A chase of a true 1990’s lashup - Battle Creek and Climax, Michigan

[David Collins]

https://youtu.be/npbz11d7HMI?si=lqbqG4F4dXP8-6vM

One of many trains from a 12 hour day in Battle Creek with rrfan user RoyalKingOfTheRails and two others. That trip report is separate and coming soon, this one definitely deserves it’s own but will also be mentioned in the full one.

(0:00)

Me and the three other guys were on the platform at the Battle Creek Amtrak station when we got word that CN L521 was about to blast off out of Battle Creek’s yard, but with (as my friend put it on snapchat) “a lashup on crack”. That pretty much sums it up, Grand Trunk paint GP38AC #5847 and CN SD40-2W #5286 (in really beat up zebra stripe livery).

We had waited for no more than about 30 minutes when the 521 got his signal out of BC, not much more than 10 minutes later, it showed up. L521 is the Battle Creek-South Bend local, I’m not sure if it’s a turn (it might be) or if it’s just a one way haul, I’ve heard both awnsers from multiple people. The engineer from the train I rode in on that day (Amtrak 365) was out on the platform taking some video too, as he is a railfan himself.


(1:25)

This was supposed to be a train me and one of the other guys that was with us were going to pace out of Battle Creek, but we managed to hit every red light imaginable out of Battle Creek heading west. Me and me friend gave his absolutely clapped out impala everything it could have (legally) and managed to catch up with 521, beating it by a matter of seconds to Climax, Michigan. I had no tripod or stabilization for this shot so the video is a bit shaky, my apologies for that.

That’s all for this report, more to come soon!

[GP30M4216]

Wow! Great lashup and video! It’s rare to find GTW blue leading a train on the mainline these days and I enjoy the hand me down Canadian surprises like that wide cab SD once mostly captive in Canada. Your videos are improving! Great work!