More Metra Coaches For GLC

[BL2-1843]

D709-16 Wednesday afternoon brought 14 more ex Metra / BNSF coaches to AnnPere for GLC. None were cab cars this time, and all of them were in the "best looking" condition of any I have seen yet. Very clean and shiny, no grafitti on any of them. Cars in order, from east to west, or, after GLC picks them up to take them north, south to north are: 715,717,705,722,713,731,706,728,723,714,737,727,724,702. I wished I could find the other car numbers now that were delivered earlier. They must have 50-60 of them by now. Car 706, on the south side only (or west side as they go north still has the full Metra & BNSF logo in tact, while the rest have long been painted out.

These perhaps came from a different stored location than the previous ones, to have them in such good looking condition. They came off the WSOR at Fox Lk Ws. All had their last COT &S dates in early 2002 so they perhaps have been stored for that long. Someone refresh my memory on what COT &S stands for, and, how long those dates would be good for, before another one was due. These cars, as I am sure all of them were, built for the CB&Q. GLC picked them up before noon on Thursday and and left south towards Osmer shortly after.

[Typhoon]

Clean-Oil-Test-Stencil. I am not sure how long they are good for.

[AARR]

I wonder how the passenger car lease business is going

[MIGN-Todd]

If they put any more on that siding, they're gonna have to put the line back in to Interlochen! That would suit me just fine - C&Os old ROW is behind my house!

[Beal99]

i dont get this at all, Metra is so hard up for cars, why are they all sitting in TC?

[SD80MAC]

i dont get this at all, Metra is so hard up for cars, why are they all sitting in TC?

They aren't Metra cars anymore, they're owned by Federated Railways, GLC's parent company.

[JANGAJONGA]

so why are they storing them if they are not going to use them?

[SD80MAC]

so why are they storing them if they are not going to use them?

I believe they're buying them up to sell eventually. Some will probably go to the Ann Arbor commuter line (if that ever happens), I can't imagine they ALL would though. Then again maybe Federated has bigger plans....

[TC John]

Todd, looking at the line of cars in Grawn (28 of them), then could easily stuff about 25 more before getting to the end of the line.

Guessing the leasing business is not good, as they are in storage. Seems like someone posted somewhere that keeping them where they are in Grawn (10 miles SW of Traverse City), they will be much safer than other parts of the GLC system. Literally 50ft from very bust US31 highway, with swamp and Cherry Growers property on the other side. Plus they have to go through Traverse City to get to Grawn, so they draw attention to those who think we have long cummuter trains operating in Traverse City...

[BerkshireKid]

IIRC correctly Clean Oil Test Stencil (COTS) dates are dependent on the type of valve. Passenger valves IIRC are good for 2 years. Freight I think are 6. Somebody will come up with the right answers hopefully.

[Raildudes dad]

IIRC correctly Clean Oil Test Stencil (COTS) dates are dependent on the type of valve. Passenger valves IIRC are good for 2 years. Freight I think are 6. Somebody will come up with the right answers hopefully.

There's even different passenger valves with different life dates, can't remember the details anymore Freight too, I think , but never dealt with freight valves.

[BL2-1843]

Todd, looking at the line of cars in Grawn (28 of them), then could easily stuff about 25 more before getting to the end of the line. ..

Seeing I can't find my list of previous numbers seen being delivered at Ann Pere, anybody have the numbers of the 28 cars now at Grawn?

[Mark F]

Did these come out of Grand Rapids on Monday? Hey Conrail Jon, maybe my kids weren't imagining things after all.

[SD80MAC]

Did these come out of Grand Rapids on Monday? Hey Conrail Jon, maybe my kids weren't imagining things after all.

The more I think about it, the more that was probably what they were.

[csxt4617]

I saw them on the rear of Q326 on Monday morning out of Chicago. A couple still had the BNSF logo on them, but most had it painted out, as well as the Metra logos.

(grrr...can someone please do something about that darn "save" button? Move it, get rid of it, something.)

[TC John]

I drove past the 31 (I think) cars in Grawn. Now way I'll ever be able to get all those car numbers- traffic moving too fast, and not safe to pull off until they move snowbanks back...I woul dbet those other 14 GLC just received will come up to Grawn, maybe today. Somebode going to look for the TC train today?

[MIGN-Todd]

[quote="TC John"]Todd, looking at the line of cars in Grawn (28 of them), then could easily stuff about 25 more before getting to the end of the line.
I know there is plenty of room on the remaining trackage, I still got a chip on my shoulder from when CSX ripped up the trackage in '82, '83 and want it back. Doesn't hurt to dream though.

[UncleRaul]

Anyone else find it kind of weird that they couldn't find a closer place to store these things? That is, if they are being stored in anticipation of the commuter line.

[GreatLakesRailfan]

Anyone else find it kind of weird that they couldn't find a closer place to store these things? That is, if they are being stored in anticipation of the commuter line.

They tried to store the things in Owosso and IIRC a couple other places but the local vandals were inflicting quite a bit of damage (graffiti, broken windows?, etc). Keeping them next to US31 puts them in a better location as far as vandals go (more traffic = more people watching = more visibility= vandals far more likely to be caught).

I doubt they're being stored solely in anticipation of the commuter line. I've gotten the impression Federated thought they were getting a good deal on the things but hasn't found a good enough market to utilize their fleet in yet.

[mp_ch46]

The Metra cars picked up on Wed. are stored in the Chilison passing siding. I have a shot in my album of the train at Beck Rd. after picking up the cars. First post have my fingers crossed that all works