are from some slides I bought from
Blackhawk Films in the late 1960's.
The photographer was
A.C.Kalmbach. This first photo is
train No.56 at Grand Rapids,MI.
Engine No.5631 was a class K-4a
Pacific type built in 1924 and
scrapped in 1960.
GP9's 1767 and 1766 were
GTW's first two passenger
equipped diesel locomotives. The
two units were renumbered to
4900 and 4901 in 1956. Engine
5630, standing on the right, is on
train No.21 headed for
Muskegon,MI.
Durand,MI. unloading.
Detroit. Engine 5628 is providing the
power. The last steam passenger run
through St.Johns from Muskegon
was on Dec.2,1958. Locomotive
6408, a class U-4-b, 4-8-4, was the
power for that day.On April 30,
1959 passenger service was curtailed
between Durand and Muskegon In
the background is the demolition of
Elmer Emmons cider mill. My
brother-in-law remembers around
1957 removing lumber from this
cider mill for construction of pig pens
on his farm.
Photographer Alden H. Haight.
excursion train in Belding,MI.
happened on May 24,1903 and
was reported in the Belding Banner
on the 28th: "As the train neared
the depot the front trucks of the
engine climbed the rails a few feet
east of the boarding house and was
shoved along over the ties breaking
and grinding them to pieces for a
distance of a hundred feet or more
where it left the track entirely and
plowed full length into the ground
to the left of the road bed." The
building in back of the wreck is
Richardson Silk Co's. boarding
house. The Belding Banner also
reported that engineer Smith was
badly burned on his legs and
slightly bruised just above the hips.
Mr. Smith said that they were
having trouble with the wheels of
the trucks all the way on the run.
The fireman had jumped and was
not injured. Engine 59 was built in
1882.
Photographs from Alva Belding
Library.
This depot was erected in 1891 just
west of M-100. Engine No.20 and
train are standing on the branch
from Ionia which is still in place
today. No.20 was retired around
1905.
Photo, Gordon Lydeksen collection.
water at Ionia Station. No. 6037
is a "Mountain" type 4-8-2 built in
1925 by Baldwin Locomotive
Works. No. 6037 was one of the
first to have the vestibule cabs.
This locomotive was involved in a
derailment and collision on
Sept.26, 1952 at Burton,MI. The
engineer and fireman were killed.
Photo, Gordon Lydeksen
collection.
the ashpit just west of Lowell,MI. on
highway M-21. This locomotive is a
4-6-4 "Hudson" type. In Sept.1996,
the West Michigan Railroad
Historical Society reported in their
"Waybill": "The former Ramona Park
12" scale live steam locomotive
#5002, reportedly destroyed in a fire
at the Lowell Railway sometime
back, was up and running on Labor
Day at Burley Park in Howard City.
The Lowell Railroad lettering is
gone, replaced with the blue and
black herald Romona Burley Park
Railway."
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