Penn Central, Jackson, Michigan. 1974

[railroadchoad]

Several months ago someone asked if things were really that bad during the Penn Central era. Indeed, from a financial point of view, things were bad. Just as they were bad from a physical plant and motive power perspective. However, if you were the type of person that liked a high volume of trains by Michigan standards, Jackson was the place to be. I am going to walk you through a typical day of train movements into, out of and through Jackson, Michigan as scheduled by Penn Central in 1974. This information is courtesy of the Canada Southern webpage. It comes from an entire book of freight schedules for the entire PC system that has been scanned onto the aforementioned website in the form of a PDF.

We are going to assume that this 1974 day is a perfect day upon which every train ran on time and thus, we will begin our 24 hours of train watching at Jackson at the West end of the yard at 0500 as JB-1 the daily job to Bay City leaves. After it is cleared by the car department to leave, it crosses Elm Street to head downtown to cross-over at XN by Jackson's venerable passenger station to head up the Lansing Branch toward Bay City. This job has its work cut out for it as it will largely ignore everything between Jackson and Lansing but will get busy in places like Laingsburg, Owosso, St. Charles and Saginaw along the way.

A half hour later, at 0530 the TL-2 trundles into the east end of the yard. This train has come from Toledo's Stanley yard and will eventually make its way to Lansing. First, it has a morning of block swapping and a re-crew before it finally leaves town at 1330.

Fifteen minutes later (0545) a train enters the east end of the yard fresh from Elkhart: EJ-2. Instead taking the direct route via the Air Line, this train has come by way of Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.

Things will remain pretty quiet for a couple of hours however at 0745 the BJ-1 (a very popular train with the gentlemen) comes into town after a long night working its way all the way from Bay City.

Assuming that today is not a Sunday, we will see, at the East end of the yard, the JA-2 leave for Ann Arbor at 0930. Its main purpose in life is to interchange with the Ann Arbor Railroad in its namesake city but also works Chelsea and Dexter along the way.

Not too long after the train to Ann Arbor has left, the CD-4 blows into town on the Air Line at 0950. This train has come from Chicago and is on its way to Detroit's Junction Yard. This train is full of auto parts, lumber, empty auto racks and sundry other goodies from western roads. It will swap some blocks and get a fresh crew before it leaves town at 1035.

If today is a Monday or a Thursday, RJ-4, better known as the "Valley Local" will have arrived from Grand Rapids at 1000. It has spent the wee morning hours making its way across track that has seen better days through towns like Middleville, Hastings, Charlotte, Eaton Rapids and Onondaga, to name a few. On Mondays and Thursdays this train leaves Jackson to head toward Grand Rapids at this same time.

At 1000, while the Valley Local was sneaking into the West end of the yard, a train known as JT-1 was heading out of the East end on its way to Toledo's Stanley Yard.

At 1015 a train leaves the West end of Jackson Yard to head for Kalamazoo and turn back every Wednesday and Sunday. It is known as JK-1. It has a counterpart that comes from Kalamazoo and turns back every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. That train carries the symbol KN-1/NK-2 and is due into Jackson at 1400.

Though its symbol would imply that it originates in Detroit and goes to Chicago, DC-7 (not an aircraft) leaves Jackson at 1130 and heads down the Air Line to terminate at Elkhart. The crews that manned these Air Line trains were reportedly very motivated to get the train to Elkhart in an expedient manner. Doing so could often mean a quick turn at Elkhart on a train back to Jackson thereby allowing them to get two payslips for a day's work.

The track inspectors can work their way through town for an hour and a half, or so, when the DC-1 stops at the cinder path at 1258. Its stay is just long enough to change crews and depart two minutes later. This train, which originated at Detroit's Junction Yard, will take the Air Line to Elkhart on its way to Chicago.

After the DC-1 left town, things really quiet in Jackson for quite a while. Though it is important to note that the turn from Kalamazoo was scheduled to come into town at 1400 and leave when it was ready to do so and the turn to Ann Arbor could get back into Jackson at any undetermined time during the afternoon or evening hours. Add to this the fact that there were Amtrak trains in each direction during the afternoon hours and it probably was not as quiet as it seems!

At 1700, any silence there may have been outside of the yard jobs drilling the seemingly endless supply of cars in the depths of Jackson Yard is shattered. The BM-7 has arrived at the cinder path on its way from Rotterdam Jct., NY to Elkhart, IN. It has come across Southern Ontario on the Canada Southern and will make its way to Elkhart by way of the Air Line. The Air Line has really earned its keep the last few hours.

An hour later, another train from Toledo slides into the East end of Jackson Yard. TJ-2 has arrived at 1800 on its daily treck from the "Glass City."

The dispatcher has quite the moves to orchestrate at 2000 as the evening rush sets in around Jackson. He somehow needs to get the Westbound DJ-1, which has come from Junction Yard in Detroit into the east end of the Jackson Yard at the same time the TV-16, a hot van train, is due into town from Kalamazoo on its way to North Bergen, NJ via the Canada Southern.

An hour later, at 2100, the LJ-4 slides out of town on its daily turn to Lansing and back. It does work in places like Leslie, Mason, Holt and Lansing's south side.

It is now 2130 and ND-4 has just come up the Air Line from Elkhart on its way to Detroit and will dwell in the yard for an hour while it changes crews and swaps blocks. Meanwhile, the LJ-2 is also looking to get into the yard after its short trip from Lansing. It probably met the northbound local that just left Jackson up at Rives Junction, where the double track ends. While all of this is going on, the BF-4 is departing for Cincinnati. It will go through Toledo's Stanley Yard as well as do work at Bellefontaine (not pronounced as it is spelled, Michiganders) on its way to the Queen City.

An hour later, The JE-1 departs Jackson and heads for Elkhart via Kalamazoo. It will work Kalamazoo along the way. At the same time, the ND-4 is ready to continue its trip to Junction Yard by slipping under the US-127 overpass at the east yard throat and getting onto the Mainline.

By now there is only one regularly scheduled freight train due into Jackson to round out the day. If the TV-51 is running on time on its way from Detroit, it pulls up to the cinder path at 2359 and changes crews. It promptly storms out of town down the Air Line. Thus draws to a close another busy day of railroading by Penn Central in Jackson, Michigan in 1974.

There was one regularly scheduled train per week that I didn't mention in this digest and that is the local known as AL-1/2, the Air Line local. It would depart Jackson every Saturday at 0800 and work as far as Centerville and turn back. There were a few agricultural fertilizer dealers and small elevators at a few communities along the Air Line and they would get service any day of the week that they wanted it as long as it was Saturday!

Another train exists in the Penn Central freight schedules from 1974: JD-4. This was an "as needed" road train to Detroit's Junction Yard. It probably existed to move "hot" cars or was called during times of excessive traffic to help clear Jackson out.

Add to this the yard jobs that worked both the east and west ends of the yard around the clock and you can get a good idea of just how many railroaders were kept busy in Jackson in those days.

Also not mentioned in this essay were the Amtrak trains which called on the depot in Jackson. In 1974 the passenger trains were crewed by the host railroads and Jackson was a crew change point. I believe there were two Amtrak trains in each direction as well as the morning commuter train to Detroit that came back in the evening. The commuter runs only ran Monday through Friday.

So, was it really that bad on Penn Central? It wasn't ALL weedy branchlines and pathetic looking freight trains!














I

[AARR]

Thanks for posting rrchoad. I enjoy reading about train operations!

[AC60CW]

Really enjoyed reading the whole thing, I usually don't read long posts. But this one really caught my attention. Probably because I lived and grew up in Jackson from 1978 until 2001. I only knew one person who had a father that worked on the railroad there. He retired in mid to late 90's I believe. Really wish I could have enjoys the railroad more as a child growing up.

[Ben Higdon]

Thanks for the outline of daily operations there, I love reading that sort of thing for Michigan railroading. The PC symbols are always kind of difficult to follow though. It seems as if some symbols were kept the same even while the trains origin or termination point changed. For example, DC7 running from Jackson to Elkhart...perhaps the train ran Detroit to Chicago when it was assigned that symbol, and at some point the route was shortened? Similarly, ND4 ran Elkhart to Detroit. I've wondered if it was originally a Niles to Detroit train, with its home terminal having been changed to Elkhart when the last road trains were removed from Niles.

[SW]

Nice read. Thanks for all the details.

[bdconrail29]

Thanks for the outline of daily operations there, I love reading that sort of thing for Michigan railroading. The PC symbols are always kind of difficult to follow though. It seems as if some symbols were kept the same even while the trains origin or termination point changed. For example, DC7 running from Jackson to Elkhart...perhaps the train ran Detroit to Chicago when it was assigned that symbol, and at some point the route was shortened? Similarly, ND4 ran Elkhart to Detroit. I've wondered if it was originally a Niles to Detroit train, with its home terminal having been changed to Elkhart when the last road trains were removed from Niles.

Well, yes and no. Not all symbols on the PRR and PC denoted origination/destination. Consider DJ-3 on the Panhandle, that ran from Dickinson, WV to the L&N at DeCoursey Yard near Cincinnati. DJ meant "Dixie Jet" and was not an origination/destination deal. CR kept this symbol until the alpha-numeric design in 1978. The symbols you mention though, no doubt are what you are suggesting: layover symbols that DID include origination/destination. On the Big 4 PC was still running NY-8 from St. Louis to Selkirk as well as SLX-1 from Selkirk to St. Louis. Obviously layover NYC symbols.

I think today it's worse though, especially on NS.

[railroadchoad]

Moving to the top for Big Frank.

[hoborich]

When I worked for the GTW at Pontiac, we had a daily, Mon thru Fri Jackson local, that ran from Pontiac to Jackson and back. We interchanged our NYCs at Jackson. I have no idea where it fit into their operations. The assigned loco was an Alco RS-1, #1951.

http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/P ... lbum61.htm

[SousaKerry]

I was wondering about the GTW, Also was there any traffic going south to Cement City at that point or was that gone by then? I know that the Jackson branch between Jackson and Clinton was torn up in 65'.

[AARR]

GTW operated a daily turn out of Pontiac usually using one of the RS1's.

I was wondering about the GTW, Also was there any traffic going south to Cement City at that point or was that gone by then? I know that the Jackson branch between Jackson and Clinton was torn up in 65'.