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Did anyone else see C&O 903109 on 327 yesterday? 3rd car behind the power. 15 cars total. It was in good hands. Mr. MacGregor was in control.

http://www.railroadfan.com/gallery/albu ... %20029.jpg

I saw that train earlier in the day departing Rougemere and the two hoppers plus the cab came from Lansing as I recognize that autorack from when I saw it. Hopefully that means D708 decided they really ought to run with a caboose now that they are based out of Wyoming and we shall see if that is (hopefully) the case! Thanks for the report Mr. Tops!

http://groups.msn.com/chessiechapter/_whatsnew.msnw

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, Nate. Hopefully 708 will use it.

I planned on shooting 327 crossing the Thornapple River. Image my surprise when I saw the cab roll out onto the trestle: http://www.railroadfan.com/gallery/albu ... %20025.jpg

Arriving in Wyoming as the sun sets: http://www.railroadfan.com/gallery/albu ... %20033.jpg

This brings back memories for me as 3109 used to be based in Muskegon years ago, along with 903286. 3109 was used on the mill job, and 3286 was used on 728. This was around the time B&O 904016 was used on the Cannonball before being replaced by 904015 (which had previously been based in Benton Harbor).

C&O 904151 is still being used by Y290 in Grand Rapids (the yard job that works the Acme Lead across Chicago Drive). 4151 was also used in Muskegon before 904015 and before 904016. Nice to know most of those cabs are still close by.

Here's a recent shot of 904151 for you, Nate.

http://www.railroadfan.com/gallery/albu ... %20020.jpg

As I'm sure you know, Bob, C&O 903101 is also based at Grand Rapids, a wide vision type. It's used on Y106 to the east side of town, I believe. If 3109 is based there now, that would make three cabooses at Wyoming. I'll bet you also know that B&O 904034 is the current caboose based at Benton Harbor, but I'm not sure if they use it right now or if it just sits in the yard. I wonder if the 903318 at Holland is ever used any more? Thanks for your additional photos, it's cool you caught the 3109 on the Thornapple bridge. 904151 is unique in that it's the only caboose I can think of where you can still read the Chessie applied road number on the slanted sides of the bay window = 4151.

Thanks for that unique history on the deployment of Chessie Cabooses around West Michigan. I wonder if I could copy and post that on the CC with credit given to you?

903101 looks a little rough, but still sees daily service around GR:

903109 sits at Ensel Yard in Lansing back in 2002:

hey Mr. Tops, nice avatar pic you got. I take it you play MSTS or did you just pick that one for the heck of it.

Yeah, I play MSTS once in a while. That's my gon train behind CSX 8064 and a Santa Fe 4-axle jeep.

Thats cool, so do i. I usually play it whenever there isn't any train action here in Clare, MI, or when i'm really bored.

nathan it is not a C&O cab but.........i seen this in Fostoria



also i don't know if the chessie chapter will use this or not but ......