CN Ex-Soo Line Upper Peninsula question

[Toppysager]

Hey everyone. Currently enjoying Labor Day weekend up at Indian lake near Manistique, MI. I don't have many plans for railroad stuff, but given the chance I was interested in checking out CN's line through town. I have researched thr CN Ex-Soo Escanaba to Sault Ste Marie line through Manistique, and have yielded few results. I heard about the local paper mill going bankrupt a few years ago, but it appeared to have a cut of cars. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone could give me any background on this seemingly lightly used line, and what activity is like these days. Any help is appreciated!

[AARR]

I think (from what I've read) the east bound manifest will go through mid afternoon (3pmish) and come back west late in the evening (11pmish)

A local from Gladstone also works the line but I'm not sure of the time

[Toppysager]

I think (from what I've read) the east bound manifest will go through mid afternoon (3pmish) and come back west late in the evening (11pmish)

A local from Gladstone also works the line but I'm not sure of the time

Ahh sweet thanks! I just heard something about 20 minutes ago. I imagine that was the EB manifest. Do you know the radio frequencies by chance?

[Jim_c]

Radiorefence,com lists 160.335 as the most likely.

You can always listen on 452.9375 for the HOT device.

[Doktor No]

AAR Channel 10 is used. 160.260 last time I was up there. Watched em switch Quinnesec Paper and they used that channel.

[Toppysager]

Are L550/L551 the through-trains?

[Saturnalia]

Are L550/L551 the through-trains?

Yes, L551 EB and L550 WB.

L543 and L544 are the Gladstone-Trout Lake and Trout Lake-Gladstone locals, respectively. Generally L544 departs Trout Lake around 1500-1600 and meets L551 at Trout Lake or Gilchrist. I'm not sure where the traditional meeting points are for L543 and L550, but I imagine it is towards the Gladstone end of the line.

L550 and L551 make no stops, except when needed to meet the locals.

Everything is daily.

[Toppysager]

Are L550/L551 the through-trains?

Yes, L551 EB and L550 WB.

L543 and L544 are the Gladstone-Trout Lake and Trout Lake-Gladstone locals, respectively. Generally L544 departs Trout Lake around 1500-1600 and meets L551 at Trout Lake or Gilchrist. I'm not sure where the traditional meeting points are for L543 and L550, but I imagine it is towards the Gladstone end of the line.

L550 and L551 make no stops, except when needed to meet the locals.

Everything is daily.

Thanks this is quite helpful!

[chapmaja]

Ok, I want to make sure that I understand the operations correctly in the UP for CN.

Starting in Gladstone / Escanaba.

CN has a train that runs Gladstone SSM is L551 which departs mid-afternoon. This is a through run to SSM with no switching between the origin and destination.

Also is L550, which is the return version of L551 running SSM to Gladstone.

Are those two daily trains?

Next we have L543 which runs Gladstone to Trout Lake and its return version which is L544 which is Trout Lake to Gladstone.

What train runs the traffic from Trout Lake to Munising?

What train serves the Verso mill in Escanaba? What is the traffic from this mill? It appears to be a pretty substantial shipper based on Google Maps.

Also, CN also runs to Marquette (and beyond) from Gladstone / Escanaba. What trains run on this route?

What about heading west from Escanaba/Gladstone? At Power's the line to Green Bay splits and goes south. What trains run this line?

[Saturnalia]

Jump over to this thread, which I created last year detailing many of the operations in the UP. I'll expand it now to include what I've learned since, including much of what you just asked. Not to kill this thread, but I don't feel it's worth duplicating what I already wrote

Link: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=34204#p366306

You'll see it over there updated when I bump it, shortly.

Probably about time I work on those LS&I and MRA Wiki pages, as well.