Nice video. Your production quality has really improved over the years. I am impressed. Keep up the great work and well done on documenting the final run. Make sure you back up your footage so you never lose it. This is priceless!
@@AFLKProductions I never used to save my old video files. That was a big mistake. I also never backed them up. I had a hard drive fail on me in 2015 and I lost everything I recorded from 2014 to 2011. It was devastating.
Shortly after this rail line was shut down betweeen M-50 and Eaton Rapids, some buddies and I ran 2 dune buggies, an old Ford Bronco, and two motorcycles down the tracks to Eaton Rapids. I put two car rims on the front of my dune buggy and ran on the rails! The guy with the Bronco lowered his air pressure in his tires and also could run on the rails. The other buggy ran his tires between the rails and wrecked his wheels pretty good. Memorable experience. Probably illegal. Glad we didn’t get caught!
Idk much about this specific operation or why it shut down, but I do know about track. Decent chance you guys did a fair amount of damage to the track/right of way that would make it even harder to repair. Also DEFINITELY illegal lmao.
@zackbobby5550 Oh, whoop te do. Always some karen that tries to act like some sort of cop. I swear people take everything soo seriously anymore. I say who cares? The person probably did that 40 some years ago when the line was officially abandoned.
Hope so. Wonder if she still has her D17000s. Doesn't quite sound like a Cummins re-power. Done a lot of work out at the tie treatment plant that AT&SF #467 used to work at. She got run off into the pressure cylinders and broke her frame something like 8 years ago. Real shame. Edit: looks like the last 4 built had Cat D342 power- dang good engines.
Well done sir, been going past this defunct train for almost 20 years. I was fascinated to see the engine even ran. Sad to see it go but alas it will all live on instead of being scrapped.
The RPO car and the long island car have been their long before 2013, i use to live in Charlotte and my friend lived over by the M50 crossing. And i do remember seeing both those cars there around 2001, heck i remember they had 2 Long Island cars along with the RPO car there. From what I heard they use to give rides with the Long Island cars back in the day during frontier days
@@spuds6423 There are two ways of looking at “rails to trails” organizations. One, they’re evil for destroying railroad tracks. Or two, they’re saving railroads for reconstruction once we stop the insane subsidization of the trucking industry. Either way, we have yet to see the ultimate proof. I choose to be optimistic and believe that one day people will wake up, realize that trucking is a terrible way to move most freight, and make the necessary changes which will result in the rebuilding of our railroad infrastructure, and all of the “rail trails” will once again be carrying freight to every city and town in the country. If not for railroad grades being left in place for the sake of recreational trails, we would have nothing, as the grades and easements would soon be destroyed and the only way to rebuild would be eminent domain takings and the demolition of buildings to make room for new railroads built from scratch at a cost of many billions of dollars.
I blocked a trail group from going across my property being that I owned the land on both sides of a Railroad ROW. They fought me tooth and nail in court for 4 years with one law suit after another once I got the property deed which stated the land would revert back to the property owner in which the line was built across they still fought me over the legality of the paper work and another 2 years of court battles before a judge basically to the county, state, and all intrested parties that were heavly involved with fighting me to fuck off and repay me for 5 years of herrassment and legal fees. I permit a farmer to use the ROW to work a field I lease and on occasion Loggers to work a back wood lot once every few years. Anyone else is arrested with out question.
I believe this is the line that also ran past the Caledonia Famers Elevator in Caledonia MI until 40(ish) years ago. The operational part of the line delivered cars to Keebler where my wife climbed them to sample raw materials and quality check them before offloading was permitted. It also went within 1/4 mile of our first house in Kentwood MI, though it closed just before we moved into that home in 1984. The line continued and ran within 3 miles of our current home south of Caledonia on to Middleville. If I am correct the last operators of the section from Grand Rapids southeast to Hastings were not good at railroading and damaged significant freight destined to and from the big water heater plant in Middleville causing them to stop using the line. Soon after the line's only locomotive froze, and that was the last straw for that part of the line. Much of the line is now part of the Paul Henry trail.
Awesome video, sad to see the last run.... going through the same sort of experience here in Canada, but covid was not what killed us, it was bad management by board and CEO.
Probably won’t find this interesting but I worked for a day on the West Michigan railroad around Hartford, got to check out their GP-18 (in service) and their SW-1200 (in service), I was cutting a section of rail got to stand next to them as they went through with canola and frozen food
Yes, it’s pronounced shar-LOT, even tho most people think it should be SHAR-lot! Reminds me of another town in Michigan, Montague, which is pronounced MONT-a-gyoo, not mon-TAYG as in other places.
How would you like to see this on the former Erie Lackawanna (Conrail) branch from Cleveland to Youngstown, OH! 6:48 (ConRail) TRAIN #28 # 4014 Jan 14, 2024
After being around diesel’s of all shapes and sizes and uses in my 68 years it looked to me that this engine had s bad injector or two by the way that the exhaust was blowing blue for such a long time ad the initial build up should have burned off within the first mile
What ??? You better watch the video over " this was the "most unsafe railroad ,movements,//I really thought this was railroad safty don't do this, on the job & keeping rails safe,
Thanks for the show. You did a pretty decent one that really worth it. Engine isn´t smoking at all. It´s crew´s dîner on the grill. Hope they shared it with you, since now it´s no more a railroad property....Just a private one 😊😊 For the Long Island left at the end. They have to be euh....insane if they want to scrap it in situ. You have betwen 50 to 60 tons of stuff to carry out ! May be a good legal excuse to not officielle shutting down the line. With a car on each end, it´s not abandoned anymore. Just unfrequent use. That way exempt rail crossing is ok since road vehicles have priority and train must stop. There is may be pressure to rip up the track. A smart way to block it. About non working crossing signals, go on Earth syreet view at Junction 98 on Imperial hwy, Ocetillo, California and take a good look. Since there is no electric utilities to flash lights and lower the gate, they use solar panel. To protect it from theft it´s surrounded by Frost fence. On shoulder you have the X sign. X sign painted on the road and....one totally missing crossing pole. Nothing left of it. On other side of the road, pôle is still there but lights and gate are gone znd no exempt sign. Officially for the road department that rail crossing is in service ! Of course it´s not but tracks are still there. Quite worse than non working flashing lights. With our shortline, power have probably been disconnected and meter removed. Anyway with rusty rails they wouldn´t work anyway. About headlight and safety vests. Well railroads ran that way for a century in steam days. But people were also smarter. They didn´t needed to have inscription on coffee cup " that content can be hot ". People knew that coffee is hot !! I agree that flagman really want to play smashing dummy. He what´s wrong with someone wanting to play rodéo against a car ? Finally about that century old RPO, just hope thst COT&S have been done with tons of documents. Otherwise Class 1 won´t even touch it. Moving that is real real challenge. And even, "young" train crews aren´t familiar with passenger car valve. Where they are for release. By the way those valves are set for freigjt service and not in passenger mode i hope. First shit that can happen on the road and the nearest track to sideline it will be the result even if car is fine. With lucks it won´t be coupled with F tank car style coupler. Quite destructive....
I saw a old rail car that was being pulled out of a rail trail that was going to be re active in services for bmsf companies and others (it derailed on the main street in Minnesota)
i have lived in marshall area for the last 32 years and i have never seen any kind of info on this train till this video. i know of the train in coldwater, mi
Nice coverage; too bad to see a line die out. Happens too often. Wonder what they will do with number 3 ? Seems to need some engine repairs but overall not in bad shape (rings maybe ?)
Poor old thing looks like the head gaskets are leaking, its a diesel but they dont smoke that much. Hope ot goes somewhere it gets maintained and used alot
So is a firefighting car used for when they are doing rail work or is it when there is a large wildfire, and they use the car to make a big wet line to act as a fire break?
I'm surprised how mobile that old train car was after sitting and sitting so long. People online love to talk about trains and how they're the real future, but maybe that's only true in a world where things like heavy trucks and private cars have been regulated out of existence, the reality is that trains don't solve problems like they used to and this video keeps happening. Maybe if we used them differently, who knows?
Is this a no horn zone. I did not hear the engineer sound the horn or the bell at any of the crossings. Nor did it look as if the headlight was on. The locomotive evidently did not have an automatic signaling system as they had to flag all the crossings.
Is that how the locals pronounce Charlotte? Interesting if so, I always figured it was pronounced the common way (like the place in North Carolina). We have one such place around here that the outsiders always mispronounce as well (Madrid).
Why didn't they take all of the passenger coaches. Also, why did they have a man get out and block the crossings instead of them blowing their horn. I noticed that the horn worked because they blew it for the kids. that seems like such a waste.
Not how you legally guard a crossing without a signal. There’s nothing blocking that crossing, too easy to have a car come through and smash into the engine
THAT LOCOMOTIVES DIESEL ENGINES CRACKING OUT SO MUCH SMOKE I THINK THERE'S A HEAD GASKET OR SOMETHING WATER OR OIL SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH THE ENGINE
Critique: Buy a directional mic or have your companion turn off the "shutter click". Unless he is shooting film, it's distracting. Pet peeve. Everytime I have been at a railfan event some 🤬 is doing the same thing and ruining people trying to shoot vid.
It's the nature of DSLRs. The shutter makes noise even in "silent mode" - which is basically just marketing wank to sell cameras. The shutter has to close and the mirror (for the view finder) has to mechanically move out of the way. The newer mirrorless cameras are silent, because both the shutter and the viewfinder are digital, and don't need all those moving parts. Not that I'm a photographer, but I just happen to own a couple DSLRs. "Silent mode" is NOT silent, unfortunately.
