Welcome to the new Baldwin Subdivision
Operated by MARQUETTE RAIL, and based at Ludington, MI.

Click HERE for the CSX Era Baldwin Subdivision page.
Click HERE for the CSX Era updates page about the Baldwin Sub.

Marquette Rail is set up as a conglomeration of Farmrail, Progressive Rail, and the Lake State Railway Company. While all three of these rail companies are contributing in some way, Marquette will operate with its own offices, crews, and locomotives, and they will own the trackage their trains run over. The specific trackage is comprised of the former CSX Ludington and Manistee Subdivisions in west Michigan, extending from Grand Rapids north through Baldwin to their two lakeside namesakes. Specifically, the trackage changing hands will be from milepost CGE 3.6 in Grand Rapids northward. In total, it will cover 126 miles of former Pere Marquette right-of-way. This segment of rail has been in continuous operation since 1874, with portions predating that by almost a decade.

Operational Date: November 11, 2005 was the last day of CSX operations north of Mile Post CGE 3.6 in Grand Rapids. November 12 was the first day of operations under Marquette Rail.

Reporting Marks: MQT

Primary Yards: Ludington, MI and Manistee, MI. Repair shops will most likely be at Manistee because they already have the roundhouse facilities available, and CSX performed minor car repairs there.

Radio Frequencies: 160.440 MHz Road (primary), 161.310 MHz Yard (secondary). Base stations: Custer and Freesoil, MI.

According to the official release by the Surface Transportation Board, Marquette Rail will be purchasing from CSX the "rail improvements comprising the line, and leasing the underlying real property."

Operations:
Marquette Rail currently operates four jobs six days a week. They go something like this:

Z151 "Marquette Meteor" Goes on duty at 2200 at Baldwin Station, goes south to Grand Rapids CSX Wyoming Yard to interchange their train, then returns north. They switch industries along the way as necessary. This does the work that CSX D704 did prior to the takeover.

Local 1000 "Baldwin Blazer" Goes on duty at 1000 at Baldwin Station. They work to both Ludington and Manistee Yards, doing work that CSX D771 and D712 did before the takeover.

Ludington Local They go on duty at 1000 at Ludington Yard, break down and make up trains, and switch Dow Chemical and other area customers. They do the work CSX Y120 did before the takeover.

Manistee Local They go on duty at 0800 at Manistee Yard. This local works the many Manistee area industries, and runs to Martin Marrieta and return as necessary. They do the work CSX D712 and D711 did prior to the takeover.

Also:
Z152 This is the symbol they seem to use for any unit train interchange traffic coming or going from CSX (requiring an arrival or departure from Wyoming Yard at a time other than their usual middle-of-the-night time). Commodities include grain and lime.

Motive Power: Marquette is now operating with their permanent road power.  They began by operating with a set of leased power while they tried to normalize their operations. Originally, they received 6 former C&NW GP50s from National Rail Equipment (NREX) as temporary power, while NREX rebuilt 7 other former C&NW GP50s which would become Marquette's permanent power. However, poor maintenance on the part of NREX on the temporary fleet before arrival on MQT caused only trouble for the newly formed railroad. Almost immediately after startup, Marquette leased two CW44AC locomotives from CSX, #465 and #517, to assist in moving trains while various GP50s were down with mechanical problems. The engine troubles persisted, and CSX called back their CW44ACs, replacing them instead with two rentals which CSX sub-let to Marquette. These were FURX #3018 and MPEX #5000, which arrived on Marquette rails on December 8, 2005. Number 3018 was called back to CSX for a quarterly inspection in late December, and #5000 was due for its inspection in late January, removing both from MQT service. In the meantime, GP9 #1702, from affiliate Finger Lakes Railway has arrived to assist the GP50s, and Marquette leased GP18 #921 to the MAC Elevador in Newago to switch their plant. As the situation with the temporary GP50s did not improve, Marquette canceled their order with NREX for the rebuilt GP50s, and instead received three SD40-2s from GLLX, and four GP38-2s from GATX for permanent power. Until these arrived, MQT has replaced all six of their NREX GP50s with two leased former UP SD40-2s from the Ohio Central. The GP18 #921 went back to Third Coast Industries in Lansing (official owner) in late March, while all 6 NREX GP50s and the Finger Lakes GP9 went back to their respective owners in mid-April 2006, when the Ohio Central SD40-2s arrived.

Current Roster:
2635 GP38-2 Marquette Blue/White (GMTX) Former CSX 1988, CR 7923 (Painted August 2006)
2648 GP38-2 GMTX/CR Blue Former CSX 1966, CR 7727
2652 GP38-2 GMTX/CR Blue Former CSX 1981, CR 7907
2676 GP38-2 GMTX/CR Blue Replaced GP38-2 2653, arrived 9/2006
3001 SD40-2 Marquette Blue/Marigold Former CP Rail 5595, leased from GLLX (Painted September 2007)
3002 SD40-2 GLLX Gray Former CP Rail 5638, leased from GLLX (received gold stripes October 2007)
3003 SD40-2 GLLX Gray Former CP Rail 5803, leased from GLLX

4 SW9 Leelanau Scenic Railroad (GLLX) Being repaired at Manistee; will work MAC in Newago upon completion. ex C&O
3158 Wide Vision Caboose - MQT paint Former Chessie System/C&O (CSX) caboose #903158 based at Ludington Yard.
914020 Russell MofW/Snowplow Former Chessie/C&O (CSX) plow previously stored at Grand Rapids. Built 10-64 as C&O SP-20.

Former Marquette Power:
921 GP18 Former Twin Branch Coal Returned to Third Coast Stone Distributors in Lansing in late March 06
1702 GP9 Finger Lakes Railway Returned to Finger Lakes Railway via CSX during mid April 06
2653 GP38-2 GMTX/CSX Scheme 3 M Former CSX 2141, L&N 1411 (returned to GMTX 9/2006)
2903 GP50 NREX/UP paint Returned to NREX in mid April 06
2911 GP50 NREX/UP paint Returned to NREX in mid April 06
2933 GP50 NREX/UP paint Returned to NREX in mid April 06
2935 GP50 NREX/UP paint Returned to NREX in mid April 06
2939 GP50 NREX/UP paint Returned to NREX in mid April 06
2943 GP50 NREX/UP paint Returned to NREX in mid April 06
3018 SD40-2 FURX Rental Leased to CSX and subleased to MQT; returned to CSX in late December 05
5000 SD50-3 MPEX Rental Leased to CSX and subleased to MQT; returned to CSX in late January 06
4223 SD40-2 UP colors On lease from Ohio Central until official SD units arrive
9934 SD40-2 UP colors On lease from Ohio Central until official SD units arrive

This page and the information provided here is not endorsed as accurate or correct by Marquette Rail or Chessie Chapter. Likewise, Chessie Chapter has no affiliation with Marquette Rail in the same way we are not affiliated with CSXT, as per our disclaimer.

We wish the crews at Marquette Rail the very best as they try hard to build business along this piece of Michigan trackage!