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Generally speaking the odd #'s are West or North and the even #'s South or East. However, these are merely symbols; all of them had a manifest "schedule" but were technically all extras. A few exceptions: FL14 and FL16 were considered eastbounds, so kept the even # even when they turned north at Ply...

Plymouth to MA Tower was CTC, MA Tower to North Lansing was NYC (later PC, later CR) rules, North Lansing to Ensel was D-251 (double track with block signals-current of traffic), Ensel to East end Lake Odessa was Timetable/Train Order with block signals and Lake Odessa to Seymour was CTC.

When the GTW took over operation of former PC trackage in the area, they also acquired a section of the track south of Paines to just beyond Swan Creek. Perhaps this was a way to keep TSBY from ever reaching Saginaw or establishing any kind of interchange with the C&O at Paines who had trackage righ...

Before CSX started using DTC in the last 80's, the single track between Ensel and east end Lake Odessa was train order territory with block signals. Since block signals in single track non-CTC territory do not authorize movement, train orders were issued at Ensel and Lake Odessa (or sometimes Alto o...

If you go to Michiganrailroads.com, click on RRHX, then on Railroads, then on Chessie System and look under "other information" you can see the 1981 freight schedule that shows all the symbols at that time along with origin and destination.

I worked the Saginaw side, so I can't really expound on the Plymouth Sub locals. Until we went CSX, the locals did not have symbols, just decriptive names. We had the Saginaw-Holly Local (turn), and road switchers that worked out of Grand Blanc, Wixom and Wayne. The Sag-PH Local was the "East Local"...

Elmdale Sub trains were 58 and 59 which were mostly through trains and were once scheduled 2nd class freights in the timetable. There were also 22 and 23 which usually set off and picked up at Greenville and Alma and did other local work not handled by the locals out of Greenville and Alma. When the...

Yes, the signal you refer to atop the yard office was the train order signal. It applied only to trains going straight through Plymouth, east or west. When I dispatched in Saginaw, trains coming off the Plymouth Sub destined north or south were required to get a Clearance Form A. Trains from Rougeme...

Hmmmm..I posted the photo of that signal in Vassar to show that the C&O signals were search lights...I know where it is..my question was to where the tri-light signal may have been..woops..a bit of miss-comunication on my part. Dave C I have a picture of me in 1976 standing in front of the Vassar D...

I lived in Davenport for 8 years, 1990 to 1998. From 1993 on I worked for the DRI Line on the Crescent Drawbridge and Bettendorf Yard office. After 1995, I worked on the bridge under BNSF. I never got to see any of the ICE equipment; it was SOO and then IMRL while I lived there. Lots of places to tr...

Aren't the "Z" trains usually trackage rights trains being operated by a qualified foreign line crew over CSX rails, and the "X" trains haulage foreign line trains operated by a CSX crew? Just speculating. I bid adios to CSX in 1988, so I'm "out of the loop!!!" Thanks to all for keeping me updated o...

Could it maybe be Plymouth on the Saginaw Sub just south of the diamond??

In the early 70's the C&O Old Main was intact all the way from McGrew to Atwood Jct and McGrew Yard sent their yard jobs that way which went right through downtown Flint. The City made a deal with the C&O that if they would eliminate their trackage downtown, they would help fund upgrading of the Fli...

Kearsley Tower used to stand right along Robert T. Longway where the GTW Old Main crossed the C&O. The street used to be Kearsley St., hence the station name. When I worked at Kearsley in 1970, the C&O was single track and we controlled both diamonds, the GTW "diverted" line south of Lapeer St. and ...