Grand Trunk Western (GTW) Geeps at Work in Flat Rock, Michigan.

Hello everyone, and welcome to a rather unique video featuring a pair of fallen flag Grand Trunk Western GP38-2s working at the Flat Rock Yard in Flat Rock, Michigan. Flat Rock Yard is one of the main yards for Canadian National in Southeast Michigan, if not the main yard for CN, and has been a haven for Grand Trunk Western (GTW) Geeps for many years. That being said though, CN has been slowly repainting or replacing their fleet of fallen flag units, including the GTW Geeps, into CN colors. So I figured I would feature these wonderful locomotives in their original paint schemes while they are still in service.

The train action in today's video mainly shows the typical duties that the GTW Geeps have in and around Flat Rock Yard: switching cars into the Automobile Plants, moving autoracks and truck-frames around at the east end of the yard, and just switching various cars at the heart of the yard. As you may guess, while this Canadian National yard is the host yard for many industries in the Southeast Michigan region, its primary purpose and primary industry is the automotive industry, hence the number of autoracks and number of railcars designated for the auto industry.

For those of you who are wondering about the location of the yard and possibly finding these fallen flag units, Flat Rock Yard is located in the Detroit suburb of Flat Rock, near the border of Wayne and Monroe Counties and near I-75. The yard was a primary yard used by the Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton Railroad (DT&I) to serve the same purpose that it does today. Grand Trunk Western acquired the yard in the mid-1980s with the acquisition of the DT&I, and then the yard switched to Canadian National ownership in 1996 when CN absorbed GTW.

Its hard to imagine this yard without GTW geeps in action here. Though some of the GP38-2s and GP40-2s in action are former GTW geeps in Canadian National paint, it just doesn't wouldn't feel the same. Hopefully the next time I come back and railfan here there will still be a few Grand Trunk Geeps in service.

Anyways, hope you enjoy the video!

-N&W475