In attractive bumblebee colors, the Grand Elk moves southward on the old Conrail Kalamazoo Secondary approaching CP Park with Monday's work. Conrail upgraded this former Lake Shore & Michigan Southern/NYC Kalamazoo Branch in the mid 1970's after the PC debacle, and ran Elkhart-Detroit freight traffic over what would became the Kalamazoo Secondary to Kalamazoo, thence the MC/NYC passenger main to Jackson, in lieu of the direct ex-Michigan Central/NYC Air Line Branch even though it was an additional 47 miles. CP Park is a controlled siding constructed as part of that upgrade. The change meant the end of the Air Line by 1980, which itself was a part of a NYC upgrade to a high speed, modern freight line upgrade during the 1950's. US 131 parallels the tracks south from Schoolcraft to Three Rivers. 501 is typically on duty at 0800 M-F at Kalamazoo's Gearhart Yard, formerly Botsford Yard, and works to Anderson just south of White Pigeon, MI.
