Hello everyone I'm going to visit Chicago in October and am planning a trip to New Buffalo. How many trains can I expect on the CSX Grand Rapids Sub around noon? Are there further many freight trains on the near Amtrak Michigan line? Christian
We don't have a lot of Michiganders on TrainBoard, but @RailMix is one. Perhaps he'll be able to help. It'd take a resident along the line to know where trains might be at a general time of day. I'm not a resident, but I'd guess that Grand Rapids would be a good spot to see something. It's served by CSX, the Grand Elk Railroad, the Coopersville & Marne Railway and the Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad. You might want to inquire on a Google map to see where good spots might be.
While I am much more familiar with the east side of the state (Port Huron to Durand) and north of there, i would recommend this website for study: michiganrailroads.com - Home Lots of good information there on everything from watching trains to the railroads operating in Michigan. This includes the meny interesting shortlines. A few interesting side notes from my own travels- a couple from Hamilton. I'm pretty sure it's gone now, but there was a tall wood trestle in downtown Hamilton. That's also where I found some very light rail that dated back to the 1890's. New Buffalo- the turntable has been removed. It has been moved to Owosso where it's now used to turn PM 1225.