Wow! JAIL at Old town! Lansing and Durand 2/7/2020
Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 11:07 pm
Friday turned out to be a great day for mid-Michigan rail action. J32885 and I managed to see over a dozen trains from 5 different railroads in less than 10 hours. We shall light a candle in thought for our friend Mackinac Mac who was fighting Mother Nature and Buick Goodyears on his trip back from da U.P. and wasn't able to join us.
Lansing:
08:35am - Amtrak Blue Water No. 365 arrived as LNS station. The MARP volunteer station attendant later said she estimated 220 people boarded the westbound train this morning. They just barely had them on to depart by 8:45, on time. P42 #61 leading, Charger 4627 trailing, 6 cars.
08:55 - a CN MOW truck rolled east with a single GTW flatcar in tow.
09:05 - CN 3804 single unit led a mixed freight westbound over Trowbridge diamond. Possibly train A401. Nice faded ICG 86' boxcar in the mix, probably nearing retirement age.
09:35 - Another westbound CN mixed freight at Trowbridge, engine 2235 leading, with 8868 trailing. Two cuts of loaded autoracks mixed in with this one. Train A491.
No sign of further action on CN or CSX so we relocated to CP-MA and find JAIL waiting to get onto CSXT. We head for Ensel. ADBF pickups in position to prep Old Town spur for service.
JAIL had the 1758 and 1760 today. No cars northbound for Lansing. They arrived at Ensel around 10:05.
10:20 - lone 1760 switches onto the Old Town spur of the former LS&MS at Turner Street to retrieve the N&W gondola from Friedland. Lots of railfans and others with cameras turned up at the Cesar Chavez Avenue crossing for the passage. Probably the highest concentration of railfans in the entire state at that moment. ADBF crews flag each crossing as before. A store owner on the block let us know a towtruck hauled a parked car off the tracks earlier in the morning.
10:30 - CSXT Q329 passes and has no Lansing work. We are not sad we missed it.
10:40 - 1760 has the gon in tow and brings it back north. JAIL has no additional work in Lansing today. JAIL rearranges their lineup with 1758, the gon and 1760 in consist. At 11:15, they weave their way back onto CSX at Ensel.
11:30 - JAIL is held at Cedar for a WB CN train, which we miss. We are also not sad we missed this.
11:40 - JAIL on the move and we catch them south of Cedar. We catch them one more time at the Willoughby Road crossing south of Lansing in the warmth of the sun beside snowy evergreens.
12:30 - CSX D708 is eastbound approaching Trowbridge, with lone SD40-3 4035 LHF leading the train. GLC interchange cars are noted in consist.
LUNCH - We waste some time eating in Old Town and then setting off eastwardly at a leisurely pace toward Durand, arriving a little before 15:00.
I admit its been several years since I've been to Durand. I hadn't seen the new signals in person, or experienced the "horn free" environment. The OWLS diamond is so quiet for through routings on the Flint Sub. I also didn't know of the uber-convenient ATCS display in the depot window so you can see approaching lineups. Great!!
Durand:
15:25 - CN train 514, all containers, led by SD50 5413 and Canadian Cab SD40-2 5340(?) in the CNNA scheme come around the High Wye from Flint and head down the Holly for Moterm.
15:35 - HESR's daily train (still 740?) arrives in Durand from Bay City. HESR 2026, 3414 and 3390, all orange, lead this train in excess of 100 cars. A Penn Central covered hopper is in-consist.
15:40 - M396 heads east on the main behind CN 3884 and friends. Mixed freight and autoracks.
16:00 - HESR is doubling their train around the Port Huron Wye into Durand Yard. Another westbound is lined through.
16:25 - With HESR in the clear, an eastbound CN comes slowly through town. CN 5785 leading an ACe, a GE, and CN yard slug 201, class GY-00b. Coming from Homewood? Looked like an SW frame but a Geep body. This train went on forever, and at reduced speed to meet the upcoming westbound on the fly at E. Durand. Anyone know this train number?
16:33 - CN 3828 west leading two SD70ACe's and 159 cars of mostly mixed freight. Then a short wait while we warmed up in the car...
17:20 - CN 2196 + CN + BNSF led a fairly short freight WB over the diamond, almost all autoracks with a few mixed freight thrown in.
17:30 - HESR the rear of their train out of Durand Yard so they can return north.
17:45 - Train 251 arrived from Pontiac on the Holly Sub, picked up some additional head end crew at the Depot, and curved west on the Chicago wye. CN3845 and 3840 for power. Almost all autoracks with about 10 mixed thrown in.
A pretty good day! Mostly cloudy with some flurries but a few peeks of sun, I'll upload a few photos shortly to add to the list!
Lansing:
08:35am - Amtrak Blue Water No. 365 arrived as LNS station. The MARP volunteer station attendant later said she estimated 220 people boarded the westbound train this morning. They just barely had them on to depart by 8:45, on time. P42 #61 leading, Charger 4627 trailing, 6 cars.
08:55 - a CN MOW truck rolled east with a single GTW flatcar in tow.
09:05 - CN 3804 single unit led a mixed freight westbound over Trowbridge diamond. Possibly train A401. Nice faded ICG 86' boxcar in the mix, probably nearing retirement age.
09:35 - Another westbound CN mixed freight at Trowbridge, engine 2235 leading, with 8868 trailing. Two cuts of loaded autoracks mixed in with this one. Train A491.
No sign of further action on CN or CSX so we relocated to CP-MA and find JAIL waiting to get onto CSXT. We head for Ensel. ADBF pickups in position to prep Old Town spur for service.
JAIL had the 1758 and 1760 today. No cars northbound for Lansing. They arrived at Ensel around 10:05.
10:20 - lone 1760 switches onto the Old Town spur of the former LS&MS at Turner Street to retrieve the N&W gondola from Friedland. Lots of railfans and others with cameras turned up at the Cesar Chavez Avenue crossing for the passage. Probably the highest concentration of railfans in the entire state at that moment. ADBF crews flag each crossing as before. A store owner on the block let us know a towtruck hauled a parked car off the tracks earlier in the morning.
10:30 - CSXT Q329 passes and has no Lansing work. We are not sad we missed it.
10:40 - 1760 has the gon in tow and brings it back north. JAIL has no additional work in Lansing today. JAIL rearranges their lineup with 1758, the gon and 1760 in consist. At 11:15, they weave their way back onto CSX at Ensel.
11:30 - JAIL is held at Cedar for a WB CN train, which we miss. We are also not sad we missed this.
11:40 - JAIL on the move and we catch them south of Cedar. We catch them one more time at the Willoughby Road crossing south of Lansing in the warmth of the sun beside snowy evergreens.
12:30 - CSX D708 is eastbound approaching Trowbridge, with lone SD40-3 4035 LHF leading the train. GLC interchange cars are noted in consist.
LUNCH - We waste some time eating in Old Town and then setting off eastwardly at a leisurely pace toward Durand, arriving a little before 15:00.
I admit its been several years since I've been to Durand. I hadn't seen the new signals in person, or experienced the "horn free" environment. The OWLS diamond is so quiet for through routings on the Flint Sub. I also didn't know of the uber-convenient ATCS display in the depot window so you can see approaching lineups. Great!!
Durand:
15:25 - CN train 514, all containers, led by SD50 5413 and Canadian Cab SD40-2 5340(?) in the CNNA scheme come around the High Wye from Flint and head down the Holly for Moterm.
15:35 - HESR's daily train (still 740?) arrives in Durand from Bay City. HESR 2026, 3414 and 3390, all orange, lead this train in excess of 100 cars. A Penn Central covered hopper is in-consist.
15:40 - M396 heads east on the main behind CN 3884 and friends. Mixed freight and autoracks.
16:00 - HESR is doubling their train around the Port Huron Wye into Durand Yard. Another westbound is lined through.
16:25 - With HESR in the clear, an eastbound CN comes slowly through town. CN 5785 leading an ACe, a GE, and CN yard slug 201, class GY-00b. Coming from Homewood? Looked like an SW frame but a Geep body. This train went on forever, and at reduced speed to meet the upcoming westbound on the fly at E. Durand. Anyone know this train number?
16:33 - CN 3828 west leading two SD70ACe's and 159 cars of mostly mixed freight. Then a short wait while we warmed up in the car...
17:20 - CN 2196 + CN + BNSF led a fairly short freight WB over the diamond, almost all autoracks with a few mixed freight thrown in.
17:30 - HESR the rear of their train out of Durand Yard so they can return north.
17:45 - Train 251 arrived from Pontiac on the Holly Sub, picked up some additional head end crew at the Depot, and curved west on the Chicago wye. CN3845 and 3840 for power. Almost all autoracks with about 10 mixed thrown in.
A pretty good day! Mostly cloudy with some flurries but a few peeks of sun, I'll upload a few photos shortly to add to the list!