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The train that came up thru Mason this morning had a single autorack car tied to the end of the train. Are they going to start storing these cars to along with the tank cars up in Lansing, or will it be transfered to CSX or CN?

They replaced the rear traction motor on the front truck. The cranes were used to lift the engine off the trucks so the truck could be moved out from under the frame to be worked on.

For anyone that's interested, there is two pictures of 975 loading the Chief Wawatam on the boatnerd site on the historical perspectives page of the Chief. (page 3) There is also another engine on the siding that I don't recognize but I,m sure many of you do.

Tonight just after 10:00 the crew headed south from Mason with 34 cars. 12 gondalas loaded with scrap,11 boxcars from MPC,8 coil cars from RSDC, 1 tank car, 1 hopper, and 1 flat. Although they are unpredictable they seem to be working a Monday,Wednesday, Friday night shift usually going south thru M...

GP30M4216 wrote:Are these primarily 50' standard boxcars, lots of CSX, KCS, NS, and TTX? I remember seeing regular cuts of them in Kalamazoo on 38J/39J, but I thought they went to some place in Jackson.

Yes they are although sometimes there are some 60' high cube cars. Most of the cars really show their age.

RSDC is by far the biggest shipper on the line. I would guess that during a good week the recieve 35 to 60 coil cars. Michigan Packaging Company is second. They recieve up to 20 to 25 boxcars in a good week.

I received a pleasant and unexpected surprise today. I drove up to RSDC around 1:00. To my surprise the crew was swithing cars using 1760. Shortly after I got there, I heard 1758 blowing its horn to the north of RSDC as it headed for Lansing. 1760 did some more work at RSDC then headed south to Maso...

My wife and I took the trip with our two kids in the summer of 95. It rained some of the time but we had a great trip anyway. I have always wanted to do it again but I don't have a passport yet. I would highly recommend the trip. Don't forget your camera.

Sunday, 5:30 pm. 1758 headed southbound from Mason with 11 cars. 1760 MIA

RRTTF wrote:Wawatam referenced "the boys."

What, are we all male chauvanists here? Can't there be females working on the railroad, too?

I wasn't tring to offend anyone. It just that the crew happened to be two men.

Hello all, At 4:00 am the crew came north into Mason with 27 cars. They stopped long enough to swap out a tank car at the Americhem plant and then continued on north to Holt. Two of the cars were a flat with plate steel for Alro Steel and a gondola for the scrap yard in north Lansing. I would guess ...

Hello all, I think a lot of us are still trying to get a handle on their operation. I thought I had a clue yesterday when I spent a few hours watching them work, but when I saw them switching at RSDC in Holt earlier today I thought they would be coming down to Mason shortly afterward but as of 7:00 ...

Here’s what I observed today . At noon the crew headed south from RSDC in Holt with two coil cars, one tank car and five box cars. 1758 was in front while 1760 was tied to the back of the train. They traveled thru Mason and stopped at MPC to switch out boxcars there. At 2:30 they headed back north i...

Northbound into Mason at 11:00 am, Sunday.

(Mod edit no speed postings please.)

The usual NS crew left the Jackson yard at 1:15 northbound with 15 coil cars for RSDC and 15 boxcars for MPC.

After reading though all of the postings on this topic, I’ve come up with some questions that I hope some of you knowledgeable individuals can answer for me. I’ll try to keep them short. 1) How does the letter I fit into Jackson and Lansing Railroad. JAIL? 2) What has NS done to drive to drive away ...

Hello GTWRalph, I live in Mason and saw the southbound train on Thursday as it was wrapping up work at Michigan Packaging Co. around 5:30. From there it went south to Thomlinson Rd. and stopped. They change crews there quite often. It was about 6:30 when the 43 car train continued south from there. ...

Hello to all, Today I saw the southbound freight outside Mason. Up front was GMTX 9023 with NS 7135 behind. These are not the usual locomotives that I’ve seen traveling between Jackson and Lansing. Is this a little joke that NS is playing to confuse me or has ADBF taken over the line and is leasing ...

Hello Todd, I’m new to this site but I think I can help you out. I grew up in St. Ignace and I spent a lot time down at the “Chief’s” dock watching the day to day operations of the ferry. One thing I can say for sure is that the Chief had four tracks, not three. Its predecessor the Sainte Marie [1] ...