Greetings from the great north woods of Michigan. I’m up along the old Right-of-Way of the Detroit & Mackinaw Railroad, just north of the stop in Aloha. It seems wherever I am, it’s always along an old Right-of-Way.
It’s summer in Michigan and the days are long and warm. Come fall, please consider driving over to Hartford Michigan on Sunday September 17th at 10:00 A.M. for a joint meet with the Michiana Division of the Midwest Region of the NMRA for a tour of the West Michigan Railroad. The WMI operates the western portion of the old Kalamazoo, Lake Shore, & Chicago Railroad on former Pere Marquette trackage. A number of years ago I had the opportunity to ride on the KLCS on both one of their dinner trains and a Christmas Train that included a stop to cut your own tree. The trackage goes through some of Michigan’s finest wine country.
The plan is for the tour to begin at 10:00 at the Paw Paw River Trans Load facility, which is located at 59 1/2 Street and their junction with the trackage, just behind Paw Paw Produce. They have a dirt lot for parking so it might be muddy.
From there we will proceed to Lineage Cold Storage located at 61834 Red Arrow Highway.
Our third stop will be at the junction of the WMI and the CSX. This is located just northwest of downtown Hartford.
Lunch will now be catered. You should have received an email concerning that plan. An updated map and scheduled my be found here.
Remember to register for the Kalamazoo Lash-Up the weekend of October 28-October 30. There will be layout tours, clinics, and operating sessions. Sunday’s event will be the Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Societies fall show and swap at the Kalamazoo Fair Grounds.