Coopersville & Marne Railway

WHO WE ARE

We are the Coopersville & Marne Railway, an all-volunteer historic railway operating vintage locomotives and circa-1920’s cars from Coopersville, Mich. to Marne, Mich. (about 20 miles northwest of Grand Rapids, Mich.). We run passenger trains from spring to winter, rain or shine, to preserve a little chunk of railroad history and educate our passengers along the way. We train volunteers in operating and repairing railroad equipment, many of whom end up getting hired away by large commercial railroads once they’ve completed training with us.

WHERE WE GO

We own and operate approximately 14 miles of track between Coopersville and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our track connects with the Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad, CSX and Grand Elk (N.S.) via an interchange at Walker, MI. We haul freight cars for our customers along the 7 miles of track between Marne and Grand Rapids.

Passenger service is offered only on the 7 miles between Coopersville and Marne. You will cross over an open deck girder bridge, four creeks and a road bridge as we travel through family-owned farms and fields. For a brief stretch, our track follows the route of Interstate 96. (Actually, the highway follows the railroad track which was first laid down in 1858. The track follows an ancient water route first cut into the earth by glacial events.) When the train gets to Marne, the locomotive is uncoupled from the east end. It then moves onto our passing siding alongside of your coach. The passengers wave to the engineer as the locomotive passes their window. On the siding, the locomotive goes through switches and is moved back onto our main track. It is then coupled onto the west end of the train to pull us back to the City of Coopersville.

TRAIN RIDE EVENTS

We offer seasonally themed train events and excursions throughout the year. Our theme trains, from the beginning of the season, are:

“Beat the Train” 5K Race Coopersville Car Show Shuttle
The Bunny Train                            Murder Mystery Train
Veteran’s Free Troop Train     The Famous Pumpkin Train
         The Great Train Robbery                         The Santa Train

Our popular, reduced fare, EnterTRAINment Excursions run on Saturdays from June through September. Sometime during your 90 minute journey through family-owned farms and fields, our Singing Trainman will be in your coach playing railroad and other acoustic songs. Also, the friendly Conductor will talk to you about our hometown Rock Star “Del Shannon”, railroad history and our equipment. But, don’t worry, you will also have plenty of time to just relax and watch the passing scenes outside of the windows.

Check out this video for a sneak peek into the Coopersville & Marne Railway: