Depot: (Satellite)
Junction Tower: (Satellite, see the topo map below, there used to be an interchange yard instead of businesses.)
Fortunately, I found the link to this video in a Facebook group where a comment provided the much needed detail of "east of Lansing, MI" and a Google Earth image that let me find it on a satellite image.
This used to be the GTW and, as of 2005, was used by CN, CP and Amtrak.
Google's 3D option doesn't always work well, but it did for this tower.
Update:
I had two postings on this tower. :-( This was the other posting. Thus some redundant information.
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| Raymond Storey posted LANSING MICHIGAN AREA. Dennis DeBruler It is nice to see what it looked like back when it was being used. https://www.google.com/.../@42.7192366,-84.../data=!3m1!1e3 Carl Venzke posted West bound steam locomotive at a coal tower on the GTW mainline on the east side of Lansing, Michigan. Tower still stands. This photo is probably from the late 50s or early 60s but the exact date and photographer are unknown. Ray Weart Late 1950's up to March 1960. The GTW was dieselized in March 1960. Rodney D Zona Old GTW RR Port Huron based conductors and head brakemen worked to and from Chicago. Battle Creek tail end brakemen worked BC-PH-CHI-BC. Battle Creek engine crews worked to and from PH. Farrell Wills It looks to be streamlined. That is not a look that I associate with the end years of steam--late 50s, early 60s. It seems like streamlining had gone away by the early 50s, but I can't find any reference that backs me up on this. I'm just thinking that this is an older photograph. Raymond Storey posted |
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| Mark Hinsdale posted In March, 1973, Grand Trunk Western original SD40's 5926 & 5925 bring westbound manifest train #393 under the coal dock on the east side of Lansing, Michigan, on the way to Battle Creek and Chicago. The massive concrete and steel structure straddled both Flint Subdivision main tracks, along with a siding on each side, permitting the coaling of four steam locomotives simultaneously. The coaling tower was erected in 1925 by the Ogle Construction Company, and still stands today, nearly 100 years later, having been deemed too expensive to take down. The Norfolk & Western hoppers cars seen in the westward siding were commonly found at this location, which was often used to store coal destined to Lansing's Board of Water & Light municipal power plant. March, 1973 photo by Mark Hinsdale Tim Shanahan shared Lansing michigan |
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| Screenshot from video |
This used to be the GTW and, as of 2005, was used by CN, CP and Amtrak.
Google's 3D option doesn't always work well, but it did for this tower.
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| Google 3D, looking East |
Update:
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| Charles Geletzke Jr. posted On September 24, 1998 I was working as the engineer on GTW Train #456 and i took this shot of my train at the Lansing Coal Dock. We had the GTW 6425-5854-4624 with 34 loads and 12 empties. Sometimes we just had to stop for a photo!Rodney D Zona Nice shot Chuck!! First bridge behind the old Lansing Coal Dock is Aurelius Road and the far bridge in the background is Dakin Street. The shot above is facing west. |
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| Ronald L. Jackson commented on Charles' posting July 26, 2013. |
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| Doug Hefty shared Jody McCreery's posting of Jim Slater's photo in the early 1980s |
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| Brian Caswell Train Photography posted Eastbound CN OCS , P623 - through Lansing Michigan @ the former Grand Trunk Coal Tower - This Presidental Train originated in Chicago and was bound for Toronto Canada / November 2023 Roger Riblett shared |
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| Stan Sienicki posted GTW(CN) Train R391 as I'm heading west on the Flint Sub. we pass under the Coaling Tower between Trowbridge and Lansing.Stan Sienicki GTW as well as CN did a few studies on trying to remove it and it was built with so much rebar and foundations went as deep as 20 feet that if they started the project to remove it it would take roughly 2 weeks of 24/7 work to remove it shutting down the mainline and traffic. |
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| Michigan DOT from ProgressiveRailroading |
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| Dylan Dowen posted This is one of the groups I tend to not post in, so here is my take on yesterday’s [2017 Dec 17] CN Santa Train. |
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| safe_image for: ABANDONED MICHIGAN: Railroad Coal Loader, Lansing [This article has many images.] Tim Shanahan shared |
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| Tim Shanahan posted Chad Tomlin  What is itDennis DeBruler A coaling tower to refuel steam locomotives. It appears the coaling chutes have been stripped. I'm surprised it still has the stair case. Usually all of the metal is stripped from them. It looks like this is over the main line, and it would be used to refuel through trains. Every roundhouse would also have a coaling tower or dock on the leads to the roundhouse. I wonder where this one is. Dennis DeBruler Here it is with the metal chutes still attached and a hopper being unloaded. https://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/.../lansing-mi-gtw... Dennis DeBruler The slanted structure on the left probably contained a skip hoist that lifted the coal from a dump pit under the hopper to the top of the tower. https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../skip-hoists... |
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| Matty Mateo posted in the Lansing Railroad Archaeology Group, cropped Raymond Storey posted |
Craig Hensley Photography posted three photos with the comment:
A couple different views of the former GTW coaling tower that sits over the tracks in Lansing, MI along the CN Flint sub.Lansing, MI - May 2025
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| Craig Hensley Photography posted The old GTW coaling tower stands tall over the CN Flint Sub in Lansing, MI as the sun rises into the sky. Built in 1925, it was capable of filling four steam locomotives with coal on four separate tracks, two main and one siding on each end. The tower ceased operations in the 1950s as diesel locomotives became more prevalent on the Trunk. Rather then go through the effort to demolish the tower, since these things were built to last, it was abandoned and the sidings were pulled up. The tower still remains today, seeing several trains rolls underneath on the CN, but it sure has seen better days. Lansing, MI - May 2025 Shanan Vann: GTW/CN used to store auto racks, hi-cubes, and hopper cars on the sidings. |
Ronald L. Jackson shared his album of 60 photos. The "shared" link has comments about other coaling towers as well.
Depot
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| Raymond Storey posted LANSING MI Dennis DeBruler: It is extant: https://maps.app.goo.gl/WGmBfHFfMUNpTx3b9. |
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| Street View, Jul 2023 |
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Amtrak built a new station in East Lansing.
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| Street View, Oct 2016 |
This map accurately marks the location of the GTW station.
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| 1965/67 Lansing South Quad @ 24,000 |
Cedar Street Tower
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| Charles Geletzke Jr. posted I've never seen too many photos of this tower??? This was the GTW -NYC (PC-CR) Cedar Street tower in Lansing, Michigan as photographed on January 27, 1977. (C. H. Geletzke, Jr. photo) |
The big red line is Cedar Street (Business I-96). The east/west route was the GTW. The tracks on the right were the MC, and the tracks on the left were the NYC/LSMS. I presume this tower is near Cedar street instead of the crossing of GTW & MC because it also conrollted the junction with LSMS.
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| 1965/67 Lansing South Quad @ 24,000 |
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