2001 Fall Excursion on the TSBY
By Jeremy Winkworth
Our fifth excursion on the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway (TSBY) was run in early Fall of 2001. It turned out to be the best yet. In the pre-dawn darkness of Saturday September 29th, 21 motor cars and 2 hyrails started setting on the rails just south of the TSBY engine house in Cadillac, next to three passenger cars to be used on the following day. Ray Robinson, VP for Operations at the TSBY, was our escort from the railroad. Gary Greenwood, this year's NARCOA coordinator, provided everyone with a binder that contained maps and track charts of the line, a very useful extra. After a safety meeting we rode north. The main through the ex-GRI and Pennsy yard in Cadillac was rebuilt recently for the passenger excursion service and is in excellent shape. Traffic in the yard was light - some plastics cars, a box car or two, a Burro crane and the Ann Arbor 40ft hoppers that seem to be permanent residents.
We passed through Manton, Walton Junction, South Boardman and stopped for lunch at Kalkaska, 40 miles out. The track, which is owned by the State of Michigan, remains in excellent shape (it's class III, good for 40mph freight). The scenery was great with leaf color about a week away from peak. The weather was cooperating too, the temperature climbing into the 50's and 60's with not a single cloud in the sky. Ray did tell me that the TSBY still run north of Cadillac three times a week.
We now moved onto track that we had not ridden before. North of Kalkaska the condition of the rail was less good (class II, good for 25mph freight), with worn joints providing a rougher ride. However, it was well ballasted, no weeds at all, with good ties. Much of this rail dates back to 1906, thus having given 95 years of service. At Mancelona there were 4 covered plastic pellet hoppers. Further north at Elmira, there were 5 short hopper cars at the cement terminal, indicating that some traffic is still received by rail at this remote location.
Just before the cement terminal, the flat lands ended and a 1.4% downward grade stretched for 7 miles. The scenery was now just beautiful and the line curved continually as it descended into the valley. The remains of a substantial railroad bridge were seen halfway down this grade. This was where the Boyne City, Gaylord and Alpena Railroad once crossed. At the bottom of the grade was Boyne Falls, where a MOW gon filled with rails was noted. The line curved it's way on for another 15 miles to Petoskey, where Petoskey Plastics had 9 hopper cars on their spur. Track condition was still good (class II), far better than some branch lines in Michigan owned by Class 1 railroads! We rode through the city center to literally the end of the tracks, 92 miles and approximately 150 road crossings from our starting point.
After a night in the Comfort Inn, which lived up to its name, we were back on the rails by 7:30am for our return to Cadillac. Two cars had to be towed all the way back, having given significant problems the previous day. The weather was once again perfect - not a cloud in the sky. We lunched in Kalkaska and arrived back at Cadillac around 3:00pm. I was pleased that the 2 stroke engine in my 1958 Fairmont M9 (seen above) never missed a beat in 184 miles. The TSBY passenger excursion on Sunday afternoon was scheduled to go North but ended up going West out to Yuma. We could hear it depart but couldn't see the train from where we were.
This was one of the best speeder rides I've ever been on. A big thank you to Gary Greenwood for organizing this, to Ray for escorting us and to the TSBY for allowing us to ride on their rails again.
Flint Journal Article on the TSBY
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Last edited 28 January, 2018
