CAN YOU HEAR THE WHISTLE BLOWING?
Trains never left the area, but they have become fewer and not nearly as long as they once were
Trains never left the mid Michigan area, but they unquestionably became fewer and not nearly as long as they once were.
Today, trains seem to be making a kind of comeback.
Motorists are again having to wait on Alma streets as trains from the two railroad companies that move through the area stop to add or subtract cars.
It’s not unlike the “old days” when drivers in Alma and their passengers would wait at railroad crossings for the stopped trains to begin moving again. And once the train began moving, they kept an eagle eye out for the — now disappearing — caboose.
However, it doesn’t appear likely that trains will ever quite match the old days. That’s because tracks have been pulled out all over the state and the country.
All but one mile of tracks in Montcalm County, for example, are gone, said Dave Kemler, a retired engineer on the CSX line which became the Mid Michigan Railroad.
And the cost to replace those tracks is about $1 million a mile, Kemler said.
Even so, every available train car is now being put to use, he said.
The Mid Michigan Railroad that moves through Alma makes up about 39 miles of the company’s line that ends in Saginaw.
Great Lakes Central — the north-south line — begins in Ann Arbor and ends in Petoskey with stops and pass-throughs in Alma, as well as Mt. Pleasant, Shepherd, Clare and beyond.
One of the factors that have caused the recent uptick in freight train traffic could be today’s cost of diesel fuel.
But according to Jeff Coffin with Mid Michigan Railroad, “education is the biggest factor.” Or, another way to put it is sales and marketing that’s focused on non traditional as well as traditional customers.
Customers would find trains “more economical” than other forms of transportation, he said.
At least two trains move through Alma on any given day now and engines pulling well over 100 cars are common.
What are all those cars carrying?
Agricultural products such as grains and soybeans, as well as wood, fertilizer, chemicals and some plastic products are what’s being hauled, Coffin and Mark Nagy with Great Lakes Central said.
Both men said they only expect to see business to improve.
Alma Dentist Sara Wassenaar had her office building modeled after the old city depot that was located just across the street. She and her staff hear the trains coming and going and have gotten used to the railroad noises.
“It’s not a disturbance,” she said. “I see it as a positive.”
Some years ago, there was talk of passenger trains traveling from Ann Arbor to Petoskey with stops in Alma and Wassenaar said she was excited about the possibility.
But, passenger trains aren’t likely coming anytime soon, Nagy said.
“It’s a possibility, I’m not sure,” he said. “There are federal regulations and it’s expensive.”
One of the factors that have caused the recent uptick in freight train traffic could be today’s cost of diesel fuel.
Whether more trains move through the area pulling more freight cars or even carrying passengers still isn’t known, but no one is ruling out any possibilities.
And at least in the mid Michigan area there still are tracks.
But what of the cabooses? When waiting for the trains to pass through town, nary a caboose is seen.
“I’ve worked here 26 years and have never seen a caboose,” Coffin said.
He suspects that when the trains changed to just a two man crew- the engineer and conductor — cabooses were eliminated.
But Nagy said there are still a few around — when someone is needed to bring up the rear in order to see and report on what has gone past.
So who knows? Maybe cabooses will make a bit of a comeback too?