Looking at the January’s issue fold our map of the PennCentral in 1969, I’m surprised to see the amount of traffic claimed on the GR&I between Fort Wayne and Kalamazoo. most all I can ever remember seeing on that line in the 60’s was local work, so I’m curious what interacity freight actually got hauled over that line, in 1969?
I first came on the ex-GR&I line south of Kalamazoo thanks to my wife! Her family held annual reunions at a relative’s house on the shore of Austin Lake, just south of Kalamazoo/Portage. I recall seeing at least one good-sized train over that line, which carried a number of auto-parts cars, which I assumed would be going on up to Grand Rapids. This was in the 1970s, and I can only assume that the “P” and the “C” were still operationally separate entities then. Of course, this stuff eventually went by way of Elkhart, then up the ex-NYC line to Kalamazoo, so the line past the lake was abandoned, at least south of the airport.
One train does not make the kind of traffic the map was claiming…And even then I’m having to wonder where the origin was for those Grand-Rapids-bound auto parts, from off of the PRR main line down here up towards the north? Seldom would see ANY whole train head up north on that line from down here
I know they had some large fruit orchards up around K’zoo, could they have been originating loads up there?
I suspect that it was more a case of auto parts coming from Grand Rapids–the two big plants up there were both Fisher Body. Both are now shuttered.
Seems to me that Kalamazoo itself may have had some business involving auto-parts cars. I know Checker was still in business, but don’t know whom, if anyone, they relied on.
I don’t think the fruit business provided much in the way of traffic for the railroads by that time. But at that point the line still went to Mackinaw City (and the ferry), with branches to Muskegon and Traverse City that still supported regular traffic. Both the line north of GR and the branch to Muskegon are bike trails now.
But major shippers beyond Fisher Body–I haven’t a clue.
The Simpson-Lee Paper Mill in Vicksburg was one of the customers on the line.
The Upjohn Plant in Portage, MI was a large customer, but some of that traffic might have come down from Kalamazoo.
I remember seeing a 1970’s derailment north of Vicksburg when I was very young. There were Pullman-Standard 3-Bay Covered Hoppers and 50’ Boxcars full of Cereal in the train. Apparently some trains were routed from Battle Creek to Kalamazoo, then south through Portage towards Vicksburg, It was an all Penn Central routing to avoid the GTW.
Andrew
Looking for articles about Upjohn Pharmacutical production in Portage, Michigan, this rail freight switching article was found.
http://motorcar.winkworth.us/bio/pfizer_ops.jpg
Andrew
This is a long web page about the Simpson-Lee Paper Mill alongside the GR&I-PRR-PC-CR line between Kalamazoo and Elkhart.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mivhs/vicksburgleepaper.htm
Andrew
IRRC, this was how the Pennsy routed much of their traffic into non-Detroit Michigan, with the traffic plugging into the east-west PPR mains at Fort Wayne and Richmond, IN. Besides the traffic mentioned in the above posts, there was a substantial PRR/GTW interchange (at Vicksburg?) for auto parts traffic moving to and from GTW plants from points and interchange on the PRR in the Indianapolis and St. Louis area.
PC went after the latter as one of their first post-merger targets with the traffic shifted to a PC routing into the Detroit area on PC lines for interchange to GTW.
Thanks Andrew!! very informative!
The carferries between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace must have provided a small portion of the traffic shown on the map of the northern portion of the Grand Rapids & Indiana.
http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/historic/perspectives/chiefwawatam/default01.htm
Andrew
In order to know more about the rail traffic one would have to also know what all the active railside businesses were in Mendon, Michigan and Sturgis, Michigan in 1969.
as a footnote, I have recently “recovered” vague memories of seeing stacked shipments of car/truck frames moving on that line, not sure if they were headed north or south,
Been a long time ago, but I seem to remember a pretty good sized rail yard facility in the SoutheEastern quadrant of Grand Rapids, out near the airport area. I recall a fairly good sized appliance mfg and warehousing operation out that way as well. Was there not a lot of furniture manufacturers in the Grand Rapids area? Around Kentwood there was a large fruit processor of somesort (Kelloggs? Made fruit concentrates for other food manufacturers). Would not Amway out at Alma, be a destination from various chemicals, be included in the GR area?
The former PRR yard (Hughart) cuts through the south side of Grand Rapids, not too far west of the base line. Even into NS days, auto-parts box cars dominated the equipment seen there. I’m not sure the appliance manufacturers gave much business to the railroads, and the traditional furniture makers still in business used trucks. I do remember seeing Kellogg-leased RBLs (several at a time) at the PC yard in around 1969 and 1970. Amway in Ada (Alma’s considerably further northeast), was served by the GTW. Keep in mind that the big player in Grand Rapids railroading (though not necessarily in terms of local business) was the C&O, which had a major yard, shops, dispatching office, and passenger service in two directions from there. Some interchange between the railroads took place, but these things were handled by yard switchers, not large transfer runs.
Checker did receive covered steel coil gondolas and auto parts box cars from the NYC-PC-CR mainline that ran through Kalamazoo’s north side.
What has not been mentioned yet is when did passenger trains end on the GR&I-PRR.
Andrew
The answer to that is definitely inside of this book, it’s just been a while since I read it
If I recall properly, regularly scheduled passenger service died out fairly early, with scheduled sportsman’s specials lasting a few years longer (The “Fishing Line”)
Year Round passenger service to Macinaw City ended in Oct 1950.
Regular Cincinnati to Grand Rapids Sleeper service ended in April 1953, remaining coach service was further curtailed to Grand Rapids-Sturgis only on December 8, 1954
Thereafter the seasonal “Northern Arrow” made only about 20 round trips per season (July 1- Sept 11), begining it’s final north bound trip on Sept 1 1961, and it’s final southbound trip on Sept 4, 1961. (made only 13 round trips in it’s final season)
So, if there was only Grand Rapids-Sturgis coach service, that was apparently isolated from the rest of the PRR system’s passenger service. When did that end?
reading about the resort service on this line was fascinating. I read that they had Sleeper cars originating as far away as Jacksonville FL, coming up through Cincinnati, Richmond (IN), Fort Wayne, Kalamazoo, and on up … There was also service originating in St Louis, passing through Chicago, and on up into Grand Rapids, via routing that is not specified in the “Indiana specific” source I cited, sorry. But I’d be forced to guess that this latter routing somehow connected with the Grand Rapids-Sturgis local mentioned above.
Then again, perhaps not. Recall how the railroads, once they decided that a passenger route needed to die, were sometime fond of making connections as inconvenient as possible, in their little game of “justify termination”