TRRS 549: Rail and Sail Action at St. Joseph, MI

[@jerrysinclair3771]

Your swing bridge explanation from 2:45 to 4:00 is the best I have seen. It is always fascinating to me that bridge engineers of the late 1800s had this figured out...but not without a lot of trial and error. Still 100 year old swing bridges are common throughout the world and you made them all proud.

[@bradfordsmith1758]

This is not your typical railfanning video. This is planned and artful cinematography. Very, very well done. Thank you for the quality entertainment!

[@njjeff201]

He’s a genius!

[@JLange642]

Just saw this in my recommended videos this morning- my mother just moved back to her hometown near Ann Arbor, MI. after 51 years living in Benton Harbor. I spent many hours down at Silver beach in those decades and only once caught a train crossing the bridge. NEVER caught a large ship passing through-and here you get both in a single day! Fabulous video! Thanks!

[@StormySkyRailProductions]

Outstanding video has a little bit of everything, Enjoyed watching.

[@NapierNimbus]

Brilliant, really excellent, great pictures and sound, and so pleased you showed the full length of the huge freight train at the end.

[@njjeff201]

Great shots, great editing, great narration!! I used to live in Bergen County NJ 2 blocks from CSX line. We had trains seems like almost every hour or so. I’ve seen derailments, suicides, accidents, hot box fires, even a stranded car left on the tracks. Put a few coins on the tracks as a kid!! I even remember cabooses

[@JohnK3ZX]

Thank you for showing and describing the details of the swing bridge operation. I finally was able to see things I have been curious about for years.

[@RT-qd8yl]

This is easily one of the coolest videos I've ever seen on youtube. I've lived in the area for decades, and always wondered how the swing bridge actually worked. Watching Innovation was the icing on the cake! Truly something for everyone in this video, thank you so much for making this!

[@tbd6]

04:14 The reveal of the lighthouse as the bridge opens is fantastic.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Wasn’t planned when I set up that shot, but once I saw it I knew I had to use it!

[@gosmoothgolight7567]

Awesome mix of rail and Great Lakes shipping lore ... as so many here have said already; great presentation! Thanks for putting this together :)

[@dennisb-trains23]

Super video. I never had seen that bridge operate before. Pretty cool. Thanks for posting. Great job.

[@squibrail4014]

I don't ever remember being over there when a train was going over the bridge. One day I'd like to catch one at that location. Thanx for making the video and including the barge footage.

[@alanpecherer5705]

I never knew the bridge mechanism tweaked the rail ends upwards such that the rotating rails will clear the stationery rails. I just figured there was a sufficient gap. Nicely shot & explained!

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Some bridges do just have a gap and instead have a secondary locking mechanism to ensure the bridge doesn’t move, but the lift rails provide positive alignment and make for a smoother transition, so they’re preferred.

[@chrisretusn]

Always enjoy you videos. This retired sailor especially liked the nautical theme.

[@rtrobinson88321]

Great video, the swing bridge was my favorite part.

[@moosemanmagee4495]

This is fantastic! As good any pbs documentary I ever seen and seen a lot! Ty

[@williamjackson5767]

Thank you .My three favorite things in one video perfect.

[@PaulCashman]

What a fantastic job with this. Top-notch from end to end. Great to see another swing-bridge, too. This is like the smaller cousin of the legendary Fort Madison swing-bridge (which you covered several years ago)...except it's reversed: this bridge only closes when trains are due, and the FMD bridge only opens when barge-traffic is due. (The new-ish Virtual Railfan live camera there is great for watching that.) Again, great job!

[@samonator6546]

Back with commentary, well done!

[@neil442]

Trains ,swing bridge , boats something for all here all on one video ! Nice camera work too -plenty of details for the model making men -and plenty of action for the rest! Got to be a winning combo ?? Regards

[@robertmcgregor1514]

Great documentary of an amazing bridge and its operation

[@bodrodz]

Awesome video! Great job as usual. Thanks

[@kevbrown2589]

This chap has some very nice newsreels.

[@unclespongehead]

Well, that was fun! Great job Alex!

[@timdodge7845]

nice video, waiting for your next ones to follow in 2024

[@SuperRede4u]

Alex, This is one of your best videos to date. Where do I start? The excellent camera work (including the closeup of the swing bridge), the professional voice over that was well written and presented or the nicely varied trains /ships /trains bookends? So many KZbin'rs could learn a thing or two from your professional presentations. Kudos to you!

[@alcopower5710]

One of the best videos I’ve seen in a long time…….keep the wonderful content coming 👍

[@jrand2148]

Glad you're back love your videos

[@kens.3729]

AAR Railroad Group from STL went to Chicago, got on Amtrak Pere Marquette to St. Joseph, MI. 👍

[@torbinator9729]

Glad to see some new videos, your series is excellent!

[@rjames45_3]

awesome video i used to live near St.Joesph Michigan!

[@dougkubash8673]

really enjoyed the video!

[@albertvieira6635]

I'm going to echo on the comments and State job well done keep up the good work I give you an A+ job well done

[@donavonrobbins1908]

Think I just saw that barge paßsing through the straights the other day. Been catching a lot of activity thee lately.

[@Nicola636128]

Good video, well done!

[@Brian_rock_railfan]

great video

[@charleskesner1302]

Excellent video.

[@travis5376]

Something else interesting, I belive the ship at 5:20 is actually a barge that was once the last remaining steam powered ship on the great lakes (I can't remember it's name)

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

You’re thinking of the St Mary’s Challenger, which was indeed converted into a tug-barge as well.

[@emknapp6713]

Last Steam Powered Ship on the Great Lakes? SS Badger Ferry out of Ludington still runs on coal fired steam.

[@290wayne]

Great video... Nice narration....

[@fullscale4me]

My hometown!

[@gabrielreliat907]

Excellent!

[@axilla364]

lake Michigan does experience tidal changes, they are just very small.

[@emknapp6713]

In today’s era of PSR I’m surprised there is still a bridge operator on site. I’m sure it won’t be long before it remotely controlled from a desk in Jacksonville, FL.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

They installed a new control bungalow south of the bridge some years ago from which the operator controls everything. This was done to modernize the controls and make it capable of remoting. It sounds like the Coast Guard may have taken exception to that though due to the volume of recreational traffic in summer. They still abolish the tender job in winter when the bridge legally closes except upon request.

[@john5321]

Disappointed the Maritime professionals did not sound 1 prolonged blast for change of status (underway) and 3 short blasts for operation of astern propulsion...ty for the excellent train video!

[@AmyLExtraordinaire]

in my 20ish times taking the Pere Marquette I have never seen it run single level cars before. Do you know why this might have/does happen??

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Sometimes the Supers are needed to cover for routes on the Long Distance network.

[@kirkzevola5004]

Does the bridge have a horn?

[@jamesburnside3023]

Fine video

[@malcolmtucker8611]

What were those covered gondolas in the last train carrying? They seemed like high sided gondolas but I could be wrong.

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

They’re for coal ash. The former power plant in Muskegon is shipping out their ash so they don’t have to entomb in there. The lids keep it from blowing away

[@kddaniels5965]

those hoses look like refueling hoses too. on the ship.

[@daviddebello7609]

So how do the bridge tenders get out to their control cabin? Do they close the bridge and walk back at shift change, or do they leave the bridge open and use a boat?

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

In the past, they crew changed with the bridge closed to river traffic. Now, there is a control bungalow south of the bridge, so they never need to actually go out to the old control house on the bridge.

[@jaysmith1408]

Forgive me, but i can’t overlook LaBarge from LaFarge

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

It is a LaFarge Barge

[@russcondk]

... said Pepé Le Pew...

[@josephwirtz8352]

7:18 “Buzzing the tower” train style…

[@PlanesTrainsBoatsOnline]

Nice train, great video, Gave you a SUB

[@BlakesTrainsandMore4014]

When will the metra racetrack video be done

[@denisetindall1487]

I like train videos on KZbin 👍

[@cnhollysub6496]

Great video. Was that CSX power in the siding at Grand Junction?

[@ThornappleRiverRailSeries]

Helpers for the coal trains. The single loaded coal gon was brought in by a manifest as it had been setout as defective somewhere on the BNSF. So it was set to rejoin the fleet.

[@cnhollysub6496]

@@ThornappleRiverRailSeries OK, they talk about the pushers being there on the Bangor, MI camera. Thank you for replying.

[@scr2392]

Yaaa your back

[@tedzehnder961]

You could finally write that book if you had a job as a bridge operator.

[@rrich52806]

First