Railfan trip to PA, OH, IN and MI, 8-9 to 8-20-2021 - 6

Hi, Finally a sunny day, Saturday August 14.

This day was to be dedicated to the Grand Elk RR; a Watco subsidiary operating on former PRR track from Grand Rapids, MI to Elkhart, IN. The railroad supposedly ran a road freight south daily so we headed north in an attempt to intercept it.

As we approached Three Rivers, MI we heard switching on the radio and assumed the road freight was nearby. Driving through town we spotted some moving cars and went to investigate. What we found was a tie train (above and seven below) dropping ties at grade crossings along the route.

The train would pull up at a grade crossing spotting the car specified by the track people on the crossing. Two front end loaders fitted with fork lifts would then unload the ties; one from each side  (above and below). When the operation was complete the train and front end loaders would move to another crossing.

Our final photos of the tie train were at Greenmark Equipment north of  Three Rivers.

With the train becoming axis lit we headed for Kalamazoo, MI, the railroad's headquarters, to see if we could get any information on other train movements. The yard was deserted but there were a few units sitting around (above and below). We also stopped at the Amtrak station but nothing was due for hours so we returned to Elkhart.

Because the light had yet to strongly come around to the platform side of trains in Elkhart we followed the suggestion of a railfan we met the day before and continued west following NS. Thus this photo at Mishawaka, IN of a westbound stack train.

Back at Elkhart two westbound showed up (above and below). In the photo below the New York Central unit in the background is an E8 in the collection of the New York Central National Museum.

Thanks for looking.