Grand Trunk Western steam provided a last look for many Midwest railfans.
Soon after I drove into Durand on an August 1959 visit, this train from Pontiac arrived behind Grand Trunk Western 3748, the first S-3-c 2-8-2. It would be my only encounter with it. Barely visible at far right, two blocks from this Oak Street crossing, is the depot, today a museum and Amtrak stop. As 3748 “walked” into the yard, so did I. J. David Ingles photo
Durand’s 1907 35-stall circular roundhouse had two “open exits.” Grand Trunk Western S-3-c Mike 3751 is on the 85-foot turntable, which barely held a 4-8-4. J. David Ingles photo
On Friday, March 25, 1960, Grand Trunk Western 2-8-2 4076 returns to Durand from Bay City to finish the 53-mile “Salt Line Run.” That’s Emery Gulash and his 16mm movie camera at left at Monroe Street. In earlier times, this was mixed trains M39/M38 and briefly a through train on the D&M to Alpena. John S. Ingles photo
Three of the 10-plus Michigan Railroad Club-sponsored, Detroit-based steam excursions I rode or chased during 1958-61 evoke special memories. On June 1, 1959, doubleheaded Grand Trunk Western 5043 and 5038 went west from Pontiac on the old Michigan Air Line to Jackson, and passengers were allowed to ride atop the tenders! I chased west with Emery Gulash and rode the return, briefly on 5038’s tank between photo stops. A 2-8-2 handled the Brush Street-Pontiac leg. J. David Ingles photo
Grand Trunk Western K-4-a 5629, undoubtedly the most well-known of GTW’s 4-6-2s, crosses New York Central’s Detroit-Mackinaw City line in leaving Milwaukee Junction on a fall 1958 afternoon with train 21 for Muskegon. The Pacific, bought in 1959 by Chicagoan Richard Jensen, would pull excursions on GTW and other railroads into the late 1960s, but would be scrapped in the early 1980s after a legal tussle between Jensen and Chicago’s Metra, owner of 5629’s storage site in Blue Island, Ill. J. David Ingles photo
Milwaukee Junction, first stop 4 miles out, was well lit for photos and handy to our I-94 freeway into the city. The name harks to ancestor Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee. In August 1958, Grand Trunk Western 5630, fourth of five K-4-a class 1924 Alco USRA light Pacifics, leaves at 6:23 with train 79. Smaller J-3-a Pacifics were GTW’s first commuter power, in the 1920s, initially giving way mostly to 2-8-2s. Baldwin delivered three K-4-b Pacifics, 5362-5634, with vestibule cabs, in 1929; 5632 is displayed in Durand. J. David Ingles photo
Grand Trunk Western’s three commuter trains, from Detroit’s Brush Street station 26 miles to Pontiac, were steam-hauled until March 1960, after 1958 utilizing 4-8-4s bumped off the Chicago main line by GP9s. In September 1959, U-3-b 6319 crosses Oakland Avenue in Detroit, 3 miles from Ferndale, third of nine stops on the 1-hour run, with “middle” train 77, longest of the three with nine 82-seat coaches. J. David Ingles photo
After 1960 only Grand Trunk Western 4-8-4 6323 was available, and on Sept. 17, 1961, three days before the last run (on trains 21/56), I chased its final excursion, to Bay City. Note the extended coal boards on its tender as it crosses the Saginaw River leaving that city on the return leg on the 17th. It survives today at the Illinois Railway Museum. Other latter-day fantrip destinations were Battle Creek, Greenville, Durand, Richmond, and Port Huron. J. David Ingles photo
Grand Trunk Western U-4-b 6405, America’s last streamlined steam engine in regular service, finished her career not long after this May 1959 view leaving Brush Street with a commuter train. Tracks at the 1882 riverfront terminal led northeast, so afternoon departure photos were very backlit. J. David Ingles photo
On an early Durand visit, in November 1958, Grand Trunk Western 4-8-4 6408 arrives from Muskegon with train 56 to begin the “four-way meet” with counterpart 21 and Chicago Division mainliners 17 and 20. GTW’s six streamlined U-4-b’s, Lima-built in 1948 to specs of CN’s five U-4-a’s, had 77-inch drivers and had just come to the Detroit Division to replace 4-8-2s. This was my only time to see a 6400 live other than 6405, last of the six to operate. J. David Ingles photo
In June 1959, Grand Trunk Western 0-8-0 8314, a 1924 Alco, is at the Durand coal tower, which still stands. GTW had 52 0-8-0s from three builders, but CN took many over the years as GTW acquired over 100 EMD and Alco yard diesels. J. David Ingles photo
Despite having a large population with sizeable cities, Michigan has hovered just above the nation’s busy paths of commerce. Except for Detroit, the state tends to be out of sight, out of mind — no offense to Grand Rapids, the state’s second-largest city, nor the Lower Peninsula’s own Class I railroad, Chesapeake & Ohio’s former Pere Marquette. In the Amtrak era, Michigan has not been on a sleeping-car route!
This quasi-isolation is the only explanation I can offer for why David P. Morgan, longtime Trains editor and steam-locomotive enthusiast extraordinaire, give the state short shrift. Our family moved to Dearborn, Mich., in 1956, just in time for me to experience the tail end of everyday Grand Trunk Western steam. Soon I had a driver’s license, found friends of like mind, and drove into the city or out 75 miles to GTW’s hub of Durand. During 1958-61 I saw more than two dozen active GTW steam engines, of four wheel arrangements.
Although I did see active Baltimore & Ohio 4-8-2s and Nickel Plate Berkshires, they were mere glimpses. I got a taste of UP’s Challengers and the Rio Grande narrow gauge during family vacations but was too young or far away to join peers who motored far to see N&W As, Js, and Ys; Missabe Yellowstones; or Illinois Central 2-10-2s.
On those and other big roads that ran steam into 1958 and beyond, steam had been pushed to the margins or occupied niches. Not on GTW’s Detroit Division, where steam use remained comprehensive: commuter trains, intercity varnish, freights, and yard duty.
Yet, the oracle at 1027 North 7th Street in Milwaukee ignored us in Michigan. Resentment locally was palpable. Despite working for him for 16 years, I never heard (nor would I ask for) an explanation. I think to “DPM,” GTW was just another branch of the far-flung CN, already given adequate coverage. GTW’s passenger schedules being buried on the 36th page of CN’s 44-page Official Guide entry in that era didn’t help any.
DPM finally caved to a bit of pressure from Michigan readers with a nine-photo spread, “What Was Grand About Grand Trunk Western” in March 1961 Trains. He admitted to it being “a belated but heartfelt salute,” but by then GTW steam was basically history.
Now it’s my turn, and with long-neglected color slides. Here are some favorites, all but two of daily service during the brief era of frequent GTW excursions. I owe thanks for a lot of caption data to friend Jerry Pinkepank’s 2003 Morning Sun book, GTW in Color, Vol. 1, Steam & Green, 1941-1961. Enjoy this album of Grand Trunk Western steam.
