, you may never get another purely railfanning trip
to Michigan. That said, you should be certain to see as many historically significant
rail lines as possible.

This brings-up the importance of seeing the GLC. This magnificent railroad, manned by
brave and bronzed young people, may be the best of all railroads. They are railfan friendly,
safe, efficient and on-time. Were there a "Heisman Trophy" of railroading, there would be
at least two GLC employees in New York on each presentation day.

A must-see. (My opinion of course.)

[odave]

...there are plenty of diamonds in the metro detroit area that are not big-city but may still offer some action: Holly

In terms of action in Holly, your best bet for regular traffic are the two CSX daily manifests, Q321 and Q322. Q321 goes from Flint to Toledo and usually departs in the early afternoon. The Flint departure time you see posted is 2:00pm, but I've caught them going through Holly at 1:30pm a few times. So call it 1:30-3:30pm. Q322 goes from Toledo to Flint and usually comes through town late in the afternoon, typically between 4:00pm and 6:00pm. There will also be coal trains (loads NB and empties SB) and sometimes grain trains, but those are not regular.

CN trains through Holly are typically a SB manifest (490) in the early hours, say 5:00-7:00am, and NB manifest (489) in the mid-late evening, say 8:00-10:00pm. There are also some semi-regular locals (501/502) but I don't know if there's a pattern to them. Same deal with irregular coal and autorack trains NB and SB - you might get lucky.

So the traffic around here is pretty spread out time-wise. But, there are three nice GTW brick depots to look at in Gaines, Fenton, and Holly. The Gaines depot used to be the library, but my wife tells me it's closed. You can't go in the other two as far as I know.

I would also recommend the drive down the CSX Saginaw Sub from Holly to Milford - pretty scenery for this area, IMHO. Take some of the dirt roads. Once you're past Milford and into Wixom, the area gets more citified.

[Todd Cline]

Battle Creek is still a pretty decent place to railfan if you like the CN. (we have NS and Amtk here too), But CN is the big show in town. Consult your maps and/or gps, and find the yard at Emmet street and Raymond Rd. ( just northeast of town). Scanner tuned to 160.590(south bend sub) or 161.220(flint sub). and 160.260 or 160.845(B.C.yard) will give you a heads-up on what is happening. Normally very busy from around 3 am to noon, then a slower period ( 1 train per hour), then late evening the trains really start moving again. If you are up for an all nighter, best times are midnight to about 4 am west of Battle Creek. Climax or Schoolcraft are both good places to catch meets. If you are a model railroader, be sure to stop in at Garys Train Place on Columbia ave. He is located just east of Main St. on Columbia Ave. on the south side of the road. Lots of second-hand stuff, mainly HO and O scale, but he has just about everything. He is closed on Sunday and Monday though, rest of the week he is open from noon till six. 83 years old and one hell of a nice guy to talk with..

Todd

[pbmaxno15]

Traveling around Saginaw, and especially the yard area is going to become much more difficult as of Monday, 4-18-2011. MDOT is beginning a major project on I-675. Just a heads up.
MDOT Project Brochure http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot/ ... 8500_7.pdf
Local news story http://www.wnem.com/news/27546118/detail.html
If you are coming across M-46 on your way to Saginaw, there is a restored depot in St. Louis, now being used by the Historical Society. http://www.stlouismi.com/1/stlouis/hist ... ociety.asp
There is also the Saginaw Railway Museum http://www.trainweb.org/svhrs/
Model railroad interest in Saginaw http://www.traindoctor.com

[bootstate]

Thanks so much for all the info!!! Does anyone know if the Galien depot is still standing?

[Buster Manning]

The Galien depot is gone

The Three Oaks depot is still there and if I recall, is a carbon copy of the one in Galien......

[bootstate]

Does anyone know where the Michigan Shore parks their power and if it's accesible?

[AARR]

Does anyone know where the Michigan Shore parks their power and if it's accesible?

I would think in North Yard but if not there it may be at Henry St Yard. You may need tele-photo lens for good picture or get permission at office to get up close.

[SD80MAC]

There's usually an engine or 2 sitting outside the shop at Henry St. I believe Grand Rapids Eastern #3839 is on blocks outside waiting for a new pair of trucks or something like that. MS SW1200 #73 is back up and running again and from what I've heard it's been working the shore job while MMRR #3836 and CFE #3885 handle the Fremont traffic and Z627.

[pica]

Rail traffic through Holly isn't what it use to be. I've gone to Holly and sat there half a day and not seen anything. I use to go to Holly alot but not anymore. Now the only time I pass through Holly is when I'm going to Durand. Love that DQ Grill and Chill in Holly though, awesome burgers.