Well no need to report on the "Canadian" portion of this trip as we did not make it to Canada! The U.P. trip is listed below! After I get film developed and/or negatives scanned, I will post pictures in a "Trip Report!"
Friday April 1: Roger and I went up to Sault Ste. Marie! Even though no
"Covid" test required for entry, Canada still needs an
"APP" downloaded! I don't do
"APPS!!!!" We caught the return
CN from Sault Ste. Marie, ON crossing the Saint Mary's River!
CN "Widecab" GE lead, another
D.P.U. in the middle. Slept in the vehicle at Trout Lake.
Saturday April 2: Saw some of
Watco®'s leased engines. One near Trout Lake (
HLCX GP38-2 3885) connected to a train with no one occupying cab. At Newberry, MI there was
Decatur & Eastern Illinois® (ex
NS GP38-2) #5551 parked. Went to Eagle Mills JCT. and soon were greeted by an old guy who looks like Santa Claus, Jim!!!! He drives an old Crown Victoria and sells
LS&I RR merchandise! I bought two
LSI hats for $17! As a matter of fact this is exactly what I wanted for the trip! My goal for the trip was catching old
BN GE "Green" locos! They don't run very much! Caught
CEFX "Blue" GE units on the westbound "Weigher" train to get ore loads for
CN! Went to ask at
Buck's Restaurant® Ishpeming! We talked to a nice female waitress asking for a good fish place! None there! Went around Eagle Mills Yard! Then met a guy who works for LS&I and went to a great place he recommended,
"Hudson's Classic Car Restaurant®!" Lake Superior Whitefish! We slept by the tracks!
Sunday April 3: The two morning westbound trains were the "Weigher" and "Tilden" jobs! Both going westbound to the Tilden Mine and using the "Blue" GEs! Saw a
CN job go north! We then caught it going south at Eagle Mills JCT. with two
CN SD60s, 20 cars! There were two ex
CEFX (now
LSI)
AC4400CW locos, 1005/1003! They went light to Eagle Mills and came back west light to get loads for the next job! Not much else that day besides just looking around! That night we slept at Eagle Mills JCT. In the middle of the night was a "Tilden" job going to Eagle Mills with loads, two ex
CEFX GEs!
Monday April 4: The
LSI worker brought us breakfast from
Hardees®! We saw the
"Weigher" come with one single unit, a
"Blue" (ex CEFX)
LS&I AC4400CW! It ran
"Long Hood Forward," 47 cars! One
"Blue" engine
"Blew" its Traction Motor! Now we were hoping
"Greens" would come later! Turned out
LS&I quickly fixed the
"Blue" engine and the
"Greens" did not come out!
Roger and I saw the
Mineral Range Railroad®! In the yard I saw an ex
EJE caboose. Then saw them open the garage door and fire up both
GP9s! Green ex
BN ISLX #1345 and
"High Hood" MR colored #1323!!!!! Got excellent S-VHS video of them starting up! Saw the train going with the
"High Hood" leading! We were following them to Humbolt! Roger's truck was having problems (thought bad brakes)! Luckily the
LSI worker told us where to go for fix! Het met us there! Turned out a Wheel Bearing was broken! A guy said we only had 20 miles to go before explosion! We were lucky here! They fixed in less than an hour and we continued to Humbolt! Got the
Mineral Range® leaving with 11 cars, ex BN 1345 leading! Followed it back to Ishpeming! After that it was dinner time! Went to that
Buck's Restaurant® Ishpeming (place we asked for good fish a couple days before)! The nice waitress, Taylor, actually wants to see me again! Very nice and now we are friends on FB! That night we slept beside the ore dock, Presque Isle! Saw the ore dumping into the "Maumee!"
Tuesday April 5: I was up extremely early and photographed boats at the dock! Also the display
LS&I train! Camera on tripod, raised above the fence, and used shutter release cable to photograph this train with a 17mm lens (Canon 35mm S.L.R.)! This was a great idea because of the darn fence! Saw the
"Maumee" depart! Did the same thing with S-VHS and
"Fish Eye" lens! Later we again met the
LSI worker at Eagle Mills JCT! Saw more
"BLUE" ex CEFX locos, 1003/1005! Ran "Light" both east then west! I did not want to wait for its return! I had enough "Blues!" Though he suggested the Buffalo street crossing! There you can witness trains climbing the grade out of Tilden Mine! I only wanted
"Greens" for that!
Roger and I left for Escanaba! We caught a westbound
CN departing Gladstone (the yard also included two
GTW GP38-2s)! It had two
CN SD60s, 53 cars. We followed the
CN train and got them crossing the Escanaba River, Wells! Caught
Escanaba & Lake Superior® GP38 #400 running light too! I had along a pack of pix that were given to me at Woodward Camera®, Birmingham, MI in 2019! The guy never claimed them. I had this pack of pictures (4x6/8x10) for three years! Suddenly, January 31, 2022, I saw one of these pictures posted on E&LS group! I commented showing scanned ones! This guy, Michael Koprowicz, was going to meet me! He knew who I was since he has bought my train calendars sold at
P&D Hobby®, Fraser, MI. He lives in Toledo, OH and is Conductor on
Amtrak® "Lake Shore Limited!" However, he had his own problems and now does not want the pix back! At least he told me about the girl in the picture from August 2018! She's from Bark River, MI and was curious about the train! OH Yeah, now I went to Bark River looking for the girl (had three copies of this photo)!
Family Dollar® was no help but a girl there said go to
"Massie's® Store" since they know all the local townsfolk! Went to
Massie's® and I gave this picture to a manager! WOW she "knows this girl!" I left my phone number and shortly later got a text from the girl in the picture (Jennifer)! After we ate at
"Buck Inn®" I found a "Text" from this girl on my phone! Since I don't text I called! We soon talked! I found out her Fiancé's birthday is the day before mine (July 27)! She actually has family who lives in Detroit area! We will meet for Lunch this year!!!! I was determined to find her!!!!
Finally slept in a hotel, Ecolodge®!!!!
Wednesday April 6: Rainy day! We got the
E&LS GP38 #400 switching a lot in Wells! We went to the Roundhouse area and saw lots of dead
Baldwins®, SD9s and the ex
WSOR F7A #600 parked! Hopefully this will return! A
CN train was stopped on the bridge and headed east! Photographed more of
ELS 400 switching! I asked the engineer (Dennis Bordeau) to turn on the
Classification Lights! He said they were not working! However, shortly later he actually replace the bulbs! All four
Class Lights were now turned on!
Thanx!!!! The
E&LS crews are nice! I know the owner isn't! Saw a westbound
CN with two standard
"Widecab" GE locos (one mid D.P.U.)! Then saw the other side of the Wells Roundhouse but lost
ELS GP38 #400! There were more
F-units and
Baldwins® on this side! The ex
Wisconsin & Calumet® F-units I actually saw at the National Railroad Museum, Green Bay, WI, August 2002 (last time I was in this part of the state)! The
LSI employee soon called (around 1 p.m.)! The
"Greens" were on duty at 3 p.m. We then
"Zoomed" back to Marquette area from there! However, we were heading the wrong direction! Of course Lake Michigan shouldn't be on the right heading north! We mistakenly went on Highway 2 and ended up in Manistique (approx. 45 miles out of the way)! Quickly turned around and made it back to Highway 35! Got to Eagle Milles JCT. and saw
"Blues" again! East Light and south with empties! This was not the train! I thought we came back for nothing!!!! Soon talked to the
LSI worker though! We took his advice and went to Buffalo crossing for the loaded
"Tilden" job!!!!!!!! Got excellent S-VHS video of the
"Greens" climbing the grade!
U30C #3009 and
C30-7 #3073, 60 loaded ore cars! Then saw these ex
BN locos switching Eagle Mills yard at both ends! They were going back to Tilden Mine with only loads of Caustic Soda and Bentonite Clay for supplies! Lastly went to Eagle Mills JCT. to catch this! Saw one ore train with
"Blues" (
LSI 1003/1005) going to Eagle Mills! Then a northbound
CN job with two
SD60s, 56 cars! Then the final
LS&I train with those
"Greens!!!!!" Wow, we almost did not catch these units running! Even though the weather wasn't the greatest that last day (rain), we had
"SUCCESS!!!!" Also saw the ore train going east of Eagle Mills to dock! Ate dinner with the
LSI worker at
Hudson's®! Cod Fish!!!!
Just headed home and barely slept an hour in the truck on the way back! Came home officially Thursday April 7th afternoon!
It was a great trip! I will actually return Memorial Weekend with my good old friend Scott Waters! I decided against going to the
"Bessemer" of PA this time! I figured I should go to the U.P. again to have another chance to catch LS&I "Greens" before they are fully gone!!!!!