#botower

Passenger Train Journal

I had a photograph published in the current Passenger Train Journal (2024-3): Amtrak Midwest SC-44 4629 leads a mostly Horizon Fleet train at Kalamazoo, Michigan. The eastbound train is on the former Michigan Central midway between Detroit and Chicago. That's BO Tower in the background, which was razed to the ground three months after this image was made. You can read about that here.

Blue Water, Back Lit

The Blue Water, Amtrak 364, is fifteen minutes late tonight. She’s made her station stop and is accelerating past BO tower, now defunct, in the middle of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The train will soon cross the Kalamazoo River on the former Michigan Central line.

RIP: BO Tower

Here’s another re-post: BO Tower languishes while a group tries to raise money to save. It didn’t work: the tower was razed yesterday. My text from the post from nearly three years ago now:

This is eastbound Amtrak 352 accelerating out of Kalamazoo, Michigan; the sun is setting on a on an unseasonably warm day. The train has just left the downtown station, is seen passing boarded-up BO tower, and will soon cross the Kalamazoo River on its way to Detroit and ultimately Pontiac. The line here was once the Michigan Central, then NYC, Penn Central, Conrail, and Norfolk Southern before becoming a property of Amtrak.

RIP: BO Tower

This tower, located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was torn down today (December 28th 2021). It was built by the Michigan Central in 1915 and was taken out of service around 2016 or so.

In the first image, note the PC sticker placed over that of the New York Central. Lots of history gone today I’m afraid.

Checking up on BO Tower

The tower in Kalamazoo, Michigan, still stands, but just. I've heard that a group would like to save it but needs to raise a bunch of money. And I noticed a sign that tells a story.

The Michigan Central was supplanted by the New York Central, which was folded into Penn Central. Conrail nor Norfolk Southern is not represented here, but that is the line of succession.

Blue Water in Kalamazoo

Train 364, an eastbound Blue Water, has just arrived in Kalamazoo, Michigan. That’s BO Tower in the mid-distance, which has been shut down for a few years now. This line is former Michigan Central; we are at MP 143, which is the mid-point between Chicago and Detroit.

BO Tower