Page 10 of 12

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 6:44 pm
by Doktor No
"Not gonna die on a hill about it"...GOOD ONE middlemich!!!
When I looked at my Ancestor.com history I found we had a relative that dug post holes gratis on a hill in Palestine a long long time ago. Never got much recognition for it either. He was called Golgotha Slim or some such thing. Liked olives too....

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 11:01 pm
by GP30M4216
Time to jump start the rumor mill:

Just before Memorial Day, the Old Town spur was clear cut from the csx south to at least below the North St crossing. All those saplings and the tall grass are gone. Also, as part of a potential expansion of the North Lansing historic district, the LS&MS Land Line marker at Grand River/Cesar Chavez is being included as a historic object of significance.

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 11:26 pm
by NS3322
GP30M4216 wrote:Time to jump start the rumor mill:

Just before Memorial Day, the Old Town spur was clear cut from the csx south to at least below the North St crossing. All those saplings and the tall grass are gone. Also, as part of a potential expansion of the North Lansing historic district, the LS&MS Land Line marker at Grand River/Cesar Chavez is being included as a historic object of significance.

Did someone ever figure out who bought the Petoskey Trolley? :D Jk

Kidding aside, this is very interesting information. Thank you for sharing!

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 11:42 pm
by DaveO
Having trees growing through your track would lend great weight to an adverse abandonment petition being granted.
That is of course should someone decide to file one with the Surface Transportation Board.
When I look at where the line runs, I can imagine that somebody probably dreams of being able to use the railroad land as their own.
But it's probably JAIL doing more or less routine maintenance.

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:28 am
by MiddleMI
GP30M4216 wrote:Time to jump start the rumor mill:

Just before Memorial Day, the Old Town spur was clear cut from the csx south to at least below the North St crossing.
I can't really think this means anything until you see more work on the southern end of the spur, which is the most interesting part. This part you're talking about cuts through two large industrial parcels. I'll start getting more interested if I see them doing anything where the actual customer on this line will be. As far as I can tell from recent aerials, the part between Ensel and North Street only had 2 trees on the tracks. South of North to Beaver is maybe 4 trees. It's the part between Beaver and Clinton as you get deeper into Old Town that is really forested.

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2019 8:40 am
by LansingRailFan
They mowed again. MAYBE THIS MEANS SOMETHING lol

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2019 9:03 am
by DaveO
LansingRailFan wrote:They mowed again. MAYBE THIS MEANS SOMETHING lol
It means there's no snow to plow :D

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:33 am
by SD80MAC
Last time I drove by Turner St. (in November) there was about 10 feet of rail missing from both rails just east of Turner.

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2019 4:35 pm
by LansingRailFan
They fixed it the first week of December.

I heard the rail cars are for a mobile smoker unit for Meat BBQ...yum!

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2019 6:10 pm
by kd_1014
LansingRailFan wrote:They fixed it the first week of December.

I heard the rail cars are for a mobile smoker unit for Meat BBQ...yum!
That place is gooooodddddd :D :D

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:41 pm
by LansingRailFan
Hi Rail was spotted last week in Old Town. Can still see the grooves in the mud on either side of the rails.

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 4:40 pm
by J T
LansingRailFan wrote:Hi Rail was spotted last week in Old Town. Can still see the grooves in the mud on either side of the rails.
But what about the section of rails missing as posted above?

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 12:18 am
by MQT1223
J T wrote:
LansingRailFan wrote:Hi Rail was spotted last week in Old Town. Can still see the grooves in the mud on either side of the rails.
But what about the section of rails missing as posted above?
LansingRailFan says they were fixed first week of December.

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2020 2:35 am
by Atkinson_Railroad
This 1982 Conrail Maintenance Program and Track Chart (Western Region, Michigan Division)
features a map showing the railroad lines through Lansing with denoted locations for MA tower,
Track Supervisor's Office, and Train Master's Office.

http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/rail ... 201982.pdf

For those who enjoy railroad papers... and have not snooped around the Internet in a while,
you may be surprised at what can be found at the Multimodalways.org website.
The site is particularly impressive to me because what is offered are actual railroad documents,
and not rendered recreations or unreadable thumbnail shots. The files are LARGE on details.

URL reference: http://www.multimodalways.org/archives/rrs/rrs.html

And... a fun thread here looking back at Lansing.

John

Screenshot from PDF noted above.

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2020 6:20 pm
by J T
That 1982 map is missing the connector between the C&O and the GTW (although I'm not sure it was actually C&O trackage south of the Kalamazoo Ave).

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2020 8:17 pm
by Dan Cluley
I didn't realize that the piece of the Lansing Branch between Kalamazoo st and the GTW lasted that long. That ROW was part of the river trail by the late '80s.

I think the track through the park into the Ottawa st power plant came up about 1990? The stretch between Saginaw and Oakland either went at the same time or a few years later.

Trying to remember about the old main line between North Lansing and the Meadows. I think the fertilizer plant closed about 1990 and Motor Wheel stopped shipping in the mid to late '90s?

When did CSX pull the second track between MA & North Lansing?

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 12:38 pm
by jrgerber
Dan
What parts of the Lansing River Trail are old
railroad right of way?
Thanks

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 4:36 pm
by J T
jrgerber wrote:Dan
What parts of the Lansing River Trail are old
railroad right of way?
Thanks
The part along the river north of 496 and south of Michigan Ave.

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 4:39 pm
by J T
Dan Cluley wrote:I didn't realize that the piece of the Lansing Branch between Kalamazoo st and the GTW lasted that long. That ROW was part of the river trail by the late '80s.
Yeah, that was long gone by the late 70s, I believe. I'm not sure that map posted by Atkinson_Railroad showing that small section of track is accurate.

Re: Lansing's Old Town railroad spur to be reactivated

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 8:40 pm
by Dan Cluley
J T wrote:
jrgerber wrote:Dan
What parts of the Lansing River Trail are old
railroad right of way?
Thanks
The part along the river north of 496 and south of Michigan Ave.
Also a stretch either side of Shiawassee street.