Bay City area Rails / Operations

[chapmaja]

I posted on the historical board about the operations of the Lake State on the northern end of the railroad.

This brings up further questions regarding the ownership / operations of the tracks in an around Bay City.

Coming down from the north to the south.

The line from Pinconning and north comes down into a yard between Wheeler, Euclid, and Huron Ave. This yard, IIRC is the yard that was once the GTW's (and is now the HESR) trackage in Bay City, is this correct? I thought I recall RailAmerica paint scheme equipment in this yard when I have seen it before. (And Streetview seems to show this as well with and G&W scheme and a RA schemed unit in the yard.)

From this yard, the tracks come southeast and then between Henry and Wilder, there is a line coming off to the NW which appears to head to Midland. Is this the HESR's access to Midland? (LSRC comes from Saginaw into Midland, while HESR comes from Bay City, correct?)

Continuing Southeast, the line splits between Hart St and Bangor Trail with a line turning due south and another heading east along the north shore of the Saginaw River. Is this the line the LSRC uses to head from their trackage north of the first yard mentioned over to their yard further east?

Following the line to the east, we see that as it nears Praire St, it splits into a wye going north and south with the south end going across the river. The north section extend across Wilder Rd to the railroad yard which I think is the LSRC yard in Bay City, correct? In this wye there is a business, with a spur, but do they actually get rail service?

From the south end of this yard, there is an east heading track which appears to go to Port Fisher Terminals, but does not appear to have any customers. Is this true? Also, from the yard there appears to have been a track heading east north of the still intact port track, which curved into a property between East and Lighthouse streets. What was this property and who actually served this property?

The basic question appears to be, with the exception of the ex-D&M yard( which at one time run north to the Huron Subdivision before the connection was put in place in Pinconning), is the trackage on the north side of the river generally ex-GTW and the trackage on the south side ex-CSX? Does LSRC just have trackage rights over the tracks between those two yards on the north side?

The line coming south out of this yard crosses the Saginaw River and then turns westward. Is this the CSX (now LSRC) line, which also extends to the powerplant? Interestingly, it appears that for a train to run from the LSRC yard, south to Saginaw, they would have to either back out of the yard southbound, then head west along those tracks, before heading back east then turning south, or leave the yard normally, cross the river before running around the train in "east yard" or whatever it is called (basically a passing siding.)

Also, this line crosses back over the river and then merges into what I think was the HESR (ex-GTW) line coming into Bay City from the south. Was this put in place to serve the power plant? I recall CMGN/HESR running coal trains to the plant at one time, but did GTW as well?

Do I have a pretty solid grasp of how things are arranged in Bay City?

One final set of questions. On the LSRC Wiki page, it lists Pinconning Terminal as the orgin-destination for the northbound trains. Does the LSRC have an actual yard in Pinconning I am missing, or is it just the one siding I see in town. I know that the Bay City-Pinconning run takes the cars for both trains up to Pinconning and splits the trains with one going up the middle and one along the lakeshore to their destinations. Do they actually leave power somewhere in Pinconning or does it get used for the train to and then back from Bay City?

[AARR]

Originally this was Michigan Central, NYC, PC, GTW, CMGN and now HESR. The division point between HESR and LSRC is around Kawkawlin somewhere.

The line from Pinconning and north comes down into a yard between Wheeler, Euclid, and Huron Ave. This yard, IIRC is the yard that was once the GTW's (and is now the HESR) trackage in Bay City, is this correct? I thought I recall RailAmerica paint scheme equipment in this yard when I have seen it before. (And Streetview seems to show this as well with and G&W scheme and a RA schemed unit in the yard.)

[AARR]

Correct

From this yard, the tracks come southeast and then between Henry and Wilder, there is a line coming off to the NW which appears to head to Midland. Is this the HESR's access to Midland? (LSRC comes from Saginaw into Midland, while HESR comes from Bay City, correct?)

[AARR]

Correct

Continuing Southeast, the line splits between Hart St and Bangor Trail with a line turning due south and another heading east along the north shore of the Saginaw River. Is this the line the LSRC uses to head from their trackage north of the first yard mentioned over to their yard further east?

[AARR]

Straits Lumber Treating is an active shipper. They used to load cars spotted on the wye track but recently had a separate spur built on their property so as not to interfere with operations.

Port Fisher Terminal has several active customers including Brinks (nitrogen), asphalt, windmills and chemicals/petro fluids. Brinks receives its cars in unit trains (75ish cars at a time) then LSRC spots smaller blocks at the unloading dock until all are empty.

Following the line to the east, we see that as it nears Praire St, it splits into a wye going north and south with the south end going across the river. The north section extend across Wilder Rd to the railroad yard which I think is the LSRC yard in Bay City, correct? In this wye there is a business, with a spur, but do they actually get rail service?

From the south end of this yard, there is an east heading track which appears to go to Port Fisher Terminals but does not appear to have any customers. Is this true? Also, from the yard there appears to have been a track heading east north of the still intact port track, which curved into a property between East and Lighthouse streets. What was this property and who actually served this property?

[AARR]

D&M operated on the north side, CSX on the south side (although they crossed over to the north to interchange in D&M's Yard) and GTW operated on the south side as well sharing the Bay Saginaw Fertilizer and Consumers Power customers.

The basic question appears to be, with the exception of the ex-D&M yard( which at one time run north to the Huron Subdivision before the connection was put in place in Pinconning), is the trackage on the north side of the river generally ex-GTW and the trackage on the south side ex-CSX? Does LSRC just have trackage rights over the tracks between those two yards on the north side?

[AARR]

Correct

The line coming south out of this yard crosses the Saginaw River and then turns westward. Is this the CSX (now LSRC) line, which also extends to the powerplant? Interestingly, it appears that for a train to run from the LSRC yard, south to Saginaw, they would have to either back out of the yard southbound, then head west along those tracks, before heading back east then turning south, or leave the yard normally, cross the river before running around the train in "east yard" or whatever it is called (basically a passing siding.)

[AARR]

Correct on the first two questions but I don't know if GTW ever had the coal contract to the power plant.

There is no siding/yard at Pinconning Jct. There is a short siding a little north in Pinconning proper, but I don't know what condition it is in.

The day crew retrieves both trains at Pinconning Jct. and builds them into one train taking them to Bay City Yard. At the end of their shift (after breaking up the inbound trains, interchanging with the Saginaw Turn, switching customers as far north as Kawkawlin and sometimes across the river at Omni, and interchanging with HESR) they take both northbound trains from Bay City to Pinconning Jct. where they separate them. Later, the respective night crew take their individual trains north.

Also, this line crosses back over the river and then merges into what I think was the HESR (ex-GTW) line coming into Bay City from the south. Was this put in place to serve the power plant? I recall CMGN/HESR running coal trains to the plant at one time, but did GTW as well?

Do I have a pretty solid grasp of how things are arranged in Bay City?

One final set of questions. On the LSRC Wiki page, it lists Pinconning Terminal as the orgin-destination for the northbound trains. Does the LSRC have an actual yard in Pinconning I am missing, or is it just the one siding I see in town. I know that the Bay City-Pinconning run takes the cars for both trains up to Pinconning and splits the trains with one going up the middle and one along the lakeshore to their destinations. Do they actually leave power somewhere in Pinconning or does it get used for the train to and then back from Bay City?

As always, I am open to corrections.

[joeyuboats]

The office for Straits WOOD Treating on Wilder used to be the yard office for D&M, and IIRC, may have been owned by the same people that owned the D&M.

[Dan Cluley]

https://youtube.com/@toddfeldpausch9489

Todd Feldpausch's last 3 videos show LSRC operations in that area.

[GTW6401]

Is that the whole history of trains in Bay City? Far from it! This is a basic overview.

Pere Marquette and later affiliated lines.

The Pere Marquette line branches off at Washington Avenue in Saginaw and heads north to Bay City.

There was a branch line in the south end that went across Broadway Avenue (M-13) toward the river and turned southward down to McGraw Street. This line was active into the 2000s by CSX. It was removed a few years ago by Lake State.

The Michigan Central crossed the Pere Marquette at 26th Street crossing. This line was used for industrial switching by the MC. Today this line is a rail trail.

Just north of 26th Street was Belt Line Junction, where the line to downtown Bay City split off. This line was along South Jefferson Street and arrived at the Pere Marquette depot, which also served passenger trains from the Detroit & Mackinac. Passenger service eventually ended and the trackage along Jefferson Street was later removed.

Woodside Tower was located a few streets north of the depot. D&M passenger trains accessed the depot here coming in from Foss.

Continuing up along the belt line was Center Street crossing, which is where the MC line between Bay City and Reese crossed. The former MC is now the Bay County Rail Trail, and still has the concrete mileposts listing the mileage from Detroit.

In Essexville the line turns toward the west at what's now called the Mud Switch. The D&M, now LSRC, enters this line at Foss, which is located at Atlantic Street. There was a small office and a couple tracks used by CSX locals in the 1990s. The Michigan Central line at Foss was known as the Water Street Spur. Today it is used by HESR to access Saginaw Bay Fertilizer in Essexville.

Michigan Central and later affiliated lines.

One thing to consider - prior to 1900 is that Bay City and West Bay City were separate cities and required a depot for both.

The line from Mershon in Saginaw through ZIlwaukee came into Bay City and crossed the GTW at Main Street. Today this is the HESR line and continues northward toward Defoe Park, located along Marquette Avenue. Marquette Avenue used to cross the tracks on a viaduct, which was demolished and replaced with the current grade crossing. The railroad yard was also located here before Wenona Yard was built.

Another crossing of the GTW was located at Hart Street. This crossing was a full junction with an interlocking tower, which was later downgraded. The GTW line was used to access industries and interchange cars with the Detroit & Mackinac. They also ran passenger trains to the resorts at Wenona Beach. Service on the GTW ended in 1975. Today Hart Street is where LSRC enters the line to Wenona Yard.

Accessing the Midland line requires a backup move out of Wenona Yard to access the switch. HESR operates to Midland during the overnight hours but would sometimes run an extra job to Auburn for grain traffic.

The Pere Marquette also had a branch line, The Huron and Western that crossed the MC at Tower 12, which was located near Wilder Road. This branch line came from North Bay City to serve a number of coal mines located west of Bay City. The line was abandoned in 1929 and the tower was removed. It was called tower 12 due to the number of levers it had.

Michigan Central also had a sizable operation east of the river. The railroad depot was located at 1st and North Monroe Street. The depot was later destroyed in a fire. This trackage came northward into Bay City from Reese and Munger. Today the HESR line ends at Munger Road and has been used for car storage in previous years.


Grand Trunk Western

The GTW ran northward from Mershon into Bay City. They crossed the MC line at Main Street and continued toward Midland Street. The GTW also had a branch line from Main Street that crossed the river to access the passenger station. This bridge was constructed in 1913 and only served until 1941.

The line continued northward to Hart Street and turned eastward. I previously described the crossing at Hart Street Tower. A shift came in the 1970s during the Penn Central era and formation of Conrail. Most of the former Michigan Central lines were acquired by GTW, and they shifted operations to those lines. Central Michigan took over GTW operations in 1987 and is currently Huron & Eastern.

GTW and Central Michigan did have operations to Consumers Energy with coal and tank train services.

Detroit and Mackinac.

The D&M had their line out of Bay City. They operated passenger service to Linwood Bay, which was a resort located along the water. Additional trains came from Saginaw on the Pere Marquette.

North Bay City was the major D&M facility in the area. This is still in use by Lake State but the original main line was abandoned from Patterson Road onward. The D&M offices were located here and are currently the Straits Corporation. LSRC also provides service to the nearby SC Johnson and Port Fisher facilities.

The roundhouse was located on the southside of Wilder Road. The remaining steam locomotives were retired by 1946. Passenger service would end in 1950.

North Bay City tower was the crossing of the D&M and GTW line that ran to Wenona Beach. The resort industry was very popular prior to World War II. The Pere Marquette branchline from Foss to Tower 12 passed through the area from the Saginaw River drawbridge. This branch primarily served coal mines located west of Bay City.

GTW would later run a round trip each way at North Bay City to interchange cars.

Today the Lake State yard sees mostly weekday service to Pinconning and Saginaw. The run from Saginaw provides cars and locomotives. locomotive servicing and fueling is mostly conducted in Saginaw.

[chapmaja]

Is that the whole history of trains in Bay City? Far from it! This is a basic overview.

Pere Marquette and later affiliated lines.

The Pere Marquette line branches off at Washington Avenue in Saginaw and heads north to Bay City.

There was a branch line in the south end that went across Broadway Avenue (M-13) toward the river and turned southward down to McGraw Street. This line was active into the 2000s by CSX. It was removed a few years ago by Lake State.

I am guessing this line you mention is why the parking lot on the building between 33rd and 34th and and Stanton and Jamison St's is curved the way it is. This lines looks to have headed to the river and then south near the river to serve the Mersen USA factory, or whatever it was then.

The Michigan Central crossed the Pere Marquette at 26th Street crossing. Is this the what is now the Bay City Loop? This line looks like it mergered into the Munger-Bay City line Youngs Ditch Rd correct? This line was used for industrial switching by the MC. Today this line is a rail trail.

Just north of 26th Street was Belt Line Junction, where the line to downtown Bay City split off. Was the branch to downtown and the depot done via street running on Jefferson, or was it done alongside the roadway? This line was along South Jefferson Street and arrived at the Pere Marquette depot, which also served passenger trains from the Detroit & Mackinac. Passenger service eventually ended and the trackage along Jefferson Street was later removed.

Woodside Tower was located a few streets north of the depot. D&M passenger trains accessed the depot here coming in from Foss. Would Woodside Tower have been in the vacinity of what is now OmniSource?

Continuing up along the belt line was Center Street crossing, which is where the MC line between Bay City and Reese crossed. The former MC is now the Bay County Rail Trail, and still has the concrete mileposts listing the mileage from Detroit.

In Essexville the line turns toward the west at what's now called the Mud Switch. The D&M, now LSRC, enters this line at Foss, which is located at Atlantic Street. There was a small office and a couple tracks used by CSX locals in the 1990s. The Michigan Central line at Foss was known as the Water Street Spur. Today it is used by HESR to access Saginaw Bay Fertilizer in Essexville. Who controlled the Belt Line from Foss west across the river? Was this PM all the way across the river to the wye?



Michigan Central and later affiliated lines.

One thing to consider - prior to 1900 is that Bay City and West Bay City were separate cities and required a depot for both.

The line from Mershon in Saginaw through ZIlwaukee came into Bay City and crossed the GTW at Main Street. Today this is the HESR line and continues northward toward Defoe Park, located along Marquette Avenue. Marquette Avenue used to cross the tracks on a viaduct, which was demolished and replaced with the current grade crossing. The railroad yard was also located here before Wenona Yard was built.This is the line Michigan Sugar is off of correct?

Another crossing of the GTW was located at Hart Street. This crossing was a full junction with an interlocking tower, which was later downgraded. The GTW line was used to access industries and interchange cars with the Detroit & Mackinac. They also ran passenger trains to the resorts at Wenona Beach. Service on the GTW ended in 1975. Today Hart Street is where LSRC enters the line to Wenona Yard. Was the GTW from Mershon into Bay City removed after GTW took over the PC tracks in the area? If I am looking at Saginaw correctly, Mershon is right by Carrolton Rd, correct? What was the GTW trackage is now the BayZil trail correct? This line extends as far as the Sargent Docks still, but is removed beyond that?

Accessing the Midland line requires a backup move out of Wenona Yard to access the switch. HESR operates to Midland during the overnight hours but would sometimes run an extra job to Auburn for grain traffic.

The Pere Marquette also had a branch line, The Huron and Western that crossed the MC at Tower 12, which was located near Wilder Road. This branch line came from North Bay City to serve a number of coal mines located west of Bay City. The line was abandoned in 1929 and the tower was removed. It was called tower 12 due to the number of levers it had.

Michigan Central also had a sizable operation east of the river. The railroad depot was located at 1st and North Monroe Street. The depot was later destroyed in a fire. This trackage came northward into Bay City from Reese and Munger. Today the HESR line ends at Munger Road and has been used for car storage in previous years.

Was there a connection between the MC tracks on the west side of the river and the line up from Reese and Munger?

Grand Trunk Western

The GTW ran northward from Mershon into Bay City. They crossed the MC line at Main Street and continued toward Midland Street. The GTW also had a branch line from Main Street that crossed the river to access the passenger station. This bridge was constructed in 1913 and only served until 1941. Was this line crossing the river in the vacinity of the airport and then ran along River Rd for a stretch? Which depot did they serve?

The line continued northward to Hart Street and turned eastward. I previously described the crossing at Hart Street Tower. A shift came in the 1970s during the Penn Central era and formation of Conrail. Most of the former Michigan Central lines were acquired by GTW, and they shifted operations to those lines. Central Michigan took over GTW operations in 1987 and is currently Huron & Eastern.

GTW and Central Michigan did have operations to Consumers Energy with coal and tank train services.

Detroit and Mackinac.

The D&M had their line out of Bay City. They operated passenger service to Linwood Bay, which was a resort located along the water. Additional trains came from Saginaw on the Pere Marquette.

North Bay City was the major D&M facility in the area. This is still in use by Lake State but the original main line was abandoned from Patterson Road onward. The D&M offices were located here and are currently the Straits Corporation. LSRC also provides service to the nearby SC Johnson and Port Fisher facilities.

The roundhouse was located on the southside of Wilder Road. Is this where the Millwork place is now? The remaining steam locomotives were retired by 1946. Passenger service would end in 1950.

North Bay City tower Where exactly was the tower / crossing relative to the yard? was the crossing of the D&M and GTW line that ran to Wenona Beach. The resort industry was very popular prior to World War II. The Pere Marquette branchline from Foss to Tower 12 passed through the area from the Saginaw River drawbridge. This branch primarily served coal mines located west of Bay City.

GTW would later run a round trip each way at North Bay City to interchange cars.

Today the Lake State yard sees mostly weekday service to Pinconning and Saginaw. The run from Saginaw provides cars and locomotives. locomotive servicing and fueling is mostly conducted in Saginaw.

Further questions in blue

[Standard Railfan]

A picture is worth 1000 words

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f9/5f/0 ... f69da2.jpg

[GTW6401]

A picture is worth 1000 words

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f9/5f/0 ... f69da2.jpg

Now I'm interested in this map. Interestingly enough is that a lot of the streets in West Bay City were renamed.

[chapmaja]

A picture is worth 1000 words

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f9/5f/0 ... f69da2.jpg

After typing my questions last night, I feel like this picture is worth well more than 1,000 words. Thanks.

A couple things I find interesting, but not shocking are the number of tracks that ended right along the river at warehouses or industries located on the river.

Additionally, there was talk about the somewhat recently removed line along the east side of the river that appears to have, at 1 time served Marsen USA's plant. This line appears to run south out of the map along the river. Was this the line GTW used to run up the east side with for a period of time? It seemed to have a connection with the PM (the line along 33rd which went south on this line) and MC Belt Line. Interestingly, between 26th and 27th next to Water Street there is a building that follows a curve similar to what the railroad curve from the MC to this line would have taken.

This line along the river appears to have run as far north as 6th along Water St, but does not appear (on this map) to have gotten all the way up to the lines along the south side of the river near Woodside. There is a gap on the map from about 2nd St to 6th St. Did this line at one time extend all the way from south of town near where the airport currently is up to the area near Woodside?

I think it is interesting as well how the MC line into Exxesville came up. You can see parts of it coming up, but then it disappears.

The road name changes does make it challenging to figure out what is where.

[GTW6401]

Im sitting down tonight and doing some more research.

The Pere Marquette line was street running along Jefferson Street. The depot is still there, located at 919 Boutell Place.

Woodside Tower was located just north of the PM Depot. The tower was located at Woodside Avenue & North Jefferson Street. The current property used by OmniSource was once the location of the Defoe Shipyard, which operated from 1905 to 1976. Defoe went out of business after they lost contracts to construct vessels for the US Navy. The Hirschfield scrap yard opened and was later purchased by OmniSource. Defoe was served by Michigan Central, and after 1941 by the Pere Marquette as well.

The Pere Marquette and Michigan Central depots were within close proximity. The MC Depot, located at 1st and North Monroe was also near the bridge over the Saginaw River, which could be accessed from the various lines. Today HESR operates the bridge, which gives it access to Saginaw Bay Fertilizer in Essexville, and Consumers Energy when they were operating coal trains. OmniSource has been an LSRC customer and was CSX prior to 2005.

The Grand Trunk depot was located along Saginaw Street between 7th and McKinley. That is now the Comfort Inn. The railroad came up along Saginaw Street from the south. A large Sears store was located across McKinley Street from the hotel. The old Sears site was demolished in 2019.

The Industrial Brownhoist Company was located along the river near Columbus Avenue. They made large wreck cranes for railroads throughout the United States. They were in operation until 1983, and the 48-acre site was later demolished and redeveloped. Today the area has a hotel, condos and office buildings. That's what the railroad line along Water Street primarily served, and possibly other industries. Bay City was an old sawmill town and everything was near the river for transportation purposes.

Grand Trunk crossed the river south of the Industrial Brownhoist site, which was located at 13th Street. Columbus Avenue is the dividing line for north and south streets on the east side of Bay City. Today this would be where the Riverwalk Pier is located.

Regarding the CSX and later LSRC branch line on the South End. The switch itself was located just north of Cass Avenue. The track did curve near the Trinity Lutheran Church before crossing Stanton Street and Broadway Avenue.

The area between Broadway and Harrison Street is residential and has crossings at every side street. It turned southward parallel to the river. Cass Avenue once crossed the river but that bridge was demolished. That is Hotchkiss Road across the river.

The main customer for CSX was Quality Transparent Bag, which is located at Harrison and McGraw. I'm not familiar with Mersen USA. I believe it was Carbone of America previously. Not sure I moved out of Bay City almost 15 years ago.

North Bay City Junction was located along Wilder Road, near what is now the Lake State Yard. The Grand Trunk turned northward heading for Wenona Beach. Where they crossed the D&M was North Bay City. Wenona Beach is located on Saginaw Bay, roughly near the end of Patterson Road. The Pere Marquette line turned to the west and ran parallel along Wilder Road to the MC Crossing at Tower 12.

The D&M roundhouse was located south of Wilder Road, and east of the rails. The building on the southside of the street was the old D&M offices, which is now Straits. Straits has a lumber yard and operations there.

I'll add to the Mershon and Zilwaukee trackage later.

[chapmaja]

I think I now get most of the Bay City area. That does bring up a question through. I understand where the PM lines out to the coal mines west of town ran. How did they access that branch? Did they have their own bridge over the river, or did they use the D&M from Foss up to the where the line split and ran west.

[GTW6401]

The bridge was constructed in 1896. Both railroads operated across it.

The Pere Marquette used this bridge to reach their line at North Bay CIty.

[chapmaja]

The bridge was constructed in 1896. Both railroads operated across it.

The Pere Marquette used this bridge to reach their line at North Bay CIty.

That make since. I get the idea that over time there has been a decent amount of "shared" trackage in and around Bay City for 1 reason or another.