| Here is GTW Train #428 enroute from Battle Creek to Detroit, MI on June 27, 1963. The photo was shot at Royal Oak. The units are 4542-413_ and ____. This train operated as a turn, with two crews (one going out each day) from Milwaukee Jct. to Battle Creek and return. It was ordered for 6:30 a.m. each day. The crews worked every other day. The train would be made-up either at East Yard or Ferndale. The train, #427, would set-out and pick-up at Pontiac, once in a while set-out at Durand, and set-out and pick-up at Lansing and yard at Battle Creek. It would then get its eastbound train with the same engines and caboose and operate as #428. Eastward they would usually just pick-up at Lansing, and set-out and pick-up at Pontiac. At Detroit the train would yard at Ferndale and the power and cab would be taken to the roundhouse at Milwaukee Jct. The cab was kept in the Houlihan (the small wye inside the Port Huron Wye at Milwaukee Jct.). Generally this train made it over the road in 12 to 14 hours...sometime it would take the full 16. It usually handled a lot of auto parts and often empty coal hoppers back from Lansing. This was a no nonsense high-paying job. It ran 278 miles, so that was almost three days pay in one! It took high seniority to hold it; but believe me, the shippers got good service! |