Freight Class I Former Michigan Central coaling tower demolished

Former Michigan Central coaling tower demolished

By Bob Johnston | September 16, 2025

Demolition halts Amtrak service on the Wolverine and Blue Water routes through Friday

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Construction equipment demolishes a concrete structure over a set of railroad tracks
By midday Monday, September 15, when Trains.com visited the site east of the Michigan City drawbridge, the top of the structure had already succumbed. A crane begins clawing its way at the substantial mass of concrete and rebar. Tracks below the structure have been relocated to the foreground. At left, a crew member from Renascent, Inc., directs a stream of water on the carnage. A supervisor on site says the debris will be collected and recycled into building materials. Bob Johnston

MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA — Demolition experts wasted little time in dismantling the top of the former Michigan Central coaling tower that straddles Amtrak’s Michigan line, which normally hosts Wolverine and Blue Water trains. The process of crushing this fortress and another one on Michigan-owned track west of Augusta, Mich., between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, has caused a weeklong cancellation of passenger service on the route  [“Amtrak to halt…” Sept. 5 News]

Construction equipment demolishes a concrete structure next to a yellow shipping container suspended from a crane
An empty shipping container is suspended by a third crane on the south side of the tower to prevent dust and chunks of concrete from falling on to nearby U.S. 12 and property adjacent to the highway. Bob Johnston

10 thoughts on “Former Michigan Central coaling tower demolished

  1. Before my 2010 retirement from UPRR telecom, I was headquartered on the double track project on the Sunset Route between Tucson, AZ and El Paso, TX, where all the original SPRR coal towers were dynamited to make room for the double track project at the time. I was able to witness the demolition of the SPRR coal tower at Lordsburg, NM, quite an event.

    It was said that those SP coal towers were hardly used due to the subsequent conversion of many steam locomotives from coal to oil. Sadly, a homeless person who resided in the Tucson coal tower committed suicide upon the loss of his ‘abode’.

    1. Safe(r) liquid fluouride thorium reactors (LFTR aka molten salt) in the firebox. That should leave room in the tender for plenty extra water with a recirculating steam-to-water condenser. 🙂

    2. I should add that driving wheels under the tender, ala Erie Triplex, could be a further future improvement. 🙂

  2. They were built for the ages, like the proverbial brick outhouse. The tower in my hometown was built in 1928, became useless in 1954, but stood until 1998.

  3. The difficulty of the demolition is a tribute to the builders so many years ago. These things were built to last!

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