In May, CN train L502 passes the Port Huron waterfront with the Port Huron-Sarnia Ontario Blue Water Bridge in the background, enroute to service Dunn Paper located at the end of the line.
Stephen C. Host
PORT HURON, Mich. — Lake State Railway is a little longer today. The short line on Monday began operating on lease the HR Track between Port Huron Yard and Port Huron waterfront. An MP15AC, No. 1502, was on a Huron & Eastern train for interchange to Canadian National for the startup of service.
The spur includes two active customers, Domtar Paper and Dunn Paper. Grand Trunk Western crews serviced the spur out of the yard, and a drawbridge on the line will remain the responsibility of the Grand Trunk and its parent, Canadian National.
Lake State has not yet started operating in Port Huron yet.
What is the “HR track?”
This is the north end of the line from Detroit, originally the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction Rail Road. It passes by the 1858 depot where young Thomas Edison boarded the train where he worked as a news butcher.
With all the rumblings of CSX sheading trackage, this may be some kind of precursor to Lake State acquiring the approx. 13 miles of former Port Huron and Detroit St. Clair Sub that is separated from the rest of the CSX system. This line runs south from Port Huron to St. Clair, and currently CSX uses trackage rights on about 52 miles of CN track to access this sub. Stay tuned.