Comments from Graydon Meints:
I worked on the Valley in the late 1950s and early 1960s as an agent at
most of the stations. At that time Eaton Rapids, Charlotte, Hastings,
Middleville and Caledonia all worked 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday thru
Friday, and Nashville worked 5:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. M-F. Those hours were
to assist in the early morning meet between the two freight trains.
The "Beeliner" was a passenger run out of Jackson about 9:00 a.m.
(which connected with no. 17, the "Wolverine") ran to Grand Rapids in 2
hours, and left around 1:00 p.m. for Jackson to connect with no. 44. The
last run was sometime in 1959.
The Valley had two through freight trains that made no stops: RJ-4 left
Grand Rapids about 2:00 a.m. daily except Monday and JR-3 left Jackson
about 4:00 a.m. daily except Sunday. Both trains would run 40-50 cars.
RJ-4 did handle a block of 10-12 cars from Fisher Body headed for GM at
Lansing; it would set off the cars on the Middle passing track at Rives
Jct. for TL-2 to pick up and take to the Lansing Belt. Sometimes early on
Sunday afternoon an Jackson-Grand Rapids extra turn would take cars to G.R.
and then run light (I think) back to Jackson. I don't know if this was
every Sunday or not.
There was also a local freight: JR-1 which left Jackson around 9:30
a.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for Grand Rapids, and JR-2 which left
Grand Rapids around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for Jackson.
The crew worked 15 plus hours every trip except Saturday when they were
headed home for the weekend. In addition, in the 50s there was a
Jackson-Charlotte turn which left Jackson about 10:00 a.m. Mondays and
Thursdays only. (On the other days this crew worked two round trips on the
Air Line to Three Rivers.)