switch the yard and assembly plant, and run around doing local switching. The new yellow units have been spot- ted added to the road power set which will likely leave the orange units stay- ing close to home. Ottawa yard itself is readily visible from the southbound lanes of I-75 or Chrysler Drive and a quick count of the power sitting in the yard can tell you whether anything’s out running or not.
The Ann Arbor road train typically originates in Ottawa Yard in Toledo in the early evening, heads north up to Ann Arbor and returns back to Ottawa Yard generally before morning. That makes it a challenge to photograph in daylight. The best odds are in the mid- dle of the summer when the days are longest. During the winter, the crew generally isn’t even on duty in daylight. The road train usually does any work along the line and if they switch the GEMA Auto engine plant in Dundee they’ll often run out of daylight there. One of the scenic highlights of the line is the bridge over Huron River on the north side of Ann Arbor, though it’s challenging to get a train on it in day- light. Sometimes the Ann Arbor road train can also be caught heading south in morning daylight. The Ann Arbor rails north of Toledo aren’t entirely quiet during the day, though. Canadian National exercises trackage rights from Dianne Junction south of Dundee down to Alexis and Hallett in Toledo. CN trains 384/385 run daily from CN Flat Rock Yard to and from Toledo via the NS Detroit Line connection at Alexis. From Toledo they go to Bellevue on NS as 184 and return as NS 353. CN trains 246/247
30 MAY 2012 •
RAILFAN.COM
TOP: The original two Ann Arbor GP39-2s have their train well in hand on July 25, 2011, as they roll through the Michigan countryside near Ida. The head auto parts cars are destined for the plant in Dundee, not much farther up the line. ABOVE: 7791 is returning to the yard after working a customer off the Ann Arbor main just north of Hallett Tower on December 30, 2006.
are less frequent, largely automotive traffic and come off the Ann Arbor at Hallett to continue down to CSX Wal- bridge yard as Z241 and return. Hallett tower also sees a number of “foreign” moves on the Ann Arbor in the form of NS and CSX yard jobs bringing inter- change traffic. NS can access the Ann Arbor directly at Alexis or via the back- side of the Toledo Terminal from the Detroit line to Hallett. The CSX inter- change is all done via the backside at Hallett. Quite a bit of radio conversa-
tion tends to take place for some of these moves with the CSX “RL” dis- patcher giving permission to open the “pickle patch” switch that connects the Terminal to the Ann Arbor.
Ann Arbor also exercises rights on the backside of the Toledo Terminal to access
Temperance Yard which is
largely hidden between West Laskey Road and West Alexis Road. The yard supports several local industries. The largest one Ann Arbor switches is the Industrial Waste Group which handles
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