Traverse City Turn, 1 of 7

Last Friday I was able to squeeze off some shots of Great Lakes Central’s Traverse City Turn—I’ll put up a series of posts here to illustrate this (1/7).

The train is approaching Traverse City from Cadillac here: it’s negotiating the tunnels at Hammond and Keystone south of town.

Traverse City Turn, 4 of 7

Last Friday I was able to squeeze off some shots of Great Lakes  Central’s Traverse City Turn—I’ll put up a series of posts here to  illustrate this (4/7).

I couldn’t shoot the train in town as it serviced its two customers: Beacon Recycling, and Amerhart Lumber (over near Williamsburg). Both of those jobs are along the former Pere Marquette, but we’re back on the former Grand Rapids & Indiana/Pennsy here, once gain near the tunnels located at West Hammond Road and North Keystone Road.

Traverse City Turn, 3 of 7

Last Friday I was able to squeeze off some shots of Great Lakes Central’s Traverse City Turn—I’ll put up a series of posts here to illustrate this (3/7).

Here the train is still on the former GR&I alignment but then, in the final image, curves onto the connector track to the former Pere Marquette in Traverse City. The locomotives for Great Lakes Central are former Ann Arbor GP35s that have Alco trucks, probably from traded-in FAs; number 385 was built in March of 1964, number 390 from April of the same year.

Traverse City Turn, 2 of 7

Last Friday I was able to squeeze off some shots of Great Lakes Central’s Traverse City Turn—I’ll put up a series of posts here to illustrate this (2/7).

In this series, the train is approaching Traverse City from Cadillac: it’s still along side Keystone Road between Hammond and Park, south of town. The line here is Grand Rapids & Indiana that became part of the Pennsy system.

Traverse City Turn, 6 of 7

Last Friday I was able to squeeze off some shots of Great Lakes  Central’s Traverse City Turn—I’ll put up a series of posts here to  illustrate this (6/7).

Our train is further along the branch by this point—having just climbed out of the Traverse Bay area. To let us know this, the train has just gone through Summit City. I’m really fond of the going-away shot here and would like to bag a northbound at the same locale.

Traverse City Turn, 7 of 7

Last Friday I was able to squeeze off some shots of Great Lakes  Central’s Traverse City Turn—I’ll put up a series of posts here to  illustrate this (7/7).

My last few images, and final post, has our little train rumbling through Manton, Michigan. This is now the main line of the Grand Rapids and Indiana, which ran from Fort Wayne, Indiana, north to Petoskey, Michigan. The crew is almost back to its home base of Cadillac, just eleven miles down the pike.

Traverse City Turn, 5 of 7

Last Friday I was able to squeeze off some shots of Great Lakes  Central’s Traverse City Turn—I’ll put up a series of posts here to  illustrate this (5/7).

Here’s a shot that didn’t really work out, in Mayfield, Michigan. There is a park in this very small town, adjacent to the tracks, and I tried to get the lead unit passing an ancient implement on display there. Given the foliage, however, I would need a saw to really improve it.