Hi all,
I was watching the morning news and this caught my attention.
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=79841
Sounds like a great idea. It probably won’t happen though, 60k is a lot of money.
It’s great that there are people and towns that want to save their railroad history.
I’ll bet on the water tower lives and gets moved.
I don’t know about the laws and such in MI, but in Colorado, when something goes onto the historic ledger, the bureaucrats take over and tell you what you can and cannot do to your own property. And you have to pay for it!
Joe
Assuming that CSX still owns the right-of-way and is leasing it to Marquette Rail (the current operators of the line through Grant), they’re being awfully pig-headed about this.
Some time ago, the station at Grant was made into a decent restaurant (don’t know if it’s still in business–haven’t been up that way in ages). The water tower was on the grounds. I didn’t think the caboose was planted that far away from them.
At any rate, this is a wooden tower, and well worthy of preservation. Folks in Grand Rapids could drive up M-37 a few miles to Grant and see this gem (and smell the fresh veggies grown around there!).
…I don’t have any idea how big this said wooden water tower is, but I’d say it will take some extreme care to move an item like that.
I’m sure it can be done by qualified people. They move all sorts of stuff. Must be constructed like a wooden barrel with the steel bands around it to support the structure in it’s round shape.
The closer to the bottom the closer the steel bands will be…
Given CSX’s stand on excursions, this is hardly a surprise, but…
For a couple hundred square feet, unless it would interfere with railroad operations, I’d think CSX would be glad to get some or all of it off their books.
IMHO, some peon at the legal department is on a power trip…
It was a great story,I hope it gets moved…
Danny
Quentin, your description is pretty accurate–it’s not a very small tank.
I’ve edited my previous post to more properly make the point I was trying to: CSX doesn’t do anything up there any more; it has leased the track north of Grand Rapids to what I understand is a more suitable operator, who’s doing a commendable job. Larry, your assessment is probably close to the mark.
This line is pretty interesting–a bit further north, in White Cloud, is a good-sized wooden trestle. Between Grant and White Cloud is a spectacular steel bridge over the Muskegon River, at Newaygo.