Intervallo: The Great Lakes Central, No Longer
Once again I will take a little break in the month-long series of posts on the Great Divide in New Mexico—but still have ten posts coming on that, after this break of four or five posts.
It's been a while since I chased a train in the northern lower peninsula, but I did so yesterday. In the meantime, the little railroad in my area, the Great Lakes Central, has been purchased by WATCO, a conglomerate of regional roads. My count is 62 short-line railroads (source).
The locomotive here is still in the GLC paint scheme, though it's quaint three-digit number has been changed (I assume) to fit in with Watco's larger numbering system. I imagine as the engines need paint, they will adorn the familiar black and yellow of the parent company. I'm not looking forward to that: the railroad business, from the enthusiast point of view, does not need any more homogenization.
So, I'll post my recent chase, via a few posts here. We begin on the former Grand Rapids & Indiana, later the Pennsy. The train was parked over night at Walton Junction (below), on the main to Petoskey, before heading down the branch line to Traverse City, Michigan.
Five images by Richard Koenig; taken May 21st 2026.
