CHICAGO — Amtrak will halt operations of its Blue Water and Wolverine services Sept. 15-19 to accommodate demotion of two coaling towers that straddle its rail lines.
An Amtrak service advisory indicates substitute bus service will be available for the Blue Water, a once-daily round trip between Chicago and Port Huron, Mich. For the Wolverine trips between Chicago and Pontiac, Mich., a bus substitution will be offered for only one of the two round trips on Sept. 15-18 and three trips slated for Sept. 19. Bus No. 3352 will replace train No. 352, a 2:18 p.m. departure from Chicago, and Bus No. 3351 will replace train No. 351, an 8:43 a.m. departure from Pontiac.
These cancellations come during a period when Wolverine service is already disrupted. Since May 5, one round trip has been suspended because of track work by Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation that will continue through Oct. 30. As of Sept. 2, the other trains are originating or terminating in Troy, Mich., rather than 8 miles away in Pontiac, to accommodate a Canadian National track project. That work is slated to continue through the end of September.
The cancellations will allow demolitions of coaling towers at Michigan City, Ind., and Augusta, Mich. Plans for the Michigan City project had been reported last year [see “Amtrak planning to tear down …,” Trains.com, Nov. 25, 2024]. At that time, it was estimated that service could be disrupted for up to two weeks while the former Michigan Central Railroad structure was torn down, although those plans also called for busing train passengers only between Chicago and New Buffalo, Mich.
The coaling tower in Augusta — about 10 miles west of Battle Creek, Mich. — is also a former Michigan Central structure dating to the 1920s, according to the Michigan Railroads website.
While at least one of the projects has been discussed since last year, a Michigan state legislator has expressed unhappiness over Amtrak’s late notification about its plans. WKZO Radio reports that state Sen. Sean McCann (D-Kalamazoo) said in a statement that it was “troubling and disappointing that a shutdown of two of the major Amtrak routes in Michigan for a week in September has not been communicated until yesterday by Amtrak … I am asking Amtrak to be transparent and provide better warning in the future regarding significant service disruptions.”
— Updated at 5:52 p.m. CT with image of Augusta coaling tower.
Several days after this comment section was opened, a thought hit me hard: Half the route of these trains is unaffected by the coaling tower demolition.
Why can’t trains be run from Pontiac to Kalamazoo?
Whatever services the train needs – cleaning, emptying toilet tanks, fuel, crews, could be arranged at Pontiac for a few days if Amtrak cared enough.
Sorry to see them go but, are they an impediment to operations? Sure, they’re not necessary but, is it worth the expense and service loss to remove them?
The one in Michigan City at least is dropping bits of concreate onto the tracks and trains. Makes more sense to remove them entirely instead of trying to remediate the chipping edges or installing nets to catch the falling bits.
I recall hearing that Union Pacific is looking at the two coaling towers in Illinois on their line west out of Chicago for the same reason.
Some of the comments here are well-meaning but unrealistic.
Let’s put this thing in perspective: These coaling towers last served their intended purpose when the Michigan Central dieselized … in 1953, which was 72 years ago.
Seventy two years is enough time for two or three generations of preservationists individuals to have done something to save these coaling towers – if preservation had actually been practical and feasible.
These structures are behemoths; they were expensive to build and expensive to demolish – the latter being the reason that the railroad didn’t take them down decades ago after steam was gone. The fact that these coaling towers are being taken now after standing for a century may well suggest that they are deteriorating to the point of being a safety hazard and liability.
While these structures are a link to bygone days of the past, they do not produce a useful purpose for their owner, nor for the riders of Amtrak’s Michigan Service. No historical society can afford to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars moving a structure like this, or coming up with the means to maintain it over the years – it just isn’t going to happen.
Well said.
Those are immensely large reinforced concrete structures that are probably quite difficult to take down. Perhaps they might have to be imploded. That’s messy, but fast. There’s really no way to move a building that heavy. It’s possible to move a wooden building that large, maybe even a brick one (I saw pictures of an enormous wooden church in Sweden being moved recently, google it it was quite impressive) but this has to weigh many thousands of tons. I did some looking and found this: “Skyler York, Director of Planning and Inspection for the city [of Michigan City], said the tower is cast-in-place concrete construction reinforced by rebar inside the concrete, which requires demolition to start at the top and work its way down pieces at a time.” So they’re not going to implode it.
Preserve not demolished.. that is history
Should have been gone long ago, but no way to have taken it down without closing the main.
Trying to remember the date, sometime around 1980 to 1983, saw one of these, looked exactly the same, in Livernois Yard, Detroit (also ex – Michigan Central). But that’s not the same as hulking over the main line. Interesting artifact of railroad archaeology. But as a steam un-fan, it wouldn’t bother me if it’s gone or still there, either way.
Question for you steam fans, was it common to have a coaling tower over the main?
Depending on the main line traffic and other factors there were quite a few at one time, many being wood, with concrete coming along later. Depended on whether the engines went thru or were changed out, so, a lot of factors.
The other comments as to moving it for preservation….. Not doable.
I don’t know what outfit is doing the demolition but they might think about getting a better contractor. Back when I was still working we had a coal tower taken down and it was all cleaned up before the end of day two and we weren’t happy about it taking that long.
Those coal towers are historical and part of the railroad heritage. If possible, one of them should be moved and preserved in a museum environment.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün