GDLK Operations

[Super Chief]

302 & 303 are at CP Park now with 5 units,4189 &4125 nb ,4190,4206 & 4124 sb. 2 pickup trucks and 2 employees throwing the switch by hand. Big time railroading on a Sunday no less.
Switch must be froze as its 10degrees here with a strady west wind. Crew has got the switch crank inserted and both guys are heaving with all there might.

[ThreeRiversChris]

Both trains are still in the same spots at 4:20. It's like a showdown. No maintainer yet...

[NSSD70ACe]

302 & 303 are at CP Park now with 5 units,4189 &4125 nb ,4190,4206 & 4124 sb. 2 pickup trucks and 2 employees throwing the switch by hand. Big time railroading on a Sunday no less.
Switch must be froze as its 10degrees here with a strady west wind. Crew has got the switch crank inserted and both guys are heaving with all there might.

Forgive me, but what is 303 doing at CP Park? Thought they went GR-AZO-GR?

[David Lang]

Speaking of the Grand Elk Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo Train (I'm new to the Kzoo area (again) and don't know everything about the Elk, but am learning)...

Anyway...has the Grand Elk considered putting in a new Wye from the Amtrak North Main track to the GR&I so the Kalamazoo - Grand Rapids train would no longer need to back into the yard???? I think this is a very good idea. Looking at Google Maps however, they probably would have to take out part of that parking lot to make it happen.

Just curious. Thanks.

David Lang

[Super Chief]

Forgive me, but what is 303 doing at CP Park? Thought they went GR-AZO-GR?[/quote]
As I posted previously 302 & 303 are crew numbers. 5 SD-40s with 2 trains has to have 2 crews. They dispatch them (Watco) to wherever it benefits the railroad so its not a set in stone location assignment. On normal days yes location location. On abnormal days train sitting at CP95 for two days needs to have a crew move it. If it wasn't a grain extra going into Elkhart chances are it was 303 sitting to go north. 302 was going south and they met at Park.So when the crews report for on call they receive a number for the job. I will correct my previous post 503 has been used on occasion and that crew will go any direction. This railroad is like a chess game movements any direction and any crew number will be heard on the scanner moving the trains.

[NSSD70ACe]

As I posted previously 302 & 303 are crew numbers. 5 SD-40s with 2 trains has to have 2 crews. They dispatch them (Watco) to wherever it benefits the railroad so its not a set in stone location assignment. On normal days yes location location. On abnormal days train sitting at CP95 for two days needs to have a crew move it. If it wasn't a grain extra going into Elkhart chances are it was 303 sitting to go north. 302 was going south and they met at Park.So when the crews report for on call they receive a number for the job. I will correct my previous post 503 has been used on occasion and that crew will go any direction. This railroad is like a chess game movements any direction and any crew number will be heard on the scanner moving the trains.

Right, I remember reading that. What you meant didn't fully set into my mind. My apologies.

EDIT: In response to David Lang's question, I don't remember hearing about any actual plans for an AZO-GR train, as US-131 takes all the competition (using an argument from the last debate that occurred on this board about it).

[PatAzo]

Anyway...has the Grand Elk considered putting in a new Wye from the Amtrak North Main track to the GR&I so the Kalamazoo - Grand Rapids train would no longer need to back into the yard???? I think this is a very good idea. Looking at Google Maps however, they probably would have to take out part of that parking lot to make it happen.
David Lang

Other than the conductors who ride the rear end, probably not. Aside from getting the parking lot away from Bells they would have to pay Amtrak to add cross overs to reach Gerhart. Amtrak pulled the View crossover out last summer. It takes about a half hour extra to back in or out. There isn't much payback for a short line. More likely would be the city wanting to consolidate track. Ideal would be to swing the GR&I over to the old LS&MS north of Graphic Packaging. Then add a connection through the lot next to BO and of course get Amtrak to put in a cross over. Then pull the unused GR&I up.

Backing in and out of the yard goes way back. The connection at BO used to be on the opposite side of Picther St. going through what is now Bell's. Trains between Kalamazoo and Elkhart used to back in or out.

[GAP]

The trains between Elkhart and Kalamazoo (EK-1 and KE-2) started back in the early 1960sand the were often very long trains. The longest I saw was 179 cars but I've heard of longer. Often they were 150+ and sometimes used helpers on the rear to get up the grade southward. They would back westward out of Botsford stopping street traffic and the reverse eastward turning south and stopping street traffic going south. This often happened somewhere between 6 and 8 a.m. so it became a real traffic snarl at times. Sometimes the train would back all the way west to clear VandeGuissen Road (now Howard Street) and set a while to let downtown Kalamazoo clear out before they came back thru town again towards Elkhart. Those were the days....

[Super Chief]

Elkhart dispatcher just told Grand Elk 101 crew to grab their train and go north per GTW.

[Ben Higdon]

More likely would be the city wanting to consolidate track. Ideal would be to swing the GR&I over to the old LS&MS north of Graphic Packaging. Then add a connection through the lot next to BO and of course get Amtrak to put in a cross over. Then pull the unused GR&I up.

There was a proposal at one point, must have been early 80s, to consolidate the north-south crossings at BO into a single track crossing the main line on the CK&S ROW. I had an actual map detailing this, which was probably my best piece of railroad memorabilia and I misplaced it eight years ago and haven't turned it up since. My dad was purchasing manager at Georgia Pacific and the map made it into his possession somehow as it would have impacted their traffic routing with GTW. The interlocking was noted as "KZ" interlocking, and would have had connections in the SE and NE quadrants. A single ROW cut north from Gibson St to the CK&S crossing Michigan Ave. Traffic to Grand Rapids would have followed the CK&S to Patterson St, LSMS to Mosel Ave, then the GTW ROW from Mosel nearly to the gravel pit, where it began running parallel to the PRR at Coop. The GR&I was shown as removed from the crossovers south of Mosel Ave down to south of Michigan Ave. This may have been a city planning pipe dream or an actual Conrail document, can't say at this point. But it was a professionally presented map described as a rail consolidation.

A consolidation like this would still make sense and would probably be doable, except using the LSMS from BO to Patterson St. rather than the CK&S. Maybe if the GR&I ROW through downtown was more valuable this would be more likely.

[PatAzo]

The 7030 will lead 501 again today southbound. 07:00 on duty. Still in the yard at 08:00.

This may have been a city planning pipe dream or an actual Conrail document, can't say at this point. But it was a professionally presented map described as a rail consolidation.

It was the city's plan. Conrail was going to put some money into it but the bulk of the cost was on the city. At the time there were six to eight road trains a day through Kalamazoo plus the yard jobs with all but the ELGR/GREL rounding the 10MPH curve at BO. There was clamor about traffic congestion. The plan went through a number of revisions and like many public works projects it grew in scale. Eventually it included things like a new bridge over the Kalamazoo River. The costs grew to the point the voters rejected the bond issue.

[Ben Higdon]

Interesting, thanks for the back story!

I recall seeing a concept drawing at some point for a bridge carrying Michigan Ave/Kalamazoo Ave over the tracks there. Ridiculous idea, sure glad they didn't actually do that.

[Super Chief]

302 came down to TR today with 4 NS GP-38S following 4125 & 4190. I have a question, they went into emergency 4 times between Kilgore Rd. and south of TR. Can somebody remotely cause this to happen as the head end didnt do anything to activate the EOTD or FRED? Could one of the NS units activate it or is the EOTD defective? Bummer for the crew with 6 units 150 car train doing 40 mph go into emergency 4 times. Is their equipment out there that could remotely accomplish this?

[Saturnalia]

302 came down to TR today with 4 NS GP-38S following 4125 & 4190. I have a question, they went into emergency 4 times between Kilgore Rd. and south of TR. Can somebody remotely cause this to happen as the head end didnt do anything to activate the EOTD or FRED? Could one of the NS units activate it or is the EOTD defective? Bummer for the crew with 6 units 150 car train doing 40 mph go into emergency 4 times. Is their equipment out there that could remotely accomplish this?

Well did you hear what it was? I'd guess it could have been mechanical in nature with one of the cars. I've heard of stories where two short hoses end up together and at times can come apart. That'd be one of my first suspicions.

[SD80MAC]

More than likely there was kicker somewhere in the trainline. When it gets cold, the tripling valves can get stuck open and constantly vent air. This will cause an emergency application of the brakes every time the engineer sets the brakes.

[Super Chief]

So the young bucks need to get out of the trucks and walk the train like the good ole days. There definitely were two cars hissing when they went by me. Probably enough to cause what happened.

[knute]

There was no kicker and the hissing wasn't enough to do it .

[Doktor No]

If there was no kicker and the hissing wasn't enough to do it...how did you know unless you were in the lead cab...what did? If it was a low airhose then they had to walk the train and FIX IT. If the air reset itself...which it doesn't do often enough IMHO I'd say it was a triple valve blowing. Take and put your hand up to the lil cup on it and direct the air back into the valve. That would usually make it stop leaking. Or fiddle with the trip rod...that too would work.
Been there, done that too many times.

[knute]

I know because I was driving it was something I bet Nick and Jeem never had happen to them.

[Super Chief]

5 units 4 GDLK & 1 NS, 155 cars southbound this morning lots of sand and coil cars.