Few rail fans did not have their eyes and or ears on W085 on Friday as the Union Pacific ballast train rolled through and dropped fresh ballast between cities and towns all over West Michigan. Starting the drops at MP 44 and finishing at MP 6 before planning to go into Grand Rapids and then back towards Holland to take the Freemont SD. Plans would later change and they tied down for the night before the next day when they headed further east to drop near Grand Ledge.
The engineer on board said as they passed Saugatuck that it was the most rail fans he had seen in 26 years. It's not every day UP comes up the Grand Rapids sub so I think it was well worth the excitement. I was also glad they dropped right in front of me and that I was able to get a video both here near Hudsonville as well as in Kentwood the following day. Where I was located was pretty close to the tracks but was on county/state property.
W085 was led by UP 7680 and 8178 followed by 89 loaded Herzog ballast cars capped by rear DPU 7134 and then trailed by a CSX 'rail rider'.
Filmed on 4-19-24 at 5:49 PM in Hudsonville MI.
#unionpacific #ballasttrain #unittrain #railroad
0:00 UP Starts By
1:18 UP Drops Ballast
4:01 DPU Rolls By
4:25 Rail Rider Goes By