Eastern Railroad Discussion > Grand Rapids Eastern RR Query

A few days ago, the wife and I were in Muskegon MI touring the waterfront. Along came Grand Rapids Eastern pushing three cars past the CofC. I've looked on Wiki, but found little info. The Michigan DOT RR map shows it, but not much else. Seems they have on GP38.

Any info most welcome.

Try this site for info.

http://www.michiganrailroads.com/

The railroad in Muskegon is actually the Michigan Shore Railroad. They are owned by Rail America, which also owns Grand Rapids Eastern and Mid Michigan. Its common to see the power from these 3 railroads sharing power.

Thx Mike. I was wondering with the track right along the harbor.

The Michigan Shore Division of MMRR (RailAmerica) based in Muskegon runs on former CSX (PM/C&O) trackage from north of Holland through Muskegon to Fremont. The current MS roster includes:

MS 73 SW1200 (the orignal locomotive used by MS before they acquired the CSX trackage)
MS 180 GP9 (currently stored)
KRR 3801 GP35M (recently acquired)
MMRR 3836 GP38
GR 3839 GP38
CF&E 3885 GP38-2

Until recently they had a sister GP9 to the 180, MMRR 179 but it was shipped to another RA property. Grand Rapids Eastern uses MMRR 24 GP9 while the Mid Michigan Railroad side until recently borrowed power from the Huron Eastern RR. They now will use recently acquired KRR 3803 GP35M.

All three railroads, MS in Muskegon, GR in Grand Rapids and MMRR in Alma are all under the common MMRR moniker, and crews can be used at any of the three locations, most commonly between GR/Muskegon.

I lived in Muskegon for 22 years, so if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

TO ad to that, I was in Grand Haven the same time you were in Muskegon! THe MMRR/GRE/MS train ran south from Muskegon to interchange at Waverly yard(Holland) at nights. I remember hearing the southbound at sometime between 10-midnight on sunday, tues.
I don't know if/where they run in the daylight, but nocturnal operations are not surprising, considering the "resort-like" region that they run through. I even think Grand Haven has some kind of no whistle zone. I only heard them blow for 2 or 3 crossings, when there are TONS of them through town!

The overnight turn to Holland is typical and is intended to provide connections with the CSX. A CSX GR-Chicago train drops off the Michigan Shore cars at Holland around midnight and a counterpart EB CSX train makes the pickup around 0300. The Michigan Shore tries to do their work in Holland between these two.

This historically has been an overnight operation, going back decades with the C&O. A train called the "Cannonball" would utilize the engines from the locals out of Muskegon and make an overnight Muskegon-Grand Rapids turn.