Quick Trip Down to Kalamazoo

[Railfanjunction]

With word of BO Tower closing in the near future and a free morning yesterday, I headed down to Kalamazoo before sunrise to try and get some shots of the tower and anything I could find on the CN and Amtrak lines through the area. Arriving in Kalamazoo around 6:30 after an hour drive from Grand Rapids (I think I woke up at 4:15, I really don't remember) I got my bearings for the tower's location and tried to get some long exposures of the tower before the sun rose. Unfortunately it also was raining my entire time down there so a lot of the shots didn't turn out because of rain drops. All I'll say to that is, I've never had that problem in California.

After the sun rose, and I walked downtown for a few minutes, I headed down to Schoolcraft to get some action on the CN (after incorrectly assuming that the Grand Elk's road train to Elkhart would be operating on the weekend) and barely missed an eastbound behind a pair of tier 4 GEVO's. A short while later another eastbound passed through, and then a westbound came with two SD75's leading a GEVO. I then raced back up to Kalamazoo to catch a Wolverine service train and the Blue Water, both while it was raining pretty hard. While thanking myself about investing in weather-sealed cameras, I drove back south to Vicksburg to catch one more CN train before calling it a day and heading back north.

This was more or less a scouting trip for next Saturday. I'm hoping to head back to the CN line south of Kalamazoo then and spend an entire day along it and/or the Chicago line, depending on what's happening in the area. Gotta get those fall colors while you can! And now, the photos.

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BO tower stands sentinel before sunrise in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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An eastbound CN manifest crosses the Grand Elk Railroad diamonds in Schoolcraft, Michigan.

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A few minutes later, another CN manifest passes by the Schoolcraft depot.

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In Kalamazoo, an Amtrak Wolverine service train heads out of the station.

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Another Amtrak train heads through Kalamazoo, passing by BO tower.

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In Vicksburg, Michigan, a westbound CN intermodal train heads through town.

Thanks for looking!
http://www.z-trains.com

[Saturnalia]

Nice set of exposures, despite the rain!