Michigan Cabooses

Anything pertaining to railfanning in Michigan.
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NS3322
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Re: Michigan Cabooses

Unread post by NS3322 »

DLM wrote:
Thu Nov 08, 2012 4:33 pm
Galesburg, MI, Cabooses

Postby caboose9 on Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:11 pm
Hi,

About 12 years ago it was reported that Dr. James Smith, Galesburg, MI, has four cabooses - PM/C&O A609, ATSF?/GTW #?, GTW 77028, & PRR/D&M 207 - on his property. About 3 years ago someone, who didn't have an actual address, did tell me "they are south of town on S. 38th St."

Surely someone must know if and where these four cabooses are located or that they have been moved.

I drove the semi that carried the trucks and track panel for one of the cabooses there. It is on the west side of 38th south of I-94. They are along a very long driveway into the woods. This was 20 years ago. The caboose came from Coopersville, MI.
I think I may have solved the mystery as to where exactly the Smith property is on 38th Street.
Thanks to the new update and overhaul to the Kalamazoo County GIS online parcel viewer, I discovered the Dr. James Smith property is registered with (presumably) his wife's name first (SMITH CAROLE J & JAMES R). This explains why past searches came up with nothing.

Unfortunately due to heavy tree cover it is impossible to tell if any cabooses still exist on the property. With only the 1999 aerial imagery showing anything that looks like four cabooses.
galesburgcabooses.JPG
There does appear to be some object that looks like a caboose in the 2013 imagery...but it could be anything.
galesburgcabooses2.JPG
Here is an image of the parcel.
smith.JPG

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MQT1223
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Re: Michigan Cabooses

Unread post by MQT1223 »

I never knew about the ex. Santa Fe/GTW (?) caboose located on the SE side of Clare back near the current EOT on the old PM remnant. Has that been there for a while?
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Tom Train
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Re: Michigan Cabooses

Unread post by Tom Train »

The Clare cab has been there at least 5 years that I know of.

Raildudes dad
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Re: Michigan Cabooses

Unread post by Raildudes dad »

It is or was owned by the Mears Group in Rosebush who used it on their plow train for fiber optic cable back when most of the fiber was plowed in RR ROW's. It's been there since they parked their train 30? years. Looking on google earth, the plow train is gone. I think the train was there too IIRC

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NS3322
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Re: Michigan Cabooses

Unread post by NS3322 »

Raildudes dad wrote:
Thu Sep 02, 2021 8:44 am
It is or was owned by the Mears Group in Rosebush who used it on their plow train for fiber optic cable back when most of the fiber was plowed in RR ROW's. It's been there since they parked their train 30? years. Looking on google earth, the plow train is gone. I think the train was there too IIRC
I believe Tom Train and MQT1223 are referring to GTW 75000 which is on display outside the Northern Dry Bulk HQ in the industrial park. This cab was on display off of M-115 near Farwell for many years until the owner passed away and someone from NDB bought it. It is painted ATSF on one side and GTW on the other.

In total there are four known cabooses in the Clare area:
GTW 75000 at Northern Dry Bulk
GTW 79185 & C&O 90630 at the Clare Depot
CN 79781 at the former Mears Group site

Image
Image

Raildudes dad
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Re: Michigan Cabooses

Unread post by Raildudes dad »

The GT/ATSF one was owned by "Frosty" who lived on M-115. I ASSumed they were talking about the one on the siding.They didn't say anything about NDB.I should have picked up on the GT/ATSF id.

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