St. Joseph/Benton Harbor

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RailCanon
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St. Joseph/Benton Harbor

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Nathan wrote:As it turns out, I've been in the St. Joe/B-H region about 4 or 5 times in the past 9 months, and each time was able to get a little exploring/railfanning in. As I'm sure you know, both towns are located on the CSX Grand Rapids Subdivision, the former Pere Marquette mainline linking Detroit with Chicago. The Bridge you mention I assume to be the 1904 built Swing Bridge over the St. Joseph River. That bridge is accessable from the east side of the tracks on the south side of the river, making it great for morning photos (see below) Just 1 block south of the bridge is the St. Joseph Station, today a pizza parlor and also a stop for Amtrak's daily Pere Marquette. It's a great little station with nice spot for Amtrak passengers, and I hear the food at the parlor is terriffic (train crews have been known to call ahead and then pick up some dinner there on occassion!) Just north of the bridge begins a nearly 10 mile stretch of doubletrack, which passes through Benton Harbor (B-H) and extends northeast (railroad east) as far as Riverside.
A small yard which serves to hold cars for the CSX local job and also car and MofW storage is located in B-H. It is easily visible from the 5th Street Crossing in B-H, just go north from where 5th crosses Business 94. The crossing is located on the spot where the old NYC line ran up from Indiana and joined the C&O there. A CSX scale house is in operation there and also serves as a yard office and crew base for CSX local D700. D700 goes on duty during the mid morning and heads north to Holland's Waverly Yard to exchange cars, then returns south switching industries along the way. They will leave some cars in the B-H yard and then continue south as far as New Buffalo if necessary to switch industries, then come back to B-H yard for the night.

By taking M-63 north over the St. Joseph river from downtown St. Joe and then exiting to the right down the ramp halfway across the bridge, you can see some neat tri-light and C&O mast signals and also parallel the tracks on the south side for about a quarter mile both east and west.

There is not a TON of traffic through there but you will see some trains through the day. D700, the CSX local, was highlighted above and runs Mon-Fri. Mixed Freights (often quite long these days) Q326 (EB) and Q327 (WB) you may catch as well, both seem to be morning trains through this part of the state as of recently. You may also catch the daily northbound loaded coal train or southbound MT train to or from West Olive, MI, usually with BNSF power on the front. Other special commodities have also been moving around frequently. Coke loads K357 and K352 (both WB) and empties K351 and K356 (both EB) generally run once a week, K357 more than that. Stone trains K908, K909, K910, and K911 also run about once a week each. Lately, a G010 grain train has been running west from GR a few times a month. Amtrak's Pere Marquette comes west in the morning (around 9:30) and east in the evening (8 something... check Amtrak site for details and a map to the station), and is typically a Genesis with 3 coaches. Rounding out the trains is CP Rail's eastbound X500, which operates at any time these days, once a day, five days a week.

The following links may prove useful!
http://groups.msn.com/chessiechapter/_whatsnew.msnw = CSXT railfanning around Michigan
A St. Joe trip report from February = http://groups.msn.com/chessiechapter/ge ... essage=457
(Out of date is D700's home base, which has reverted back to Benton Harbor Yard)
Details about CSX's GR Sub, and trains! = http://groups.msn.com/chessiechapter/gr ... ision.msnw
St. Joe swing bridge spotlight = http://groups.msn.com/csxtstructures/st ... ridge.msnw

I hope this helps. Montiro CSX road channel 160.230 and RN Dispatching channel 160.635 if you have a scanner and that will alert you if anything is coming. Feel free to write back with any more questions you may have. I always enjoy exploring roads and places to access the tracks in places such as the St. Joe/B-H area.

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