RailRoadFan.com

Thanks, guys!

Being gone by 1981 makes sense, because I started driving around 1982-83, and I was unable to find it then.

I have fuzzy memories from the late 1960s/early 1970s of my father driving me past the former Michigan Central roundhouse that used to stand facing Buchanan Street in Grand Rapids. It was north of Albany Street, but south of the Franklin Street overpass, across the street from what was then left of ...

The GTW yard arrangement between Plainfield/Leonard and Lafayette Streets can be seen on the Sanborn maps in the Library of Congress online collection, specifically at https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4114gm.g04023191201/?sp=56 This is the arrangement as of 1912, but from what I'm seeing, I don't think...

Back in college, we used to refer to anyone who loudly proclaimed an over-inflated view of their talents or accomplishments as a Zug Island Prom King (or Prom Queen). Especially in situations where the bar for competence was low.

I was surprised this year. I went in looking for exactly one thing (a Proto BL2 in Monon paint) and not really expecting to find it, but came away with a lot more. I'd figured that I'd catch up with the folks I usually talk to at the show, and that would be enough to make a good day of it. While I d...

Has anyone compiled a list of the excursions that the Bluewater Chapter NRHS ran?

I figure that I rode about a dozen, over the years, which didn't cover anywhere near the amount of rare mileage they ultimately managed to run over.

Nov. 30, 2019 - John R. Milhaupt, former Grand Rapids Herald and WOOD TV news photographer, owner of Colorama Studio and 20+ year Editor of West Michigan Railroad Historical Society Waybill , aged 90 in Grand Rapids, Mich. During his time with Robinson Studio in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he to...

Ron Sebastian, owner and proprietor of Des Plaines Hobbies (Des Plaines, Ill.) passed away suddenly Wednesday morning (Oct. 2), according to his daughter and as reported in several online modelers' discussion groups. No obituary has been posted at this writing. Ron was a former employee of All Natio...

Somewhere around here I have a scan of the photo Dad shot of the Christmas Eve fire that destroyed the YMCA at Wyoming Yard, but it is eluding me at the moment. The fire was believed to have been caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette that touched off paper in a wastebasket. The only fatality wa...

I'll miss them- they were the most reliable local-ish source I had for advance orders and special orders after Michigan Model Train Center closed.

The line between Baldwin and Kaleva, over the High Bridge, was removed starting in late 1955. All traffic north of Baldwin was then routed via Walhalla to Manistee, then back onto the original alignment from Kaleva northward to Traverse City and Petoskey. Passenger service north of Traverse City thr...

So, does anyone recall which month and year the tower was closed?

The Conrail trackage through downtown was pulled in 1985, so I gather it would have been some time after that.

I'm curious whether the caboose in Boyne City was at one time the purple caboose that used to sit about a quarter mile south of the Boyne City RR tracks, west of Boyne Falls.

I've always wondered what happened to that caboose. It had a yellow smiley face where the GTW herald would have been.

Caboose near Manchester I thought to be gone, was just hiding in the bushes http://www.railroadmichigan.com/cabmanchester2.jpg Is it just sitting on an isolated piece of track? It is behind someone's house. So, did they move it farther back on the property? It used to be very visible along M52, ver...

The sign at the street end of the lot says that it is "{something} and Mayfair's" auto parts and hi-performance shop.

There was a Mayfair's on Van Born Road in Taylor, east of the former Masco building, but I'm not convinced that's the place.

Adding a new connection to route the Pere Marquette into New Buffalo on the Amtrak Michigan Line, in addition to costing a lot of money for very little gain, would also require assigning the train ITCS-equipped locomotives, wouldn't it?

Sunday, November 25, Rails on Wheels is holding its annual Southeast Michigan Model Train Show and Sale at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds, between Ann Arbor and Saline, from 10am to 3pm. The show features over 125 sales tables offering model trains and railroadiana, as well as several operating ...

Just a little hint for promoting shows- it doesn't cost you anything to mention the date, time and location in your post here, rather than expecting people to follow a link to get basic details. 'not as bad as the guy who put ads all over the place for his club's show, with minimal information, and ...

Why did the Wabash/N&W/NS go through Ontario? To get to Buffalo and give themselves a longer haul of freight to and from the east coast than if they'd had to just hand it over to someone else at Detroit and Toledo. There's not a lot published about the Wabash/N&W/NS in Ontario. Most books on the Wab...

Sad to see this line falling to the wayside. These tracks east of DelRay where at one time the busiest rail in Detroit. 4 main lines with the center 2 for heavy passenger service from the Wabash, Per Marquette(C&O), and the Pennsylvania railroad. The line in 1936 had well over 45+ customers with in...