History of the "State of Michigan - Northern Michigan Railroad Franchise"
The State of Michigan took over several struggling northern Michigan lines in the early 1970s.
1 line runs from Grand Rapids, north to Traverse City, Petoskey and to Mackinac City (note this is not the GR&I, but was built in place of it). This line had a branch off to Manistee, and other branch lines the RR Administrator is not yet aware of. The line was retained by the state primarily to serve a coal fired generating plant along Lake Michigan south of Traverse City, at a place called Wootton. The modeled portion begins just south of Traverse City, at the North End of Wootton Siding, a 28 car passing siding directly at the Consumers Power “Ross Koepea” Generating Plant. Apx. 36’ south, after a sojourn through the northern Michigan woods, the line comes to Milten, junction with the Saginaw line referenced below. A few road crossings and a trip near downtown come before a manual interlocked diamond, with automatic remote junction switch from SBD to EBD, which is tied into the interlocking plant. Apx. 10’ south of the interlocking is North End Stanley, the longest siding on the line at 33 cars. At South end of Stanley, is Manistee Junction, which goes from SBD to WBD, and 10’ into a 4 track staging yard. Apx. 15’ south of Manistee Jct. is LeRoy, a town with 1 junk yard served, and a closed depot. Apx. 10’ south of LeRoy, the line passes over US 131, and a couple of farms, reaching the town of Mitchell. Mitchell is the home of Hooker Chemicals, producing Chlorine Gas, among other things. It generates 4-7 cars a day. A 3’ draw spans the Mitchell River (aka entrance to the room) and the line crosses into Wade, near downtown and a couple smaller customers TBD. Wade and Mitchell are loosely based on Montague/Whitehall. In Wade is the North End of Hughes Siding, a 23 car passing siding. Apx. 10’ south of the South end of Hughes, the line passes into south end staging (Grand Rapids) at this point.
Another line runs from Saginaw, off to the Northwest, and eventually to Lake Michigan and a ferry service. (It is currently “abandoned in place west of Milten, I will back up the time a year when the line is put in service). Speeds are limited to 25 mph on this line. This line crosses the other at “Milten”, and serves the Heinz Tomato Products Divison at Milten Heights. Apx. 10’ east is Cotter Yard, a currently abandoned 2 track yard, and a 14 car passing siding. Apx. 15' west of Cotter is Decker, with an 11 car siding, busy elevator (in season), and Christmas tree shipping (in season). Apx. 5’ east of Decker is the Saginaw Staging Yard (Which is the other end of the Traverse City Staging Yard).
Traffic includes the following:
311 (GR to Traverse City) apx. 18-25 cars / day
312 (Traverse City to GR) apx. 18-25 cars / day
342/343 (Manistee to GR, return) apx. 8-12 cars / day
Local (Traverse City to Wade and return) apx. 8-12 cars / day
17 car unit coal trains (Ross Koepea Coal Trains) every other day from GR 385/386 Turn (TC to Saginaw and return – through and Local) apx. 15 cars
Extra Grain trains every couple of days in season.
Currently, in 1983, the C&O (Chessie System) has the franchise for operating the states trackage on both lines. When the line from Milten to Lake Michigan is “unabandoned”, the GTW will win the franchise on the Saginaw line. Amtrak is looking into extending the service north to Milten or TC then as well, connecting with the Pere Marquette in GR, and going to Detroit via Lansing.
The Upper Level
The westbound line marked "abandoned" through Bloomquist Jct has been extended around a loop and into a 3 track staging yard - not yet in service however!
The Middle Level
The Lowest Level
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