Charlotte and Southern Visitors update thread

[Larry G]

The last string of cars brought down to the west in the photos above were finaly taken away by CN overnight Saturday/Sunday. No cars in storage on CHS, only the Dinner Train remains. Next scheduled trip will be April 23 for an Easter Bunny Children's Train Special in the afternoon and the regular train in the evening. Looks like it will be pretty slow around here for sometime.

[Larry G]

2 Runs going out this Saturday:
Saturday, April 23, 2011 — 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
The Cottontail Express Boards 30 Minutes before departure at451 N. Cochran Ave., Charlotte, MI
A scenic celebration with the Easter Bunny, cookies, punch and a special craft along with plenty of Springtime family fun. Boards 30 minutes before departure at 451 N. Cochran Ave. (M-50) Charlotte MI

Saturday, April 23, 2011 — 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Murder Mystery Dinner Train!
Boards 60 Minutes before departure.

[Larry G]

Apparently was a bust today. No activity at the advertized time of departure. Train remains still and quiet on the run-by track between the medical buildings at 13:45.

Late update 20:20 The railroad is running an evening train tonight. It is currently out on the line between the medical buildings.

[Larry G]

At 18:15 passengers are boarding for an evening run of the Dinner Train.
Scheduled departured for this train is 19:00.

Online schedule lists another trip out tomorrow afternoon May 8 at 14:00 as a special Mother's Day run.

Two photos from today's action........Old NYC platform, weeds and rusted rails show the lack of recent activity while train passes past Fulton Lumber Company on Saturday evening with a large group on board.

[Larry G]

Dinner Train left at noon today with a private bus charter group. Event was not listed on the schedule page of the railroad's website.

[Larry G]

Shortly before 14:00 the Dinner Train had backed down to the loading area and it looked like a catering truck was off loading supplies into the kitchen car. No evidence of a trip as we went by.

[Larry G]

An interesting afternoon on the CHS began with #3 taking a run towards the eastern end of the track without a train! Apparently it was a 'pilot' operation for weed control that was to follow shortly. Once #3 was back into the siding with the passenger coaches the High Rail sprayer ran down the line spraying chemcials for weed control. CHS also had a second vehicle with crew in town carrying yard tools following along on the street to manually assist in removing hanging limbs or stubborn weeds. Photos below:

Crossing Lansing Street heading East

Resuming spraying operations east of the Lansing Street Crossing

Close up of the sprayer at work.

Hope you enjoyed the "Round-Up" for today's action on the CHS!!!!

[TrainWatcher]

Actually good to see a shortline such as the C&S taking care of the weeds.

[AARR]

It was a Dandelion report Larry

[Larry G]

The Eaton County Journal Newspaper is reporting Charlotte Mayor Dee Smith's response to numerous complaints from the public about the conditions of the highway crossings on Cochran Ave and Lansing Street. Missing/destroyed rubber strips in the crossing are causing 'potholes' to appear. He said the city is responsible for the street up to 18 inches of the track and can't repair inside the ROW. He has turned the problem over to MDOT for resolution according to the newspaper report.

MDOT has recently repaved the crossing approach on the crossing at M-50 by the grain elevator.

No rail activity seen by me on the CHS since the run by #3 during the weed spraying a few weeks ago.

Next dinner train run scheduled is on July 16 at 7PM per their webpage.

[Larry G]

The evening Dinner Train is making its only run of the month tonight on the line. Train left the loading area at 19:07 and is currently out on the line as this message is written. Parking lot appears to be full.

This is the only activity on the line for a long time. At this point no cars have come in for storrage.

Will that happen this fall or not???


Next movement scheduled: Dinner Train Sept 17 at 19:00 and an afternoon Pizza train on Sept 18 at 14:00

Late addition: Crew was moving the train back to its siding location shortly before 22:30.

[Larry G]

An unscheduled afternoon charter is underway on the line. Appears that a bus group is out looking for fall colors that are not yet developed. Will there be more of these trips in the coming weeks?

[AARR]

Larry - Are there any storage cars on the line?

[Ben Higdon]

I just drove through Charlotte for the first time last week on M50. Saw there is an elevator east of town that I've heard about, and another by the CN connection. Can someone give a quick summary of when the two elevators last shipped? Interesting segment of the MC Valley Division I'd like to get some pictures of.

[AARR]

I just drove through Charlotte for the first time last week on M50. Saw there is an elevator east of town that I've heard about, and another by the CN connection. Can someone give a quick summary of when the two elevators last shipped? Interesting segment of the MC Valley Division I'd like to get some pictures of.

The elevator in downtown (Citizens?) has not shipped in a while. They have other elevators in Battle Creek, Vermontville, northeast of Charlotte on CN (where I believe they still ship by rail).

The place several miles southeast (Eaton Farm Buerau?) shipped up until a few years ago. CN implemented a rate hike or minimum quantity or something that the elevator was opposed to and shipping stopped. Several other elevators on CN's MI lines quit shipping at almost the same time.

[Larry G]

Larry - Are there any storage cars on the line?

None, no activity on this line for several weeks other than the occasional dinner train.

I am speculating here that cars coming off CN for storage will wind up in Lansing this year instead of Charlotte with A&B operating that line now.

Switching and moving cars in small groups down to the end of the line here has always been a slow process with the limit of 5 cars per move due to length of the run-by track.

Fall season brings a few unscheduled bus charters during the weekdays and a couple of scheduled night trains.

A side note...Many of the street crossings need repairs. On the two main street crossing there are sunken and missing pads. On a couple of side streets the crossings put your car/tires at risk if taken at more than idle speed. I am surprised the city has not had complaints about the conditions.

[Larry G]

Larry - Are there any storage cars on the line?

None, no activity on this line for several weeks other than the occasional dinner train.

I am speculating here that cars coming off CN for storage will wind up in Lansing this year instead of Charlotte with A&B operating that line now.

Switching and moving cars in small groups down to the end of the line here has always been a slow process with the limit of 5 cars per move due to length of the run-by track.

Fall season brings a few unscheduled bus charters during the weekdays and a couple of scheduled night trains.

A side note...Many of the street crossings need repairs. On the two main street crossing there are sunken and missing pads. On a couple of side streets the crossings put your car/tires at risk if taken at more than idle speed. I am surprised the city has not had complaints about the conditions.

[Larry G]

In mid afternoon #3 was uncoupled from the dinner train cars and moved onto the mainline. Looked like a crew was in town performing maintenance on it. It would be interesting to know how the railroad maintains its equipment so far removed from it shops on an isolated branch line such as this.

[Larry G]

The Dinner train ran Saturday evening at 19:00 as scheduled. Plenty of cars in the parking lot.

Did not observe if it ran today on the afternoon trip.

[Larry G]

Happened to drive over the crossing on Lansing Street this afternoon and noticed that A&B had a couple of maintanence vehicles along side the dinner train west of the main track. In my quick view it appeared that a long crane like arm was extended over #3 from the larger vehicle. Did not have a camera or time to check into it further.

As I wrote before, it must be interesting to maintain equipment on issolated trackage far removed from the home base as seen today.