Phase I in progress
The Bluebird is coming back.
The train is not carrying passengers yet. Volunteers are rebuilding the first piece: Patton Road to Jeffers Road, near Grand Rapids, along the Maumee River.
Volunteers have to be members. Insurance requires it. Join, then sign up to work.
What is being built now
This starter segment, milepost 21.7 to 23.3, is the gate. Later miles stay on hold until a train can run here. The loading site is at Yawberg Road.
Track
- About 1,500 mainline ties
- Culvert at MP 22.9, and temporary track over the Ludwig culvert
- Grand Rapids Road crossing and North Yard switch ties
- Brush cleared at the crossings
- Platform and new bridge at Yawberg Road
Train and crew
- Axle repair on Alco S4 No. 5109 is done. Mechanics are preparing to service the engine and ready it for blue card inspection
- Bodywork on at least one coach
- Paint and letter Nickel Plate caboose No. 475
- New rule book, classes, and hands-on training for member-volunteers
- Notice to PUCO, Otsego Schools, and Providence Township
After the starter segment
The old excursion ran about ten miles, Waterville to Grand Rapids. The return walks that line back in steps.
- Into Grand RapidsFront Street, then milepost 25
- East toward WatervilleBailey, then milepost 15
Tie counts, crossings, and the notice list for each step are on the restoration project page.
The story, if you want it
The Bluebird is a volunteer excursion on the old Clover Leaf line. Open a chapter. The work list stays on the restoration page.
The line and the bridge
The corridor was built in 1875 as part of the Toledo-to-St. Louis route of the Toledo, St. Louis and Western, the Clover Leaf. The Nickel Plate Road acquired it in the early 20th century. Norfolk and Western absorbed the Nickel Plate in 1964.
The 1913 flood destroyed the earlier Maumee crossing at Grand Rapids. The bridge that replaced it is a 901-foot, six-span through truss, completed in 1916, the largest bridge owned by a tourist railroad east of the Mississippi.
1969 to the move onto the river
Enthusiasts organized the Toledo, Lake Erie & Western in 1965 and incorporated it in 1969. The Bluebird Special left Dorr Street and Secor Road in Toledo on June 1, 1969, with a rented steam locomotive and three borrowed cabooses. Wabash coaches, then lighter New York Central commuter coaches, replaced them.
The lease on Chesapeake & Ohio No. 377 expired in 1973. Baldwin 0-6-0 No. 202, built in 1920 for Detroit Edison and donated by the Michigan Railroad Club, was restored in 11 months and pulled the first Waterville–Grand Rapids Bluebird in 1974. A 1941 Whitcomb 44-ton, No. 1, came from the Ann Arbor Railroad.
In 1976, as N&W moved to abandon the line south of milepost 15, TLE&W bought milepost 15 to 25 and kept trackage rights to milepost 14 for the Waterville depot.
Why it is still out of service
The Bluebird stopped in 2009 because the track needed work that was not finished. It has not made a revenue passenger run since. A 2010 return did not happen, and the line has stayed closed while that work is done in pieces.
It is still out because the starter segment is not ready to run a train, and the locomotive is not yet cleared. About 1,500 mainline ties between Patton Road and Jeffers Road, the culvert at milepost 22.9, the Grand Rapids Road crossing, brush at the crossings, and a loading site with a new bridge at Yawberg Road are still ahead. Axle repair on Alco S4 No. 5109 is done. Our team of mechanics is preparing to service the prime mover and get it ready for blue card inspection. At least one coach still needs bodywork, and Nickel Plate caboose No. 475 is slated to be refreshed. Crews need a new rule book and training, and PUCO, Otsego Schools, and Providence Township will have to be notified when the time comes.
Until that segment can operate, nothing west into Grand Rapids or east toward Waterville starts. No opening day is set.
Watch the work
2025–2026 workdays, lifting the 5109, track repairs, and painting NKP 475. Open the playlist.
Help finish this first mile and a half
Ties, a culvert, a loading site, an axle, a coach, and a qualified crew are the bill for Phase I. People volunteer through membership. Our insurance requires every volunteer to be a member of the organization.