Port Inland Railroad

Anything pertaining to railfanning in Michigan.
CAT345C
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Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by CAT345C »

Somebody had asked on Michigan Railroads about the G&W Port Inland Operations. There is one public railroad crossing on the line that I know. Myself and nevets found it last year. From what I could tell they do a push pull operation with cars similar to what the LTV? used. Everything is run RCO.



All of these are taken from Public Property and State Land.
Over the Pit
Image

Shoving empty back to the pit
Image

Image


I highly advise that you do not try to find more areas to photograph this operation, we actually got lost twice back in there. During the week the numerous mine roads that are gated are opened and large haul trucks frequently cross. Its quite bizarre are to be out in the middle of the desolate U.P. and all of a sudden a large haul truck comes hauling out of the woods. Access to the bridge over the WC/CN is off limits. I highly suggest not wandering into the woods or off the road around this place they have a lot of security including border patrol as port inland is an international port.
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AARR
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by AARR »

Excellent report CAT. Thanks to you I do not have to risk my life railfanning this neat operation :) 8) . Those are SD26's, right? I believe the only other ones still in operation are on Pan Am.
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

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SD80MAC
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by SD80MAC »

AARR wrote:Excellent report CAT. Thanks to you I do not have to risk my life railfanning this neat operation :) 8) . Those are SD26's, right? I believe the only other ones still in operation are on Pan Am.
IIRC they're SD20's or some variety of rebuild.
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KC
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by KC »

Towards the bottom of this link are some Wisconsin Central photos I took in 2001 of the Port Inland operation.

http://webpages.charter.net/wclx/wcday.htm

Kelly

CAT345C
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by CAT345C »

Kelly, was it you that had the photos of the cedarville operation? That was a topic of discussion at an op session a few days ago and I had mentioned that I thought you had some shots from that railroad.
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KC
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by KC »

CAT345C, yes. I was there back in July of 2001.

http://railroadfan.com/gallery/thumbnai ... D&user1=on

Got permission to enter property and take photos, caught one train back to get loaded and at loader they had a problem and buried cars in tunnel. :(

Kelly
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Crow T Robot
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by Crow T Robot »

Just wondering was this somewhere around Quarry Rd? Went driving back there a year or two back the road I was on turned into a OTR Road...
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CAT345C
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by CAT345C »

I don't remember exactly how we got back there, but I believe looking on Bing maps, we came in off of US2 down CR433. At some point we ended up where the area called "Huntspur" is located. We followed Batty Doe Lake Rd for a pretty long ways until it became un-passable. Had I not traded in the 3/4ton for an explorer a few months earler we would have went farther.
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GLC 392
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by GLC 392 »

Time to leave the Durango and pile into the pick up! We probably would have found our way right to the docks.

GTW6401
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by GTW6401 »

The 83 is a former Chicago And Illinois Midland SD20, which ICG rebuilt from a Southern RR SD24.

A No.1
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by A No.1 »

Where is this place, The UP or something?
Mark it Zero.

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Crow T Robot
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by Crow T Robot »

In the UP nearest "city/town" is Gulliver south of that on Lake Michigan.
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GLC 392
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by GLC 392 »

If you type in Port Inland MI on bing maps it will take you right to the bridge over the WC and then you can follow the tracks to the mine or the docks.

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PAT.C
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

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atrainguy60
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by atrainguy60 »

Had no idea this little railroad even existed! I knew there was a line up their, but I always figured this was just a branch line owned by CN. I like the paint scheme.

wisconsincentral34
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by wisconsincentral34 »

Beautiful pics from an even more beautiful area of our state!

TrainWatcher
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by TrainWatcher »

Can't wait to go there!

atrainguy60
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by atrainguy60 »

Is this line busy, or are trains just every now and then? And also, are the trains scheduled?

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AARR
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by AARR »

atrainguy60 wrote:Is this line busy, or are trains just every now and then? And also, are the trains scheduled?
I think they only operate during the mining season wth one or two trainsets running back and forth between the pits and the docks. I would imagine they make a round trip every 3-4 hours or something like that.
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

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KC
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Re: Port Inland Railroad

Unread post by KC »

Heres a shot of the bridge over the Wisconsin Central mainline back when WC operated the line.

Image

Kelly

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