RailRoadFan.com

I don't know if this is the spot to post introductions as I didn't see a specific section for that.

Anyways the name is G-Root (nickname) I'm a rail fan out of West, MI. I've loved trains my whole life and have been finally getting into actually going out and watching trains and recording footage of them for my youtube channel. Wanted to start a hobby and well this is it lol. I purchased a scanner recently to mount in my car and an antenna for it as well.

To start things off this weekend I'm planning a rail day for me. I want to start in Grand Rapids MI followed by Lansing, MI then off to Durand, MI and finally land up in Plymouth, MI.

My problem is I'm having a hard time finding information on what I can chase on the Plymouth Sub out of Grand Rapids and heading to Detroit. From what I gather it would be small pickings as it seems like that main line has seen less traffic over the years. From what I've been reading is most of the good trains travel at night but I wanted to know if anything travels during the day especially on a Saturday or Sunday.

Currently Saturday is off the hook for the rail day because my friend I was going to meet up had to move our plans to Sunday.

So my plan was to catch Amtrak 370 leaving GR and chase him through Grandville, Hudsonville, and then Holland. After that I wanted to head out to Lansing and see if I can get action. I know Sunday Durand would still be good because Durand sees at least 30 trains a day and is primarily CN and HESR. Then since I'm meeting up with a friend I wanted to head out to Plymouth and see what I can catch there.

So if anyone has any information to help me out with this it would be much appreciated.

That's gonna be a lot for a single day!

Amtrak you should have no problems with. After that go straight to Lansing and watch the heads up thread for CSX Q329 - likely your only candidate on the CSX side between GR and Plymouth during the midday. Durand will be Durand - might be nonstop or you might get to watch the rails rust. Similarly with Plymouth.

Saturnalia wrote:That's gonna be a lot for a single day!

Amtrak you should have no problems with. After that go straight to Lansing and watch the heads up thread for CSX Q329 - likely your only candidate on the CSX side between GR and Plymouth during the midday. Durand will be Durand - might be nonstop or you might get to watch the rails rust. Similarly with Plymouth.

Yeah it will be a ton for a single day. Been wanting to do this and pretty much after catching Amtrak I was gonna head straight for Lansing. I'm hoping I get some luck in Durand as it been a long time since I've seen a CN train let alone a HESR train. Last time I seen a HESR train was when I lived in Midland and caught the DOW Chemical Death train at night. (Called Death Train by locals because of the chemicals it carried and a derailment not to far from Midland that happened years ago.)