| TRANSFORMATION OF GTW'S 4902 |
| Grand Trunk Western GP-9 No.4902 started life on the Central Vermont Railroad. She was built by GM-EMD and had 1750 horsepower. The locomotive weighed in at 251,000 lbs and had 44,000 lbs of tractive effort. While with the C.V., the engine carried number 1777. In 1956 the engine was reassigned to Grand Trunk Western in Michigan and given the number of 4902. |
| Jack Simmons took these two photographs of GTW 4902 at North Greenville in April, 1981.The top photo is a east view of the station with the junction tower on the left. Just beyond the tower is the junction with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. The second photo gives a good view of the red, black and white stripe paint scheme. Here is Jack's narration of that day at North Greenville: "At this time the Greenville turn was job 660 and 661, and operated on a sometimes daily, sometimes tri-weely schedule. I had a brand new Minolta XG-1 35mm SLR camera and I was taking photos like crazy." |
| " The train had come up from Durand that day and dropped their train [they may have switched WCI upon arriving] and parked the engine and caboose at the usual place, on the house track behind the depot. They would spend the night at the Winter Inn, a well known hotel in Greenville, and switch the WCI [Gibson] plant in the morning after turning the engine and caboose on the wye. I took at least 15 photos of the GTW that day, the depot, tower, engine, caboose, boxcars, diamond, signals, etc." |
| On the date of Sept.,1987, the Central Michigan Railway Co. took over the Durand to Muskegon line from Grand Trunk Western. Central Michigan leased 4902 from GTW and assigned it to Muskegon. When Central Michigan abandoned the track from Muskegon to Penn Jct., 4902 made Central Michigan's last run in Aug.,1989. The track was pulled up in April, 1990. After Central Michigan received their own motive power 4902 went back to GTW. In these two photographs, leased 4902 is working the Henry street yard in Muskegon. It has a different paint scheme now, blue and red with white striping. Both photographs by Tom Chubinski. |
| Gordon Lydeksen captured 4902 passing through Ravenna in Aug., 1989. To the right is the base for the water tank from steam days. |
| I caught this blurry shot of GP39-2 No. 5702 in 1988 at Holly. The train on the right is standing on the CSX line that runs between Flint and Plymouth. This GP38 was acquired from the Missouri Pacific as No. 2050. It started service on the GTW in 1987 and was assigned No. 5702. Note where the horn is situated and the running lights. |
| In the late 1980's, GTW started a rebuild program on some of their GP-9s. Number 4902 was one of these and emerged as a GP-9R with a new number of 4633. In this photo, Gordon Lydeksen caught GP-38-2 No.5702 with its new number, 4902, in Durand May, 2001. The horn has been moved back towards the center of the locomotive. The running lights are blanked out and ditch lights have been added. |
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