Kinney Spur and Penn Junction
Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:14 pm
Much like AARR on the subject of the D&M flagging out traffic at Mackinac City, I posted the Kinney Spur & Penn Junction info on MichiganRailroad,.com in response to the discussion on a thread there. Since that Board doesn't 't have a search feature or an archive, I'm posing the same info here for "eternity"
Kinney Spur & Penn Junction
Last week Joel posted a picture showing a tower at the GR&I bridge over the GTW east of what was called Penn Junction in recent years. That was the first time I’ve heard or seen evidence of a tower at that location. I have copies of the GT Val maps for that area and I never noticed a notation for a tower. I looked again and there is no notation for a past tower.
As I posted previously, I went "flying" this past week for the following years (1938, 1954, 1963, 1978 and 1984) over the Kinney Spur. The tower may have been there in 1938, the resolution of the photos isn’t very good so I can’t say one way or the other. The tower definitely is there in 1954. It’s gone in 1963 and the grade under the bridge is being used to access a sand/gravel pit adjacent to the recently constructed I-96 freeway. Interestingly the val map indicates signals for eat bound and westbound approaching the switch at Penn Junction. The map shows an alignment for an eastbound to northbound track but does not indicate it was ever built.
Yesterday I walked the C&M RWY from 4 Mile to Penn Junction, then I walked the connector grade to the old GR&I grade and then on to the Muskatawa Trailhead at 8th Avenue. I did so as the project manager for the Musketawa / White Pine Connector with permission of the property owners. (I’d ask you not duplicate my hike until it becomes a public trail. One of the property owners is not friendly). I found at the location of the switch point, what appears to be a piece of a mechanism for control rods, sticking up out of the snow. It does appear the tower could control the distant switch.
The thread also included some discussion of activity on the old Kinney Spur. The track was the GR&I track to Muskegon. The GTW obtained trackage rights in 1946 north of Penn Junction to access the ferry docks in Muskegon after they abandoned the old TS&M from Muskegon to Ashley. They bought it at the formation of Conrail in 1976. The track from Grand Rapids was severed during the construction of I-96 in 1961-62.
There not a spur at Kinney in 1954. By 1963 there was a long narrow building in the ROW. It’s hard to tell if there’s a siding but I doubt it since in 1978, the photos show unloading the lumber cars on the main. Eberhard’s building on 3 Mile Road is not there in 1978 but shows up in 1984. It’s hard to tell how thy switched Eberhard’s. From the “new stone” visible, there might have been a couple car siding east of Kinney but more likely there was a 3 car “stub” of the old main left as the new siding was placed east of the old grade, crossed 3 Mile and entered the building.
There is a team track west of Bristol Avenue in 1954 on the north side. (I can see 2 cars on it). It was gone in 1963. Farmer Peets never had a siding. It used locally produced livestock for locally delivered meat. Darling Rendering had a “facility” east of Bristol on the north side. No siding there either.
Further east was the Michigan Plating facility where Padnos is today. There was a switch west of Alpine on the north side of the creek for a track into the plant from the west. There was a track into the east side of the plant off the GR&I main. There was a siding from the east into the bulk plant, which today is Crystal Flash property. There was another siding into the property south of there but there did not appear to be any “recent” customer.
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Kinney Spur & Penn Junction
Last week Joel posted a picture showing a tower at the GR&I bridge over the GTW east of what was called Penn Junction in recent years. That was the first time I’ve heard or seen evidence of a tower at that location. I have copies of the GT Val maps for that area and I never noticed a notation for a tower. I looked again and there is no notation for a past tower.
As I posted previously, I went "flying" this past week for the following years (1938, 1954, 1963, 1978 and 1984) over the Kinney Spur. The tower may have been there in 1938, the resolution of the photos isn’t very good so I can’t say one way or the other. The tower definitely is there in 1954. It’s gone in 1963 and the grade under the bridge is being used to access a sand/gravel pit adjacent to the recently constructed I-96 freeway. Interestingly the val map indicates signals for eat bound and westbound approaching the switch at Penn Junction. The map shows an alignment for an eastbound to northbound track but does not indicate it was ever built.
Yesterday I walked the C&M RWY from 4 Mile to Penn Junction, then I walked the connector grade to the old GR&I grade and then on to the Muskatawa Trailhead at 8th Avenue. I did so as the project manager for the Musketawa / White Pine Connector with permission of the property owners. (I’d ask you not duplicate my hike until it becomes a public trail. One of the property owners is not friendly). I found at the location of the switch point, what appears to be a piece of a mechanism for control rods, sticking up out of the snow. It does appear the tower could control the distant switch.
The thread also included some discussion of activity on the old Kinney Spur. The track was the GR&I track to Muskegon. The GTW obtained trackage rights in 1946 north of Penn Junction to access the ferry docks in Muskegon after they abandoned the old TS&M from Muskegon to Ashley. They bought it at the formation of Conrail in 1976. The track from Grand Rapids was severed during the construction of I-96 in 1961-62.
There not a spur at Kinney in 1954. By 1963 there was a long narrow building in the ROW. It’s hard to tell if there’s a siding but I doubt it since in 1978, the photos show unloading the lumber cars on the main. Eberhard’s building on 3 Mile Road is not there in 1978 but shows up in 1984. It’s hard to tell how thy switched Eberhard’s. From the “new stone” visible, there might have been a couple car siding east of Kinney but more likely there was a 3 car “stub” of the old main left as the new siding was placed east of the old grade, crossed 3 Mile and entered the building.
There is a team track west of Bristol Avenue in 1954 on the north side. (I can see 2 cars on it). It was gone in 1963. Farmer Peets never had a siding. It used locally produced livestock for locally delivered meat. Darling Rendering had a “facility” east of Bristol on the north side. No siding there either.
Further east was the Michigan Plating facility where Padnos is today. There was a switch west of Alpine on the north side of the creek for a track into the plant from the west. There was a track into the east side of the plant off the GR&I main. There was a siding from the east into the bulk plant, which today is Crystal Flash property. There was another siding into the property south of there but there did not appear to be any “recent” customer.