Boxcar left on the main?

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The_Duke_of_Ted
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:38 pm

Boxcar left on the main?

Unread post by The_Duke_of_Ted »

Hi guys! First post here, looking forward to being a part of this awesome community.

Recently I was driving on I-96 over the Marquette Rail mainline and happened to glance at the Professional Metal Finishers spur. In this image, you can see the spur on the left with a hopper and one or possibly two boxcars spotted, and the main extending off into the distance. On the day I drove by, the spur was empty, there was a boxcar left on the main, and Marquette Rail Z151 was nowhere in sight, having gone north for the day. I'm pretty new to railfanning so this seemed really odd to me and I can't get it out of my head. Can somebody help me make sense of it? I'm not aware of any other traffic on that line unless the guys at Padnos took their critter for a joyride (although I'm not sure how to look that up apart from randomly googling), so is this SOP to leave the boxcar there? Would Z151 push it in when they came south again the next morning, or would the customer move it? Or was it a mistake?

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SD80MAC
Ingersoll's Mr. Michigan
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Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2005 4:59 pm
Location: Grand Rapids

Re: Boxcar left on the main?

Unread post by SD80MAC »

That spur is for Van's Logistics. They (MQT Z151) probably left the boxcar on the mainline as an off-spot, as in perhaps Van's wasn't ready for it. The next day's train likely pushed it into the spur for unloading.
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The_Duke_of_Ted
Railroadfan...fan
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:38 pm

Re: Boxcar left on the main?

Unread post by The_Duke_of_Ted »

Makes sense. Thanks!

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