NS Labor Day operations...

Norfolk Southern will continue to operate over Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 2002 in order to protect service commitments, local customer requirements and specific customer production needs during this holiday period. Delays may occur due to lighter traffic volumes, which may necessitate train consolidations or reduction of local and yard operations.  If you have any questions regarding service at your local facility, please contact Customer Service-Central Yard Operations at (800) 898-4296, or your Norfolk Southern Account Manager.

CN derails 3 cars in Durand...

 

CN derailed 3 empty coal cars on the Port Huron Wye this afternoon (8/18).  The derailment reportedly occured when a train of empty PSTX coal cars were backing from the wye to the main track, enroute to Chicago.  The train was being pushed by two Santa Fe engines at the time.  From the MichiganRailroads list.

 

Patrick Caauwe reports on 8/19 that the derailed cars were from CN train 765, and that the accident blocked several crossings including Main Street and New Lothrop Road in Durand.  Andy Messina photo.

 

PBS Begins filming the Grand Traverse Dinner Train...

 

Great Railway Journeys began filming the Grand Traverse Dinner Train for an future show, to air sometime next March.  They traveled east on the old Pere Marquette towards Williamsburg, MI but only made it half as far because the film crew asked for several run-bys along the east bay of Grand Traverse Bay.  The dinner train has not traveled on this route since 2000 when the tracks were deemed unsafe for passengers.  The film crew will be using our train all weekend with run-bys and helicopter shots.  The Dinner Trail will handle its regular schedule with passengers all weekend.  From T. J. Doyle.

 

Tilden Mine produces 150 millionth ton..

 

The Tilden Mine (near Marquette) has produced its 150 millionth ton of pellets, according to a press release issued by Cleveland Cliffs.  In operation since 1974, Tilden accounts for  more than one-third of all pellett production on the Marquette Iron Range since the pelletizing process began in 1956.  The Tilden is served by the LS&I.  Info from Dave Schauer via OreRail list.

 

Lake States 976 gets new paint job...

 

Jeremy Schrader reports on the MichiganRailroads list that Lake State 976 has a new paint job.  It appeared Monday (8/11) in Alpena for a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Mayor and other state representatives and senators.  The 976 wears LSRC blue with white stripes, and is named "City of West Branch".  "Enduring Freedom" appears on the rear of the engine.

 

Grand Traverse Dinner train to host PBS film crew...

 

A film crew from the Public Broadcasting System will be filming the Grand Traverse Dinner train on Friday, August 16th and Saturday, August 17th for inclusion in a March TV special called the "Great Scenic Railway Journeys: Celebrating 175 years of Railroading".

 

Detroit Connections exhibit opening at the Detroit Historical Museum...

Detroit Historical Museum's "Detroit Connections" exhibit will open Saturday, August 24.  The exhibit gives the history of a number of Detroit neighborhoods and suburbs. It features a display by the Michigan Transit Museum's Ken Schramm of Detroit street cars and interurbans.  Also, on display in the Museum's Glancy Trains Room is a collection of 1/36th scale models of Detroit street cars dating from 1860s horse cars to the Detroit-designed PCC streamlined Detroit Street Railways (DSR) streetcars, which wound up the City of Detroit's street railroad adventure in 1956. These were built by the late Robert E. Lee, curator of the Dossin's Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle.  The Glancy Trains themselves are 39 x 12 foot operating Lionel layout featuring the famed "ChooChooCam" TV train developed at the museum, which provides an engineer's eye view as the train circles the layout. This system has been installed on many museum, club and home layouts across the U.S.

The museum's "Frontier to Factories" exhibit includes Detroit meat packer George Hammond's Davis-design ice refrigerator car of the 1880s. This exhibit also covers the Detroit's 19th Century position as the leading U.S. railroad car builder center, which lasted until about 1910.  Among the Detroit companies involved in railroad car or parts manufacturing were Michigan Car, Peninsular Car, the Pullman Company was first here and had Detroit operations until the 1890s, Russel Wheel & Foundry which made the famed Russel logging bogies, Griffin Wheel, Hutchins steel car doors and ends, Penberthy Injector, and, of course, Elijah McCoy's mechanical lubricators as well as many more. On display are O-Scale models of 1880s cars built by New York Central System Historical Society past president H. Lansing Vail, Jr. of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

The Detroit Historical Museum is located in the University-Cultural Center at 5401 Woodward Avenue on the northwest corner of Kirby two blocks north of Warren Avenue. It is just north of the main branch of the Detroit Public Library. There's free parking for museum visitors in the museum lot off Kirby. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Museum admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for seniors and students, children 4 and under are free. Wednesday is a free day for all.  For more information on the museum and its exhibits, visit the Detroit Historical Museum web site at www.detroithistorical.org.  From Bob Cosgrove.

NS Slab Steel Train...

Shawn O'Day reports that NS train 69N rolled into Detroit yesterday afternoon with two C40 wide cabs and 70 loaded slab gons.  The train sounded great!  He is was wondering about the symbol though....From the NS symbol website at http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/nstrains/ 69N is a Rockport Yard/Cleveland, OH-Hennepin, IL-L.  Can this be a shipment from the new owners of the Cleveland steel mill?  Diverted/sold in Detroit?

Comments welcomed on reauthorization of Surface Transportation Board...

 

Mike Frezell reports that the x is seeking comments from the public on the reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Board.  Click here to go to their web site. Forms are available on the site to submit comments.

 

Railway crossing accident kills two...

 

Two people were killed Friday morning when their vehicle was struck by a CN freight train at a crossing about five kilometres southeast of Watford.  Dead is passenger David DeLeary, 35, of Muncey First Nation. The identity of the female driver, who also died, was not available at press time.  OPP Emergency Response Team members searched the crash site to ensure nobody else had been in the vehicle.  CN officials allowed crew members to leave the scene, due to the trauma of the collision that occurred shortly after 9 a.m. "They just have to watch it unfold in front of them. There's nothing they can do," said CN spokesperson Ian Thomson.  A replacement crew finished the westbound trip of the 21-car train when traffic was allowed to resume at about 11:30 a.m.   The train was hauling automobile parts in 19 of the cars. The other two cars were empty.  The posted train speed limit is sixty miles per hour. The train was travelling at about 55 miles per hour, police say.  The train may have traveled about two kilometres before it could come to a stop.  The vehicle, a 1994 green GMC sports utility vehicle, was struck broadside and pushed off the tracks. It slid down an approximately 15-foot incline adjacent to the tracks. Debris from the vehicle was spread along the tracks for about about 150 feet.