Another Google Maps Railfan Trip

[chapmaja]

I was looking up some information and decided to take a trip down the Michigan Shore.

We are starting the trip in Fremont. It appears the some of the switches and tracks within the Gerber plant property have now been removed. Crossing the road we come to North Central Co-op, the only other customer in Fremont. On this day we find two cars, a covered hopper and a tank car spaced out across the property. The next sighting of anything is on the wye track where the line up Hart and the Fremont line split. On the wye track there are a couple dozen or so white covered hoppers. There are also a dozen white covered hoppers at the end of the line towards Hart.

Speaking of the line to Montague. When was this line removed and when did the DuPont plant in Montague close? How often was this plant switched and were there any additional customers in Montague? Was the line cut back to Montague prior to being pulled up to Barry Jct., or was it intact until the full length north of Montague was removed.

Back to the trip. South of River Rd, a spur going to Bayer Crop Science comes off the main to the SW. This appears to be a decent length spur to the plant which has two tank cars and a yellow trackmobile.

Back on the main we head south until we pass under Holton Rd (M-120) and pass the tank farm. The siding at the tank farm has 6 tank cars present.

We next approach the North Yard in Muskegon. There are two engines near the office and a mix of different cars within the yard including boxcars, tank cars, covered and open hoppers.

Following the line out from the yard we loop along Shoreline and pass the Mart Dock. No rail activity is seen on this date. We soon come to the split in the tracks near Western Ave. This line still continues down to the old Mill site, however at the time of these views, the Mill is largely removed. There is an interesting note on this line. Near the end of Western Ave there is a road listed as C&O. It is near Foundry Park. Did the C&O at one time operate a car ferry in Muskegon and was this the dock site?

Back to our mainline, we head down across Seaway Dr until we reach Hackney. Again the tracks split at this point. We will take the western line for this portion of our journey. This is the line to the old GTW yard in Muskegon. Following the line we see a bunch of covered hoppers on the bridge over Seaway and a bunch more stored in the yard. The cars on the bridge are aligned so they extend almost to Temple St on the remaining portion the GTW track into the yard area. The line into the yard is now Manahan Ave for s short distance. There is no sign of activity at the old GTW Engine House. The line continues to the west towards the sand mine. No cars are inside the mine property, however 7 covered hoppers are on the just to the east of the mine site.

Also, did the tracks to the GTW car Ferry dock go northwest near the end of the yard? I find what looks like a ROW, but it soon ends and is covered by a residential area. The right of way become McCracken St and was the GTW dock in Muskegon just east of the Mill served by CSX? The track outline is still present on the Ferry slip.

Heading back from the to the mainline, We come to the split of the remaining portion of the GTW into Muskegon and the Michigan Shores ex-CSX line. Following the ex-GTW line we head to Webb Chemical which is still an active shipper. Am I correct that the GTW line originally crossed Sherman and met the old PRR line which is now the Musketawa trail, that ran from GR to Muskegon, which replaced the original GTW line through Greenville and Sparta that was the original access to Muskegon from points east?

Back on the main the line heads south towards Grand Haven and Holland. There is a warehouse in Spring Lake that gets service by the railroad and then nothing visible until the spur to the power plant.

[chapmaja]

A few more questions.

I know the Michigan Shore of the late 1990's / early 2000's served three customers in Muskegon / Heights. Webb Chemical, Nugent Sand, and Dana Corp. Webb is still and active customer and it appears there might be some activity still at Nugent, based on the cars near the facility in the previous posts message.

Which Dana Corp facility was served. Was it the facility by Keating and Sanford St's? Looking at the map shows that at 1 time, the MS line appears to have crossed the CSX mainline in Muskegon (or it Heights) and continued NE before curving east along Keating. This appears to be the old PRR (GR&I) line into Muskegon. When Michigan Shore operated the line, how far did this line still extend to the east?

[EWRice]

I want to say it was around 2009 that they pulled the tracks from the diamond, down keating, to US31. At that time the tracks crossed Roberts and continued towards the bridge, but I cannot confirm weather they crossed it.

You are correct on the GTW grade towards the carferry dock. It is still very visible from the west end of Henry st yard, down Mcracken, into the Grand Trunk boat launch, into the back of the Milwaukee Clipper docked at the old carferry slip.

[Ben Higdon]

In addition to Dupont there was a Hooker plant in Montague. The line north of Montague was torn up by the early 90s, service had ended in mid 80s. I believe Berry jct to Montague service ended 1993.

The C&O South Horn track to the paper mill originally extended all the way to the channel. The location of the Silversides is where a car ferry slip was located, around 1900.

The tracks to the GTW ferry dock ran northwest from the west end of Henry St Yd. This was MR&N trackage from the ferry dock through the yard to Dresser Crane (now a giant brownfield). From Dresser Crane east to just before Webb Chemical it was C&O track, which MR&N/GTW and PRR had rights over. I imagine at some point GTW bought this track from C&O to continue serving Webb. From Webb north the tracks were again MR&N and continued over the PRR main at Shaw, ending at a connection to the TS&M line to Greenville just north of there. GTW controlled the MR&N and merged it in something like 1956.

You're correct on the location of Dana Corp, which was previously Sealed Power.

When Michigan Shore took over they got the PRR tracks eastward a couple miles or so from Dana to reach a long spur to Michigan Paper Box, or whatever it was at that time. They also had the MR&N from Shaw up to the TS&M at Simpson, and from there east a few miles to a propane dealer. I don't know if either of these line segments produced any traffic after Michigan Shore took over.

[railrod1949]

The final run of the local freight train service on the old C&O (later Chessie) Hart Sub between Hart and Montaque, was on December 21, 1981.

[AARR]

Like Ben I don't think either MI Paper Box (or whatever they were called) or the propane dealer ever received rail service from MS

When Michigan Shore took over they got the PRR tracks eastward a couple miles or so from Dana to reach a long spur to Michigan Paper Box, or whatever it was at that time. They also had the MR&N from Shaw up to the TS&M at Simpson, and from there east a few miles to a propane dealer. I don't know if either of these line segments produced any traffic after Michigan Shore took over.

[chapmaja]

Just wondering. What streets were the packaging place and the propane dealer located at.

[Ben Higdon]

The tank farm was along E Laketon in the northeast corner of the intersection with S Walker (brownfield), Michigan Paper Box was in a building labeled ADAC Automotive on google maps on E Keating on the SW corner of the intersection with Port City Blvd

[chapmaja]

The tank farm was along E Laketon in the northeast corner of the intersection with S Walker (brownfield), Michigan Paper Box was in a building labeled ADAC Automotive on google maps on E Keating on the SW corner of the intersection with Port City Blvd

Now that I know where those were, I feel comfortable saying that the tank farm was never served by Michigan Shore. I recall there along one of the sets of tracks indicating the end of the line for the MS before the US 31 bridge. I think this was along the Keating Rd section. I think this was a mis-understanding over where the end of the MS trackage was, but since it never seemed disputed I suspect the Box Paper company never pursued the issue of service.

I don't recall the tracks still being in place and connected along Laketon in 2003, when I student taught in Muskegon. IIRC then there were only 3 customers. Did the tank farm last until the early 2000's? That I don't know.

[Ben Higdon]

The track along Laketon was still connected in 1995 and looked unused, the segment between Shaw and Simpson was in place but had been severed at road crossings by 2001