Search found 835 matches

by Ben Higdon
Fri Sep 15, 2023 10:26 am
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: Future of the Plymouth Sub/Grand Rapids Sub
Replies: 156
Views: 1283753

Re: Future of the Plymouth Sub/Grand Rapids Sub

What is fascinating is the fact, that other than Typhoon and SD80mac, none of you really have a clue as to what you are even talking about. You are all guessing and uneducated guessing at best. I'm not arguing about the guessing! I'll check back on this thread in four years and see where we're at.
by Ben Higdon
Fri Sep 15, 2023 10:16 am
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: Future of the Plymouth Sub/Grand Rapids Sub
Replies: 156
Views: 1283753

Re: Future of the Plymouth Sub/Grand Rapids Sub

[My bet is CSX will take a page out of the NS Michigan Line playbook, and let the GR Sub go to seed once Consumers is done, until the state buys it for Amtrak service. It would be more financially responsible to reroute the Pere Marquette via Kalamazoo and terminate at Holland, and abandon the GR S...
by Ben Higdon
Fri Sep 15, 2023 10:12 am
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: Future of the Plymouth Sub/Grand Rapids Sub
Replies: 156
Views: 1283753

Re: Future of the Plymouth Sub/Grand Rapids Sub

It’s like life in general you pick up the pieces and move on. You can be as negative as you want but I’m not gonna let you piss on my parade I am still gonna look at it in a positive light. 😎 Looks like this spur is being built on the alignment of an older spur, laid somewhere between 1969 and 1981...
by Ben Higdon
Wed Sep 13, 2023 12:26 pm
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: Future of the Plymouth Sub/Grand Rapids Sub
Replies: 156
Views: 1283753

Re: Future of the Plymouth Sub/Grand Rapids Sub

Note: The future looks so bright for the Grand Rapids subdivision I gotta wear shades. 😎 Try saying that in 2025 after a very important customer that receives a unit train every day closes It’s like life in general you pick up the pieces and move on. You can be as negative as you want but I’m not g...
by Ben Higdon
Fri Aug 18, 2023 5:40 pm
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: CSX on the west side of Michigan
Replies: 44
Views: 11945

Re: CSX on the west side of Michigan

I believe the former Conrail/PRR tracks that currently end at Judd St originally crossed the PM to reach a mill on the Grand River, but I can't recall where I got that info. That would have been way back, like late 1800s or early 1900s. NYC served the area between Sunnyside and Kelvinator via the fo...
by Ben Higdon
Fri Jun 09, 2023 4:05 pm
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: WMI, Hamilton NW and LSRC recieve “railroad enhancement program grants”
Replies: 29
Views: 23947

Re: WMI, Hamilton NW and LSRC recieve “railroad enhancement program grants”

I wonder if the Hamilton Northwestern transload will be located on the north side of the Rabbit River trestle in Hamilton?
by Ben Higdon
Fri Mar 17, 2023 6:16 pm
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: What Happened to the Coast to Coast? Michigans possible only commuter line that could work
Replies: 34
Views: 7582

Re: What Happened to the Coast to Coast? Michigans possible only commuter line that could work

This quote sums it up: "Eli Cooper, Ann Arbor's transportation program manager, said the A2TC Train is a cool idea" While they need $1M to do a study, they estimate (in 2018) it would cost $150M to upgrade the route for 60mph service. I bet it would cost at least five times that amount to produce a ...
by Ben Higdon
Tue Jan 03, 2023 9:04 am
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: Kalamazoo North Yard track layout
Replies: 22
Views: 8172

Re: Kalamazoo North Yard track layout

Looks like there are still two switches in place for yard tracks, but the tracks were removed. The tracks were in place when I first poked around there around 1994, but the two switches were out of service. I was very surprised to see new wheelstops on the south end of those tracks several years lat...
by Ben Higdon
Thu Nov 10, 2022 1:51 pm
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: Study Time....again - A2TC commuter rail project
Replies: 213
Views: 109790

Re: Study Time....again - A2TC commuter rail project

Its a shame we don't have any worthwhile mainstream news outlets anymore. I'd love to see a high profile news article looking into the amazing incompetence and dishonesty that keeps rolling this proverbial turd of an idea down the road.
by Ben Higdon
Mon Oct 24, 2022 10:50 am
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: Kalamazoo North Yard track layout
Replies: 22
Views: 8172

Re: Kalamazoo North Yard track layout

Your idea makes perfect sense although they may want to retain the segment that runs back toward Mosel in case they can entice any of the industries down there to go back to rail, or a rail-friendly company buys the facility. That was actually in the 1980s plan. The GR&I was to be kept in place fro...
by Ben Higdon
Fri Oct 14, 2022 10:57 am
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: Study Time....again - A2TC commuter rail project
Replies: 213
Views: 109790

Re: Study Time....again - A2TC commuter rail project

If they cannot run present day Amtrack, reliably,on schedule, what makes people think this will work??Don't hold your breath. Don't be so sure about your statement, Amtrak has been running the wolverine trains with close to record load factors since the spring break meltdowns and high prices at the...
by Ben Higdon
Tue Aug 30, 2022 12:04 pm
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: Amtrak Problem
Replies: 17
Views: 6960

Re: Amtrak Problem

Trains 350 and 355 apparently are canceled due to equipment shortage August 29-September 16. What plans does Chicago Maintenance have for this winter? We know how well the Chargers and Horizon cars like winter. About to find out how well the Venture cars hold up? The States literally bought Amtrak ...
by Ben Higdon
Mon Aug 15, 2022 12:18 pm
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: Study Time....again - A2TC commuter rail project
Replies: 213
Views: 109790

Re: Study Time....again - A2TC commuter rail project

Unreal. Another few million for some consultant to pretend there's potential.
by Ben Higdon
Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:12 pm
Forum: Historical Q & A
Topic: Single or Double Track between AA & Dexter?
Replies: 12
Views: 7109

Re: Single or Double Track between AA & Dexter?

Clearly not "early in the Amtrak era". Based on the video the second main from Kalamazoo to Willow Run had been recently removed from service. The second main is in place between Kalamazoo and Albion but if you look closely the switches are already in place for single tracking. I have bulletins for ...
by Ben Higdon
Thu Jun 23, 2022 11:41 am
Forum: Historical Q & A
Topic: Muskegon Abandonment
Replies: 50
Views: 22931

Re: Muskegon Abandonment

The line originally ended at the car ferry slip, which is where the USS Silversides is currently moored.
by Ben Higdon
Sat Apr 23, 2022 10:05 am
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: New threat to SMRS?—"Project Phoenix"
Replies: 30
Views: 14636

Re: New threat to SMRS?—"Project Phoenix"

One thing that caught my eye in that above article was Mr Miller wanting to restore passenger service to Clinton, Blissfield, and Adrian. I wonder how he proposes to do that; after all, the diamond at Raisin Center was pulled out years ago, and I highly doubt NS would be interested in having it res...
by Ben Higdon
Fri Mar 25, 2022 8:13 am
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition
Replies: 67
Views: 43839

Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

I'm curious what they did with the rest of the Lansing traffic in those days. By the late '80s they ran LAEL & INLA, but I don't see anything like those on the '82 sheets. Lansing traffic came from Toledo until the late 80s as far as I know. Train was LATO/TOLA. For a bit this was a turn to Willow ...
by Ben Higdon
Thu Mar 24, 2022 10:48 am
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition
Replies: 67
Views: 43839

Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Thanks for the links, and great stories! I could read a book of Kalamazoo stories like that. Another question - the schedule for ELGR in Sept 1982 included a pickup in Kalamazoo. The train sheets don't show ELGR going into Botsford. I'm guessing this pickup made at Mosel Yd? I wonder if it was just ...
by Ben Higdon
Thu Mar 24, 2022 10:38 am
Forum: Michigan Talk
Topic: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition
Replies: 67
Views: 43839

Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

GREL mystery solved? KZLA/LAKZ are on the train sheets. KZLA carried GM auto parts from Kalamazoo straight into GM in Lansing. It usually left late afternoon with a pair of GP38-2. Scouting the web for KZLA I can across a short piece in Conrail In Brief about KZLA. It lists Grand Rapids as one of t...