I was watching Rails though the north country last night and they featured 6or7 diffrent railroads one of them was the LS&I ore moving operations up in northern Michigan and. I was wondering if anyone has anyone ever been up that way and also. I was wondering how many cars do each train pull because the guys that were filming the movie said the ore is very heavy. But yet they only use two engines to pull the train from the yard to the docks. And even at one point a train picked up another set of ore cars to make the train even heaver but they didnot add any other engines to the front or rear of the train. But back to the movie now has anyone ever seen any of the operations in northern wisconsin or northern michagan beacuse it looks to be very interstaing operation they have going there. So if any one has any info about that operation or any other northern wisconsin or michagan operation pass it my way. [8D][:D]
I know several people from the LS&I and am of the opinion that they are some of the finest railroad people I have met. They run a well maintained fleet of C30-7s and have the only pocket type ore dock on the southern shore of lake Superior. It’s well worth a visit to the UP eh.
Randy
Been there, saw that. Nice piece of RR. You can drive right under the approach to the ore dock on a public road. There is also public access to the west end of the yard at Marquette. Along the route to the mines there are several crossings.
I think that grade may have something to do with the power situation. They pull empties uphill, moving away from the lake / dock. The bring loads back downhill to the dock. Gravity helps. There is one sizable bridge on the line over the Dead River (see link for pics.) http://motorcar.winkworth.us/exc_rpts/dead_river_flood.htm
Might also find some more specific data here: http://www.michiganrailroads.com/
There are some more related photos here: http://motorcar.winkworth.us/exc_rpts/excursionreports.htm
http://www.i2k.com/~dpierce/LSI/
http://www.copperrange.org/lsi.htm
(do a google search on LS&I for more.)
A surprising amount of LS&I steam is preserved. In fact, I believe that one of the Grand Canyon Ry steamers is an ex- LS&I unit and I think that the Western Maryland Ry has one too (both operating.) There is also one static at Green Bay and I believe 2 stored in the UP of Mich.
Have been in the yard and watched them on the docks in Marquette frequently. It is quite an operation to see when they are loading a ship at the ore dock. Odds are pretty good that you will see the albino deer in the yard at Marquette. They have a pretty good sized herd on Presque Isle. Have not been up there since my son graduated from NMU but it was a lot of fun for four years when he went there.