The day dawned heading south on US-131 from Grand Rapids noting a short line of tank cars at Nutrien Industries in Moline. As the sun crested the horizon, I spied the former GTW GP9 high hood profile standing sentinel at the north end of the loop in Wayland. No detours till past Kalamazoo, where at Schoolcraft I did a quick loop around to the east side of the CN diamond just to check the signals. All red for westbounds. This isn’t news, but the long-cut spur into the cement plant east of the diamond is still there, peeking through the weeds. CN maintainers were just setting up at the bungalows east of the diamond and also at the 131 crossing, where the eastbound (and Elk southbound) signals were all red.
South of Schoolcraft, several industries can be seen from the highway. J Rettenmaier’s huge expansion means you can no longer readily see their spur tracks. Van Beek was empty (not a surprise), and I noted just a single tankcar on the former Co-Alliance spur (now rebranded as Keystone). Wilbur Ellis also appeared to be empty from what I could see. I could also see the end of a boxcar at the dock at International Paper in Three Rivers but couldn’t see how many were in there. This is the last customer served off the remainder of the Air Line on the south side of town.
I had arrived early for my work appointment and had an extra hour to kill, which allowed for a loop down to White Pigeon and back. I explored the Station Street/Depot Street area of Constantine, and the winding industry spur to OX Engineering. Not easy to see any freight cars on their spur, but the fall colors along that spur are exceptional. I found out later I was basically following the Grand Elk southbound road freight all the way down!
I did a complete circuit of White Pigeon around 10:15. 4 boxcars and a single covered hopper were parked near the depot in town. PREX geep 1603 was slumbering near the old Morris engine house. A pair of NS three bay hoppers were parked on the lead to the old northeast wye track to unload coke. The transload on the wye was jammed with covered hoppers. No sign of PREX 1616 or any cabooses. At the MSO-GDLK interchange along 131, I noted 4 more boxcars, a mix of the fading gray standards and a Railbox high cube. The lumber yard spur along 131 was empty.
Time was ticking, so I hustled back to Three Rivers and took care of my work appointment. No trains passed through during this time; I was within earshot of the tracks. My appointment concluded several hours later, and it was back to White Pigeon and possibly Sturgis to try to find the MSO. Turns out, at this point while I was away from the tracks heading south I missed the GDLK freight heading north, but it was just the pair of light engines - weird that Elkhart had nothing ready for them to pickup. I looped White Pigeon again, this time on the reverse path. Now, the interchange at US-131 was jammed with a long line of cars, a tankcar, 6 or more boxcars, the two Coke hoppers, and an unknown number of covered hoppers. In town, the 4 boxcars from the interchange in the morning had been brought down near the elevator and now 8 were ready to go to Sturgis. Other White Pigeon cars had also moved, as covered hoppers were rearranged and the Coke cars obviously went to the interchange. 1616 was now sitting on the main near the old WP Paper spur switch. OX engineering uses this old mill now and it is open, but no longer uses rail. No sign of an crew vehicles at the MSO yard office, so I think they were done for the day. No need to head to Sturgis.
But hey, there’s a new spur in White Pigeon! Check out this last photo for a southwest view from the Elkhart Street crossing. The building and the spur don’t even exist in Google Maps yet (although the building foundations are in). I’m not sure who the customer is….but there are covered hoppers in this track!
