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Thought this might interest some of us. This video shows Amtrak P373, the Sunday-only version of the westbound Pere Marquette that ran for a while in the 90s, arriving at Bangor. Cool things of note are the F40PH, the 3 Superliners along with an old ex Santa Fe high-level "El Capitan" car brining up the rear, and the old house track with the dwarf signal protecting it. P373 left Grand Rapids a few hours later than P371 normally would, which is why it ran with a different number.

Dwarf signal at an electrically-locked switch. We had a few of those on the Ludington Sub CTC. Elevator track at Freeland and switch from Mt Pleasant branch at Coleman come to mind. Scottville, too, I believe.

Dwarf signal at the GRE connection at Fuller...ask the dispatcher for a better signal then stop? "What dwarf signal?" "The absolute one here on the interchange track." "I have no idea what you're talking about."

And Perrigo in Allegan used to get boxcars of bagged talc for their pharmacutical plant on the house track in the 90's. B&M and MEC cars IIRC.

The team track in Williamston and the interchange track at Ann Pere also have little dwarfs like that.

Doktor No wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 20, 2021 5:26 pm

And Perrigo in Allegan used to get boxcars of bagged talc for their pharmacutical plant on the house track in the 90's. B&M and MEC cars IIRC.

Thank you for that lead, that is very very useful information! There is another company in the area that gets talc, but they truck it all in unfortunately.

Mike H

Is that the same kind of dwarf signal as the one that protects the grain elevator lead from WE Fowlerville just east of the Grand Ave crossing?

On another topic, being an east sider, I only recall one encounter with the Pere Marquette in the 1990s, when I somehow convinced my dad that we should get up super early to see the westbound train board and depart Grand Rapids in 1995, while visiting my grandparents. This may even have been the era when the train only ran 4 days per week. Either way, we got to the Grand Rapids depot a little early and found the train stopped just north of Market, where my dad took a photo for me. The consist was F40PH 330 and 3 Horizon coaches.....the same dang stuff we could see at our Dearborn station at home any time! I wish it had had Superliners......and a Hi Level, then!

Cool video, it's neat to compare then and now in Bangor. The depot modernization has been a major benefit even if it changed the look and feel of the building a bit. Sad the house track is long gone, but the reactivated elevator building makes a good photo prop. Even the pole line along Railroad Street is still there, just minus the code line poles. I still think its a worthwhile place to visit, but it's better if you know a train is coming.

Thanks for linking this video!