Tracks through Aloha/Cheboygan, Michigan

[David Collins]

I went to a summer camp for a few years and whenever I was driving up to it, I drove over what is now a bike trail near Cheboygan, does anyone know what railroad/line that was?

[DaveO]

Detroit and Mackinac.
You really should know that.

[~Z~]

https://www.oldmapsonline.org/map/usgs/5443702
Search for the city, and the time period for the map you need.

Then open the 1955 map for Cheboygan: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/ov ... 00_geo.jpg
Shows D&M as DaveO stated.

[AARR]

As already confirmed, that is the original line for D&M.

There has been some discussion why D&M chose the former PC route over their own route for the diaper/paper traffic from Cheboygan. At the time P&G was handling about 100 cars a week of mostly inbound paper/wood pulp. It probably had to do with the State willing to cover at least some of the costs of the PC route whereas D&M would have had to pay the full expense to keep their original route open.

[joeyuboats]

That, plus the fact the the original D&M track had lighter rail then the PC line. 90 vs 105, or heavier rail, on the former PC .

[chapmaja]

Just another thought on running the P&G traffic over through the center of the state rather than through Alpena.

How many crews would it take to run the train via the Shoreline route to interchange vs running it via the PC route? Could they make it from Cheboygan south in 1 trip, or would it require two crews going that way? I would guess going through Alpena would require at least two crews, one running to Alpena and then one do to Bay City. I would guess two crews either way, but I could be wrong.

[joeyuboats]

According to an old TRAINS magazine,when D&M was only the shoreline route, the loco that was based in Cheboygan used to bring the cars from Cheboygan to Alpena during the day, and the Alpena to Bay City night train took them to Bay City and returned to Alpena, with the same crew. That was before they got the ex NYC/PC trackage, and the old ,original D&M was in good shape.

[AARR]

That was in the days when the train crew Hours of Service (HOS) was 16 hours. It was reduced to 14 in 1969 and 12 in 1976. With the reduced HOS the Alpena night crew could not make the trip to Bay City and back in one shift. Also, D&M had a Tawas switcher to handle local work, so the Alpena crew only had to make a pickup/set out there. They didn't do any local switching from Alpena to Bay City.

According to an old TRAINS magazine,when D&M was only the shoreline route, the loco that was based in Cheboygan used to bring the cars from Cheboygan to Alpena during the day, and the Alpena to Bay City night train took them to Bay City and returned to Alpena, with the same crew. That was before they got the ex NYC/PC trackage, and the old ,original D&M was in good shape.

[chapmaja]

just wondering what the current operations are for the Lake State North of Bay City? I assume there is an Alpena Switcher now that handles that local work, then a road train that runs from Alpena to Bay City switching the industries along the route (not sure how many are even left).

They don't have any presense left in East Tawas anymore do they?

Up the middle of the state how is that operated? Do they run up 1 day, back the next serving local industries during that time?

[AARR]

Check the Wiki for operations information.
I’ll post a few details later unless someone gets to it first.

just wondering what the current operations are for the Lake State North of Bay City? I assume there is an Alpena Switcher now that handles that local work, then a road train that runs from Alpena to Bay City switching the industries along the route (not sure how many are even left).

They don't have any presense left in East Tawas anymore do they?

Up the middle of the state how is that operated? Do they run up 1 day, back the next serving local industries during that time?

[joeyuboats]

It used to be that the northbound train left Bay City in the afternoon,went to Grayling,and returned the next morning.Was doing test driving , and a few times caught the southbound train as it ran next to M-76,IIRC,.

[joeyuboats]

The old TRAINS magazine that this info comes from is the Sept. 1969 issue. It was one of the first RR
magazines that I ever got, was 11 at the time. Still have the issue.

[AARR]

I don’t have the train symbols in front of me so I’ll post them later.

This is schedule:
- Bay City Yard Job starts its day by dog catching the Alpena and Grayling road jobs in Pinconning. It takes both to Bay City, as one train, breaks them up and makes up a Saginaw Turn train. It switches local industries including interchange at HESR Winona Yard and LPG and stone customer at Kawkawlin. Returns to Bay City and makes up both northbound road trains taking them to Pinconning.

- A pair of night crews pick up their respected road trains at Pinconning. One crew takes their train to Grayling where they set out their cars and pick up others then head back to Pinconning where they tie up. They will switch customers in Standish as needed. The other crew takes their train north of Tawas where they meet a train that came down from Alpena. They exchange trains and head back to Pinconning/Alpena respectively. The Pinconning crew will infrequently switch the elevator in Turner and the Alpena crew will switch the old-railroad tie transload in Greenbush (currently inactive).

- A day job and night job work out of Grayling's newly expanded yard switching local industries and breaking up/making up the night road freight from Pinconning/Bay City.

- A day job works out of Alpena switching local industries and making up/breaking up the night road freight's train.

Here is the Wiki with all the train symbols. https://railroadfan.com/wiki/index.php/ ... te_Railway