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L303 by Lake Odessa 1420 hrs.

D706 by Lake Odessa 12:40.

D705 by Lake Odessa at 15:53. 104 cars.

Thanks for that information, Tim. Did you have to make qualifying trips Wayne to Flint, or did you have a pilot? In any event it's some "rare mileage" for your career rail map.

While I presume most interchange at Holly was handled by locals the C&O operated a pair of contract trains for Conrail between Jackson & Flint that worked Holly. The Conrail Connector (CRCN) between Flint and Jackson and the Flint Flyer (FLFL) running the opposite direction were instituted in late O...

AARR wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 27, 2021 3:51 pm

Thank you SD80

There's a place on MSO in White Pigeon that gets an occasional carload of cottonseed

SD80MAC wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 27, 2021 2:30 pm

AARR wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 27, 2021 2:29 pm

I think CSX also has a cotton seed customer between Grand Rapids and Lansing

There used to be. Not any more.

Cotton seed used to go to Lake Odessa.

My remembrance of industry on the Ionia subdivision includes the Central Soya plant in Portland. It spanned Divine Highway right next to Grand River Avenue. An interesting bit of trivia, Central Soya had their own fleet of cars, and their reporting marks were CSX. Once CSX was formed Central Soya ch...

There is an HO model of a former GTW 86'er re-stenciled MMRR on eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/114890466157

According to CSX Freight Schedule & Classification books the Roadrailer trains originated/terminated in Middlebelt Yard.

There was a wigwag on the C&O in Portland well into the 70's. It guarded the crossing of Divine Highway.

The Soo/CP trains started running in early August 1985. I saw the first 500 go east by MA Tower in Lansing at 3:45 am on August 8th. Power was 4 Soo SD40-2's: 6621, 6623, 6619 & 6622. The train had 30 loads, 15 empties with Soo wide vision cabooses 93 & 8 on the rear.

Tim's report of Mustangs from Metuchen New Jersey were not the only time auto-racks made an appearance in Ionia. From 1964-1967 AO Smith built fiberglass Corvette bodies and shipped them to St Louis in open tri level racks for final assembly. This was described in an article in the June 2006 issue o...

I don't recall silos at the spot along Bayard. All I ever saw was the concrete compartments similar to what you see at landscape material dealers. There were silos along East Adams Street near Weber Court. I never saw those used and they were eventually razed. The few hopper cars the C&O brought int...

I moved to Ionia with my family in 1972 and, with the exception of 1979-1986, have lived here ever since. During the 70's the C&O's main customer was General Tire, taking out loads in assigned 86 footers (Return empty to C&O Ionia Mich). I remember there were also bulkhead flats of fiberglass covers...

Ken Skopp's train show list from September 8th has a listing for a "Model Railroad Sale" in Plymouth at the C&O Freight House, 904 Starkweather. Listing says it is a 3 day show beginning Thursday the 24th (tomorrow). Anyone else hear anything about this or know anything about it?

Great post Doug. Thank you. Books from the late 70's have eluded me. I see at this time C&O and B&O still maintained separate books. Any idea when they combined into one book? Also did Chessie ever have a binder for their freight schedules from the 70's-80's or did they just use a plain 3 ring binder?

I remember you could always tell when the C&O was in Ionia because the top red light was much brighter than the lower red light on the eastbound GTW signal at the diamond. The signal remained that way until the C&O left town. My question is, what would have happened if a GT train came along. Would t...