Great Lakes Central, which took over the operation of the former Ann Arbor RR north of its namesake city has lost its biggest northern Michigan customer, the sand pit operation at Yuma, Michigan, about 20 miles NW of Cadillac. It is the northern-most operating point on the former AA. The sand company indicated it was a permanent closure. Looking at the trains south out of Cadillac, sand accounted for about 3 out of 4 carloads. IIRC, the track is owned by the State of Michigan and leased to the GLC. In addition to the ex-AA track, they also operate ex-PRR track north of Cadillac to Petosky and the Traverse City area. Traffic on the line was marginal even before the sand pit closure.
Were they still running a daily train to Ann Arbor?
Before I retired about 5 years ago, I would see the train go south from Cadillac almost daily, except for the late summer auto plant shutdowns which would curtail the foundry sand shipments. Now I live a few miles from the track, and rarely get to witness their comings and goings. South of Clare there is agricultural traffic that may support more trains. I need to spend more time trackside.
As I recall, we would see a mostly grain southbound through Durand most evenings.
Note that the sand travels in covered hoppers, and at times old grain cars were used for this.
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