June 21 - CN Mt. Clemens Sub

A very interesting day today in the Port Huron area on the CN. The tunnel yard must have been backed up quite a bit.

 First I found an Eastbound train on the Flint Sub at Wadhams Road waiting, lights off, on the siding west of Wadhams. Busy traffic did not allow me to find a good place to pull off and take pictures, so I moved on.

Second, I found a similar situation on the Mt. Clemens Sub. Once again, an eastbound mixed freight train was waiting just on the west side of Range Road.

VIDEO:

That there is GTW 4902 a GP 38 and CN 2138 a C40-8W. The only thing that would make it better would be if 4902 was still in the GT blue and orange!

Right after I took this picture it started down pouring, so there are no pics or videos of when the locomotives uncoupled and continued east, leaving the train behind. With Griswold and Michigan Roads closed due to the grade separation project, I could not see what exactly was going on in the yard, but here is a view from the Amtrak station.

About an hour later, I returned. And so did the 2138 without its GTW counterpart.

June 13 - CN Port Huron

At Port Huron's Amtrak station, we see a CN mixed freight come off the Port Huron-Chicago line and enter the St. Clair River international tunnel. CN #8897 (EMD SD 70M) and CN #5655 (EMD SD 75I) leave the Port Huron yard and slowly approaches the signal from the distance.

 Then, the train comes to a halt and turns off its lights. About a minute later, the automatic switch is pulled and the train turns its lights on and starts moving to the tunnel.

Detroit Edison Switchers

Detroit Edison's St. Clair and Belle River Power Plant have two EMD switchers working at the plants. After CSX brings the coal in, these old workhorses take the railcars to be tipped, emptying the coal, and then back to the mainline for CSX to pickup. These were seen from the bike path along M-29 in East China Township.

#217 is an SW 1001

#213 is an SW 600

June 13 - CSX Northbound Marysville

Now, here is the same train Northbound mixed freight through Marysville Park at Huron Blvd. #6864 is a GP 40 and #2674 is a GP 38-2.  The 2674 has been on the line for at least a year now, usually accompanied by a GP-15.

Interesting hopper, I have not seen this style on this line before. Most likely for plastic pellets.

Now here is the same train passing Detroit Edison's Marysville Power Plant. It takes about an hour to get from Davis Road to Port Huron, a trip that will take about 10minutes driving.

June 13 - CSX St. Clair Yard

On June 13th we find CSX working the St. Clair Yard around 10:00 am.

The remote control locomotives couple onto two box cars (most likely bagged salt from the salt plant in St. Clair) and a hopper (plastic pellets).

They then cross Davis Road and backup onto another siding and attach the box cars to a string of hoppers.

 The locomotives then uncouple, and both move across Davis Rd. to switch the Ethanol plant and Propane Storage facility. When they return, they attach their first string of hoppers and boxes to another string of tanks. The train leaves the St. Clair yard at 11am and heads north through Marysville.