Detroit Railfanning

[healey36]

Thanks for the info Chuck. Sounds like a mess. Does Detroit still have enough thru-traffic to warrant all of this? I guess the obvious answer is yes, or they wouldn't be contemplating it (or maybe no, since they can't get it done). I often wondered why this terminal was built so far out from the city...this brings a bit of clarity to that question.

Healey

[chuck]

By any measure this is the prime crossing between the US and Canada. A lot of traffic goes through that crossing. The main reason for the location for both the bridge and the rail tunnel is the Detroit River (which is actually just a connecting channel between the upper and lower great lakes). This means deep and fast moving water and a lot of it.

The development in "downtown" Detroit and Windsor would have made building a bridge or rail tunnel difficult (approaches for both are significant). The vehicular tunnel in downtown is almost invisible on both sides (cars/trucks can handle tight turns and grades much easier than trains). BTW, avoid the vehicle tunnel or make sure there is NO traffic so you can breeze through. You don not want to get stuck in it. The new proposed bridge is even further away (to the left on the image).

The station and bridge are only two miles from the "Downtown" area. Here is an annotated snap from Google Earth.



Neither central business districts for Detroit or Windsor spread out along the River. They both run north/south in corridors away from the river. The snap only shows the riverfront area of Detroit. There is another cluster north of the image called the cultural center and then a another cluster north and west of that (New Center). All of these are only a couple of miles apart and should be within easy walking distance. There is a chance that the new sports complexes will tie these all together (not by design but by accident). Biggest hurdle at this point is everyone drives everywhere and you need tons of parking. All of those lots break up the space. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.

[ogauge47]

1/17

A very cold and very CP day...

CP 242



CP T28



CP 6017





CSX Y122





NS 27W



Oakwood Yard Job, ex-N&W SD40-2



CP 241



NS B73





CP 244





Two types of red





CP 240 and the Michigan Central Depot

[ogauge47]

I had a change of plans on my birthday this past Saturday so I went out for a few hours to watch trains

IC 3101 at CN Schaefer Yard



GTW 4619 crossing over the Conrail Junction Runner at Schaefer Jct



Crossing the drive at AK Steel



Pulling into the Ford Rouge Plant





NS BD07 under the Fort St. bridge, bring empty coke hoppers from Zug Island





Detroit Salt



Back at Schaefer Jet. 4619 over Schaefer Highway



GTW and IC power



The DT&I arches



Yard job at Oakwood



NS B70 running light to Milan, MI



CP T27 with a matched set of ex-SOO SD60s



NS 196 with an ex-SOO SD60





GTW 5817



Switching the Ford Rouge plant







NS steel train (60K?) on the Conrail Junction Runner





5817 crossing over Conrail



CSX Y194 on the ex-Wabash Boat Line pulling empty coke hoppers off of Zug Island

[ogauge47]

Followed CSX Y194 on the ex-Wabash Boat Line this afternoon

[ogauge47]

1/30

CSX Y194 shoving a coke train onto Zug Island



NS 31M



CP 242 with a brand new UP leader



Meeting CN 383



CN 383



CP T27 with a new SD30C-ECO



NS BD07 at the Delray Connecting RR interchange, dropping off 4 tankers





Coupling onto it's consist at the Reserve Yard







Y194 pulling off Zug Island



Coming onto the Boat Line

[ogauge47]

2/2

Stopped by Milwaukee Junction this afternoon

NS 121 with a mix of UP and NS power, including a GP38 being transferred between Conrail North Yard and NS Oakwood



CN 515, a Pontiac-Detroit job





CN 385 with IC 2719 leading







CN 533 pulling in from Port Huron. They turn the engine on the wye at Milwaukee to head long hood forward up to Moterm

[ogauge47]

2/3
There was a fire at Delray tower last night so all the signals and switches didn't work. All trains had to be walked past the dark signals by dispatch and switches thrown by hand

NS 21N



CSX Y122



CSX Q150



NS 29G

[rogruth]

Lucas,

Is most of the traffic in your photographic area containers?
I don't know about others but I would like to see some of what is behind the locos you show us.
It seems that you have all of the major roads in your area plus some short lines and switching roads.
We only see 2 to 4 trains a day here.

[ogauge47]

Lucas,

Is most of the traffic in your photographic area containers?
I don't know about others but I would like to see some of what is behind the locos you show us.
It seems that you have all of the major roads in your area plus some short lines and switching roads.
We only see 2 to 4 trains a day here.

We get a mix in Detroit but 3 of the 4 trains I photographed today were containers. There is a lot of automotive traffic, with at least 10 dedicated auto parts and autorack trains daily, plenty of intermodal on all roads except Conrail, steel industry traffic (coke and finished steel), coal, oil and manifests. There is a good mix of everything.
In Delray alone, CN, CP, NS, CSX and Conrail run trains. The Detroit Connecting (DCON) interchanges with CN up at Milwaukee Junction and the Delray Connecting RR interchanges with CSX, NS and Conrail on the Boat Line by the Detroit River. There are about 50-60 regular trains a day through the city, and every long-haul train, save for Amtrak, goes through Delray Junction.

I will make an effort to show some of the consists next time I go out

[rogruth]

Lucas,
That would be nice. Thank you.

[ogauge47]

2/5

CP 242. KCS unit trailing



Conrail light power



Power and NS 332



242 at Delray Tower



GTW 4917 at Schaefer



NS B19 on the Conrail Junction Runner





CP 241





'SC 65' drawn on the second unit



NS 21N with BNSF power



CN 451



NS BD07 with empty coke hoppers





CSX pulling up for headroom

[ogauge47]

Snapped these on my way to a gig in Hamtramck on 2/6

NS autorack train with UP power. The lead unit is a downrated AC6000CW



GTW 4907 at CN East Yard

[Mitch]

1/30

CP T27 with a new SD30C-ECO

Lucas, what's up with this SD30C? Big flared radiators like an ACE. What's in it for power? New from EMD? Catapillar powered? What's it's claim to fame?

[ogauge47]

1/30

CP T27 with a new SD30C-ECO

Lucas, what's up with this SD30C? Big flared radiators like an ACE. What's in it for power? New from EMD? Catapillar powered? What's it's claim to fame?

The SD30C is an EMD rebuild with a new more fuel efficient variant of the 710 engine. These were built from SD40-2F units. This batch was delivered just a month or two ago so it was surprising to see it on a local Windsor, Canada to Detroit train