Detroit Railfanning

[rogruth]

Lucas,

You show many nice photos of trains and motive power.
In the background of some photos can be seen the reason
for the existence of those trains.The factories and other
stuff that leads to the manufacturing of the products that
need transporting. All of that is gone from my home area of
eastern Ohio. There may be some that have never really
seen what a heavy manufacturing area is like.

You could show us what remains in what was once one
of the greatest manufacturing areas in the world by
including some of that stuff with the train s.

[ogauge47]

11/30

NS track work



CSX Y194



CP 235



CP T27



B&M hopper



CP 242

[ogauge47]

12/10

CN 280 with BNSF leader



CN 280 and 451



CN 451



A collection of CN, BNSF and UP power

[ogauge47]

12/13

CP T27 on the Conrail Detroit Line with an ex-SOO SD60 leader



After T27 cleared CSX Q151 followed down the CN Old Main to NS Bridge



CP 551, an empty oil train from Canada



Knocking down the signal at NS Bridge

[ogauge47]

Got out early this morning to watch some trains

Detroit Connecting switching EQ Chemicals



NS 31M



DCon headed to GTW East Yard





[url=https://flic.kr/p/BE7QA6][/url

Amtrak at Milwaukee Junction. This is CP Murray on the CN





A minute later the DCon rounds the southeast wye



And meets 31M doubling up on it's train (and fouling the junction)



An empty rack train meets 31M






A tri-level with no side grates



GTW 4916 leading a local south from Pontiac at Caniff St in Hamtramck



And down at Clay St at Milwaukee Junction

[ogauge47]

Went out this afternoon to catch some trains

CSX V752 at Romulus



GTW 4917 at CN Schaffer Yard



BLE 878. The DT&I half-arch in foreground





CN 348 at Delray



CP ES44ACs running light to Canada



CP 241





CP 235

[rogruth]

Lucas,

You are a lucky guy to get to see so many trains.
I had a similar circumstance when I lived near Springfield, Ohio.

What type of crossing is in front of CP 8920 in the above photo?
Is it just an X leading into a turnout to another track or what?

[ogauge47]

Lucas,

You are a lucky guy to get to see so many trains.
I had a similar circumstance when I lived near Springfield, Ohio.

What type of crossing is in front of CP 8920 in the above photo?
Is it just an X leading into a turnout to another track or what?

The way the street is angled necessitates the additional crossing apparatus

Screen Shot 2015-12-24 at 7.23.07 PM.png (2.14 MiB) Viewed 5661 times

[ogauge47]

One I forgot from yesterday- CSX Q150 (CSX North Baltimore to Conrail Livernois)

[rogruth]

Gates are a little strange there, both on the same side of the street and are short of going across the whole street. A little odd. ?????

[ogauge47]

The Michigan Central Station has all new windows

[ogauge47]

1/15

CP 242



CP 241 with two KCS units









NS BD07 on the Boat Line with empty coke hoppers



CP T27 with DME SD40-2



BD07 coming off the Boat Line



NS 21N and CP 235



CSX Q132



Burnt flag



Three intermodal trains



NS 21N



CP 235



NS 176 waiting for 235 to clear



CSX Y122

[healey36]

The Michigan Central Station has all new windows

I wonder what's up with this property...sure would be great if they got some tenants. Replacing all of those windows seems a bit much to just try to prevent further deterioration. Long ways to go for sure.

Healey

[chuck]

I wonder what's up with this property...

It's really, really complicated. There are a lot of players involved and they don't all have the same interests at heart. The station is not near anything. The site was selected because of the tunnel. Both the rail tunnel and bridge need to be upgraded/replaced but everyone keeps going round and round about doing it.

The tunnel is near the Ambassador Bridge which is owned by the same people that own the station (but not the tunnel). They (bridge owners) proposed a new bridge for trucks only. When this met with resistance they (the bridge owners) jumped on board for a new rail tunnel with the idea of a truck only tunnel using the old tubes and the old passenger yard to be used as a gateway rail and truck (intermodal) yard. The rail yard behind the station is near where the three main freeways in Detroit converge near downtown so you get maximum access to north, east and west routes.

The state government was opposed to both of these plans but lacked the funding to build a new bridge (actually chose not to try and finance not that they couldn't). The owners of the existing bridge agreed to make some bridge approach upgrades in exchange for getting to build a new bridge. Both sides (state and private owner) reneged on their respective deals. Then the state dragged the Canadians into this to back building a new bridge even further down river of the existing one but not near anything else (Canadians provide funding, the steel, and they get most of the jobs).

Now the Canadians probably don't have the funds to build the new bridge, the new rail tunnel is on hold and the only thing that has come out of all of this 7 years of pissing around is the station gets new windows! The federal permit to build the new bridge will be issued soon but I wouldn't plan on driving across it for a long, long, long time.

[rogruth]

That sure is a big SNAFU.