U.P. Michigan

Wow, very exciting to see someone as interested in the Upper Peninsula railroads as me.

@MichRR714 posted:

Wow, very exciting to see someone as interested in the Upper Peninsula railroads as me.

I love the UP.  Back in the mid 70s, I poked around the Quincy mine area when the old equipment was just lying around out in the weather.  Also enjoyed checking out several of the ghost towns.  Went to Fayette and took measurements and pics of the buildings, in the hope of modeling the area someday.  Unfortunately, I can't find that notebook (it's gotta be here somewhere!) but I'm still looking.

I own a few NMRRC cars.  Unfortunately, the NMRRC website doesn't mention anything about 2020 cars; I'm assuming that they're a victim of Covid.  Hope they come back next year.

I think you'll see more NMRRC cars in the future.  They are still working through the last of the Dundee Cement hoppers.  I'm sure there will be another project in the future.

I live in lower MI, I have been all over the U.P, Someday I would like to move up there. So if the wife leaves me that's were I will go. Tout Lake, Munising Area that's me.

Hi,

Mallard4468  I love poking around the Quincy mine! I was up there this fall and I found some old rock cars on a track in the woods. Some of them still look pretty decent. If you go up there any time soon, I can tell you exactly where they are.  If you want measurements and drawings of Quincy's building and rail equipment, the book "Rock Down, Coal Up"  book by  Chuck Pomazal. I find it to be a really great resource.

Michrr714, I am hoping that maybe the NMRRC will run a Quincy and Torch Lake Something (Bobber Caboose?) and I wish Someone would run the Quincy rock cars.

Down below are the books that I use to model and research. I also use the internet, in particular a couple websites,

www.copperrange.org

https://www.facebook.com/Quinc...RR-1622418924676383/

I also found in a old issue of Model Railroader (October 1983) with scratchbuilt U.P. stuff.

P.S. I am 17, so this model railroader was given to me by a model train enthusiast near me.

@CopperCountryJake posted:

Hi,

Mallard4468  I love poking around the Quincy mine! I was up there this fall and I found some old rock cars on a track in the woods. Some of them still look pretty decent. If you go up there any time soon, I can tell you exactly where they are.  If you want measurements and drawings of Quincy's building and rail equipment, the book "Rock Down, Coal Up"  book by  Chuck Pomazal. I find it to be a really great resource.

Michrr714, I am hoping that maybe the NMRRC will run a Quincy and Torch Lake Something (Bobber Caboose?) and I wish Someone would run the Quincy rock cars.

Down below are the books that I use to model and research. I also use the internet, in particular a couple websites,

www.copperrange.org

https://www.facebook.com/Quinc...RR-1622418924676383/

I also found in a old issue of Model Railroader (October 1983) with scratchbuilt U.P. stuff.

P.S. I am 17, so this model railroader was given to me by a model train enthusiast near me.

Thanks for posting the resources.  Coincidentally, you're about the same age I was when I was poking around up there.  Good to see someone your age interested in this stuff.

My great grandfather worked for the Quincy Mining Company, and my grandmother was born and raised in Hancock, so this is of great interest to me. I have visited the area several times. There is a lot of mining and railroad history to be found up there, and its a beautiful area to explore.

Jay Jay,  So I am going to ask that, seeing that you have a history with the area, do you have old pictures or rail artifacts from the area that could give ideas on how to model the Copper Country?

@CopperCountryJake posted:

Jay Jay,  So I am going to ask that, seeing that you have a history with the area, do you have old pictures or rail artifacts from the area that could give ideas on how to model the Copper Country?

CCJ, I don't think that I have anything rail- or mine-related. Wish I did!

I grew up down state in Wyandotte. Lived in the UP for two years while attending LSSU in the Soo. After graduating in ‘74 I moved to California to put my newly minted Engineering degree to work. I remember watching the Soo Line cars rolling across the bridge over the St. Mary’s River from my dorm room window. Any Soo Line Rail cars always get my attention at a train show. Most of them come home with me!

John

I spent a few hours at the Quincy mine last year.  Fascinating story and interesting machinery used to haul the tipples up to the surface.  A few photos ...

I took these photos on 7/28/2004. The locomotives were in much rougher shape back then.

//

Love the pics everyone!!

I wish that more people would model the area.  The Quincy and Torch Lake had some very unusual pieces of equipment.  The rock cars for example, are unlike anything in the O gauge market. I found them in the HO and G gauge market.

One piece that I really love is caboose number 4.  It is a former Copper Range passenger coach that was shortened and had a cupola installed.

I don't know how to scratch build cars, I am still learning modeling tricks.

Here is a group of pictures from CopperCountry I took when I was there in August.

There is a really nice restored locomotive inside that engine house!  Also, the Torch Lake - a steam locomotive from the Keweenaw, is operational and runs at the Ford Museum near Detroit.  Other items:  at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, MN. there is a Q&TL rock car on display as well as a DSS&A Alco RS-1.  At the Mid-Continent Railroad Museum in North Freedom, WI there are the Copper Ranger #29 and the Lake Superior & Ishpeming #22 steam locos on display as well as several wooden passenger cars.

There is indeed a lot of Mining and railroad history up here. I live about 40 miles outside of Houghton. If anyone wants any pictures in particular for a project let me know. I go to Houghton quite a bit.

  Smelting Works  on the north bank of the Portage Canal in Hancock. The boat takes tours out to Isle Royale in the middle of Lake Superior. Photo taken 7/26/2004 by me.

I spent a week exploring the UP a few years ago, in the fall, with leaves turned, beautiful! I got to the museum before it opened, and foolishly drove on, so missed some of the railroad history.  I was using a UP ghost town guide book, and found little evidence of many surviving . Would like to see a book on the railroads of this area. Strongly recommend a visit and tour of the UP.  Glad there will be more UP oriented railcars forthcoming.

This book is about the only reference for the Railroads that I can find. It has maps of exactly where the mines and Railroad were.

Rock Down, Coal Up, by Chuck Pomazal, is a very interesting and in-depth history and photo selection of the Quincy and Torch Lake Railroad.

@colorado hirailer posted:

I spent a week exploring the UP a few years ago, in the fall, with leaves turned, beautiful! I got to the museum before it opened, and foolishly drove on, so missed some of the railroad history.  I was using a UP ghost town guide book, and found little evidence of many surviving . Would like to see a book on the railroads of this area. Strongly recommend a visit and tour of the UP.  Glad there will be more UP oriented railcars forthcoming.

Were you using the ghost town book from Roy(?) Dodge?  AFAIK, that book was written in the early/mid 70s, so the lack of surviving evidence isn't surprising.  Back in the mid 70s, I was advised by locals that a lot of the information in that book was incorrect.  Is there a more recent book on this topic?

This is a Copper Country display I put on my shelf.

My grandfather worked for the Milwaukee Road in Milwaukee. My mother used to get free passes to ride the 'Chip" (Chippewa) up to Channing to visit my great aunt. She said she could remember the cars were dirty and cold.

Thanks for this thread, I enjoy it very much.

Steam Powered Videos has a RR Atlas with IL, WI, & the UP of MI.  Maybe it has some details for UP fans.

As a coop student in Midland MI in summer 1983, I made my first camping trip to the UP at Taquamenom Falls State Park.  Largest falls east of the Mississippi River after Niagara Falls.  Much of the UP is on the Niagara Escarpement.

In the 1990s, my family camped many times in the UP:

JW Wells SP on Green Bay

Indian Lake SP at Manistique

McClain SP near Houghton on Lake Superior

Lake Gogebic SP in western UP

Bewabic SP near Iron Mountain

Twin Lakes SP at the base of the Keewanau Peninsula.

We love the mix of history of logging, RRing, maritime, Native American tribes, & mining at all of the local museums.

The beaches, light houses, woods, & outdoor activities are fantastic.  Always 20 degrees cooler than Chicagoland in the summer.

We have visited the Stambaugh Depot museum, Soo Locks & boat tour, Valley Camp iron ore freighter, Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point (great exhibit on the SS Edmund Fitzgerald), Fayette SP, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Mackinac Island, Fort Mackinac, Fort Michalamackinaw, Seney Wildlife Refuge, among others.  

The iron mine tour has an electric train ride into the mine.  In 2003, there was a restaurant in Mackinaw City with a RR theme located on the site of former rail yards.  

Now that C&NW is part of Union Pacific, the UP must now also be in a he UP !!!

Now I am hungry for a pasty.  

Say Ya to da UP, Eh ?

@CBQ_Bill posted:

.  

Now that C&NW is part of Union Pacific, the UP must now also be in a he UP !!!

Now I am hungry for a pasty.  

Say Ya to da UP, Eh ?

The Union Pacific quickly sold the C&NW lines in the UP to the Wisconsin Central.  They then became part of the CN.  Unfortunately CN closed the ore dock in Escanaba so no more ore trains from Eagle Mills run down to there.  

The UP was the northeastern-most point of the C&NW, Milwaukee Road, and the Soo Line.  There were also a number of short lines.  Now there is just CN, the Lake Superior & Ishpeming, the Escanaba & Lake Superior, and the Mineral Range - plus two quarry railroads; the one at Port Inland and the isolated one at Port Dolomite.

@CopperCountryJake posted:

Michrr714, I am hoping that maybe the NMRRC will run a Quincy and Torch Lake Something (Bobber Caboose?) and I wish Someone would run the Quincy rock cars.

Prairie Locomotive Works has a model of the Q&TL rock car in On30.  It could also be used as a standard gauge car in S gauge with a change of trucks.

I doubt that we will run any QT&L cars as they were narrow gauge, and we use standard gauge prototypes.  Don't know when we will start doing cars again, as MTH is closing its doors and Lionel has stopped producing their Lionscale cars (hopefully just temporarily).  Another beer car was being planned when all this happened.

This is a great site for the Copper Range RR:  http://www.copperrange.org/index.html

My in-laws have a place in Cedarville, MI.  We spend a few weeks up there every summer, and take the boat out to the Port Dolomite mine and watch the cars dump before being loaded on to the freighter.

I've never been to the Upper Peninsula but the discussion and photos in this thread are very interesting. Please continue to post about this subject.

MELGAR

Hey guys,

I picked up a few new things related to the U.P.

I got 2 books, one on the Mineral Range, and one on the Iron Ore RailRoads.

I also got a set of decals for the Copper Range RailRoad from K4 Decals.

So if anyone has a unmarked 34' wood boxcar laying around that you would be willing to part with....

Here is the link for the decals: he has many different MI railroads.    https://k4decals.com/

Hoping my Pats Trains Lake Superior and Ishpheming Mth special run will show up soon..

I am also intrigued by the railway and mining history of the UP. i was fortunate to be able to go up there every year for quite a while and camp north of Newberry. I sure enjoyed watching things move around in the Escanaba yard and trying to follow the myriad of lines, as well as the interesting cars.

Right now is a fantastic time for modelers of the Upper Peninsula railroads!  Pat's Trains is coming out with several special runs of locomotives and cars:  a Lake Superior & Ishpeming RS-3, a Copper Range Baldwin switcher, Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic RS-1 and AS-616; and LS&I, DSS&A, SOO, and CNW ore cars...and a DSS&A caboose.  Mr Muffin has a AS-616 in DSS&A colors with Soo Line patches (Soo took over the DSS&A), and a set of Milwaukee Road F units in the last paint scheme as used on the Gogebic Iron Range.  And finally, Lionel has a GP-30 and a 4-6-0 in Soo Line.  A lot of stuff there!  My credit card has taken a big hit.  Oh yeah, coming up this winter, the Northern Michigan Railroad Club is releasing a billboard reefer from an Upper Peninsula brewery.

Wow!  I missed a lot, except for fall leaves, and was using the wrong book, apparently.  Was looking for ghost towns and found only vacant sites in most cases.  I did not find pasty tasty, but ...dif'rent strokes..Definitely needed better RR oriented book.   Not modeling that area, but it is a closer substitute for Western mining history.  Did find the UP a beautiful area, certainly in the fall (now).   Those "Coppercountryjake" photos are great!  A book of those and more centered around railroads and towns and history would be welcome.

Escanaba, U.P. 11 Aug 21

Gladstone, U.P., 11 Aug 21

Marquette, U.P., 11 Aug 21

LS&I Presque Isle Ore Dock, U.P.,11 Aug 21  If you have only one day to photograph taconite loading operations on the U.P., Presque Isle is where you want to go. I worked the Messabi Ore Range for two days. If you go there, Two Harbors is the place to go to shoot the ore docks.

More LS&I at Presque Isle, U.P., 11 Aug 21

@colorado hirailer posted:

Wow!  I missed a lot, except for fall leaves, and was using the wrong book, apparently.  Was looking for ghost towns and found only vacant sites in most cases.  I did not find pasty tasty, but ...dif'rent strokes..Definitely needed better RR oriented book.   Not modeling that area, but it is a closer substitute for Western mining history.  Did find the UP a beautiful area, certainly in the fall (now).   Those "Coppercountryjake" photos are great!  A book of those and more centered around railroads and towns and history would be welcome.

It's been almost 40 years since I poked around the UP for ghost towns using the Dodge book.  Back then, many of the towns were nothing but vacant sites, and I doubt that has changed for the better (except maybe at Fayette) - most of the structures were made of wood, many weren't painted, and there was nobody to tend to them when the towns were abandoned.

@John23 posted:

...  Oh yeah, coming up this winter, the Northern Michigan Railroad Club is releasing a billboard reefer from an Upper Peninsula brewery...

Thanks for the current pics.  So far, I've resisted temptation on the new engines.

I own a couple of NMRRC club cars, and am looking forward to the announcement.  When will it appear on the website?

Beautiful country up in the UP.  Aside from checking out the ghost railroads and mines spend some time and take a boat tour of the pictured rocks - you won't be disappointed.

https://www.google.com/maps/uv...HUanDvwQoip6BQi0ARAD

https://www.munising.org/pictured-rocks/