Mackinac Mac, nssd70m-2 and I headed out from Dearborn at 0730 on a dreary late September morning (9-26) with the mission to find better weather and hopefully the Indiana Northeastern. A credible source indicated the IN's GP7u #1500 was receiving some work in the Hillsdale shop and might likely see the paint brush while there, and we thought it would be best to have a look-see for ourselves. #1500 is a former ATSF chop nose, most recently of the Westmoreland Scenic Railroad, and commonly referred to on the IN as "the ugly duckling," as it is the only one of their locomotives not presently painted in their attractive NKP inspired black and yellow scheme. Although the maroon with yellow trim colors looked good on their own, they definitely stuck out in a consist with the other black and yellow early Geeps carrying tonnage across south central Michigan, NW Ohio and NE Indiana!
With near constant rain on the journey down the old Sauk Trail and a brief intermission for breakfast at the McDonalds of Clinton, we approached Hillsdale to find the rain subsiding and indeed a few patches of brighter clouds in the distance. A fair number of storage cars were located in the yard along M-99 on the curve into town, including several BAEX reefers still lettered for the Western Pacific, and at least one such similar armour yellow UP car, amongst a mix of covered hoppers and other rolling stock. The yard near the IN Office in the old NYC Division HQ was empty of active road units, although out-of-service GP9 #1770, GP9 #1603, and the hulk of old CSX GP30M #4216 were all present. A quick turn down Hillsdale Street led us to find a brief view of the unit in question - formerly maroon and yellow #1500 had been repainted and renumbered as IN #2216!! It was still in the shop with one of the end doors facing the street open.
Knowing that it really did exist, had really been painted, and indeed assumed a different identity, we continued south along the Indiana Northeastern mainline looking for a northbound road freight we knew would be coming. We criss crossed south through Bankers, Reading, Montgomery (also known at Frogeye), Ray (stateline) and down to Fremont, IN, where we found the train. The northbound was led by "Frog-eyes" GP10 #1073, GP30 #2185, and GP7 #1601. The power set was switching covered hoppers around beside the former site of the grain elevator, which is now a graded dirt lot. The crescent spur to the east was full of covered hoppers, while the crew was setting off two covered hoppers on the siding to the west. IN customers in Fremont include a bakery which receives flour and a plastic pail place which gets covered hoppers of plastic pellets. The remainder of their train was tied down on the main south of the SR-827 crossing.
At 1030, the power had tied back onto their train and were heading north, and so did we. The clouds were lightening up but the lack of sun allowed us to try for some new photo ops we haven't been able to try before. We got well ahead of them by crossing back into Michigan, and staking out the Brott Road crossing, northeast of Frogeye, not to far from the Berg Cemetery. With all three engines roaring, the train came by us a short time later. It proved to be a 12-car mixed freight - all destined for the Coldwater Turn - a mix of covered hoppers and tankcars. The second from the last car was a classic ATSF covered hopper - destined for Sun-Gro near Quincy, painted in 1975! We also saw the train at Bankers on the S-curve and again at the Lewis Street crossing in Hillsdale. Side note - The Andersons in Reading is expanding and has added two enormous new bins, along with new conveyor and loading/unloading equipment, which may likely prove to be beneficial to the railroad in the future. Also, we found out that GP9 #1602 was working a South Milford-Montpelier-South Milford turn.
We found out the #2185 was due for a 92-day inspection and would be setout at Hillsdale to go into the shop. The crew wasted no time completing this setout, then coupled the #1073 to the #1601 and quickly departing down the Old Road as the Coldwater Turn. We got ahead of them and saw the train several times between Hillsdale and Quincy, with the sun making serious progress on breaking up the clouds! The train proceeded into downtown Quincy, then backed the entire consist into the run-around siding. The power then set to work extracting the ATSF covered hopper from near the end of the train, to switch Sun-Gro (which has an eastbound trailing switch). They backtracked a couple miles to setoff the car at Sun-Gro, whose siding was empty. We also noted at least a couple Vulcan open-top-hoppers on the grain elevator siding east of Sun-Gro. The power returned west to downtown Quincy, coupled on to the remaining 11 cars, and proceeded west toward Coldwater proper.
Now nearing 2:00pm, we elected to continue west to Sturgis in hopes of finding the Michigan Southern, which works a M-W-F daytime schedule between White Pigeon and Sturgis. In brief summary: three bulkhead log flatcars were located on the old PRR north of the diamond for the new log transload business. No cars were visible at Abbot (but the brush makes it very hard to see). Nothing visible at International Paper, but the door on the interior loading dock track was closed so we could not see inside. No cars at Frank Miller & Sons near the Indiana line on the old PRR, and although there were some Omnisource trucks in the scrapyard, no activity was evident. No cars were being stored in the small Old Road yard near the old depot. We continued to White Pigeon to find both the MSO GP9 #907 and PREX GP16 #1616 out near the MSO engine shed, with #907 on the lead and #1616 on the switchback from the main to the shed. A single covered hopper was on the old NE wye leg where a transflo has been established. Only a pair of covered hoppers and tankcars visible in the yard. MSO Alcos #66 (S2), #466 (RS2) and #7804 (RS3M) were all visible. A pair of Thiele tankcars were on the spur into White Pigeon Paper. The Grand Elk interchange at White Pigeon Junction had a single tankcar and 5 brown boxcars sitting, with a single NS boxcar on the old lumberyard spur beside. Not sure if these were cars for or from the MSO.
Under the autumn sun, we made haste back toward Hillsdale to try to get photos of the #2216 (remember the #2216? Our mission for the day, this is the former #1500!), while keeping a vigilant eye out to see if we could find #1601 and #1073 returning with the Coldwater Turn. We didn't see them, but the yard crew had pulled #2216 out of the shop to get #2185 over the pit, giving the vintage GP7u a first trip out into the sunlight with new paint and number. It looks awesome and sure is shiny! GREAT to see IN has finally had the time to paint this locomotive, which will no longer relegate it to "ugly duckling" status among railfans. We got some great updates, lots of good photos and were able to fully experience the sights and sounds of early EMD Geeps and K-3 horns echoing through the Michigan southland! I look forward to seeing #2216 in the future leading trains and making money for the Indiana Northeastern.
More Indiana Northeastern photos in my album: http://railroadfan.com/gallery/thumbnails-1367.html
