#watco

Intervallo: The Great Lakes Central, No Longer

Once again I will take a little break in the month-long series of posts on the Great Divide in New Mexico. Here we'll see a chase of a very short train on the Traverse City branch of the Great Lakes Central, now owned by Watco. (Heritage of the line is Pennsy/GR&I.)

The train is still along Keystone Road here, south of Traverse City, Michigan. There's a nice little series of "S" curves at this location to which I'm attracted.

Intervallo: The Great Lakes Central, No Longer

Once again I will take a little break in the month-long series of posts on the Great Divide in New Mexico—but still have ten posts coming on that, after this break of four or five posts.

It's been a while since I chased a train in the northern lower peninsula, but I did so yesterday. In the meantime, the little railroad in my area, the Great Lakes Central, has been purchased by WATCO, a conglomerate of regional roads. My count is 62 short-line railroads (source).

The locomotive here is still in the GLC paint scheme, though it's quaint three-digit number has been changed (I assume) to fit in with Watco's larger numbering system. I imagine as the engines need paint, they will adorn the familiar black and yellow of the parent company. I'm not looking forward to that: the railroad business, from the enthusiast point of view, does not need any more homogenization.

So, I'll post my recent chase, via a few posts here. We begin on the former Grand Rapids & Indiana, later the Pennsy. The train was parked over night at Walton Junction (below), on the main to Petoskey, before heading down the branch line to Traverse City, Michigan.

Intervallo: The Great Lakes Central, No Longer

Once again I will take a little break in the month-long series of posts on the Great Divide in New Mexico. Here we'll see a chase of a very short train on the Traverse City branch of the Great Lakes Central, now owned by Watco. (Heritage of the line is Pennsy/GR&I.)

In this final post of the series, our little train is now on the former Chicago & West Michigan (Pere marquette/C&O): it is crossing over the Boardman Lake/River in Traverse City proper. Another thing that has changed (beyond the railroad now belonging to Watco) in this scene is visible in this image I made here several years earlier...

Please note the austere clock tower of city hall in the distance (it still exists: a new building on Eighth Street has gone up to block the view is all). The above image was published in a journal in conjunction with an article I wrote on the history of railroads in Traverse City.

Intervallo: The Great Lakes Central, No Longer

Once again I will take a little break in the month-long series of posts on the Great Divide in New Mexico. Here we'll see a chase of a very short train on the Traverse City branch of the Great Lakes Central, now owned by Watco. (Heritage of the line is Pennsy/GR&I.)

The little train can be seen above at two different locales along River Road, south of Traverse City, Michigan. The stream, from which the road takes its name, is the Boardman River.

Intervallo: The Great Lakes Central, No Longer

Once again I will take a little break in the month-long series of posts on the Great Divide in New Mexico. Here we'll see a chase of a very short train on the Traverse City branch of the Great Lakes Central, now owned by Watco. (Heritage of the line is Pennsy/GR&I.)

These three images show that our diminutive train has made it to where River Road hits Beitner Road and Keystone, south of Traverse City. This may be the lightest rail I've ever seen on an active railroad.