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The first photo I ever took that really told me I had a shot at being a photographer was this one. By sheer luck, a vintage car was posed next to the tracks in Rosebush, Michigan as Pere Marquette #1225 made its way north with a Cadillac Limited excursion on the Great Lakes Central's ex. Ann Arbor mainline. This was probably around 2014 or 2015 if I had to guess?

On July 18th I found myself in Alpena for work and thus, an opportunity to get more shots of the seldom photographed Lake State freight that runs south out of Alpena on the former Detroit and Mackinac Railway. LSRC Train 326 works its way southbound on the Huron Sub just south of Ossineke (Aww-sin-ek), Michigan crossing this rather picturesque bridge over the curiously named Devil’s River. LSRC Slug #303 and Slug Mother #4303 are former NS units who see regular service up here on the former D&M, where ancient stick rail and slow orders means that large road units such as SD40's and SD70M's are not permitted to go and slow speeds are the name of the game. This bridge is close, but also far from any public road and required a hike in. Once on site I needed to be in the water as the angle I wanted was otherwise not possible. After a delicate time meandering amongst the rocks, the train came lumbering by at a breakneck pace of 10MPH with around 60 cars. The water felt good; nice and cool but not too cold and super clear. For being named the Devil's River, it was quite heavenly.