Coopersville & Marne Railway

WHO THEY ARE

They 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.). They run passenger trains from spring to winter, rain or shine, to preserve a little chunk of railroad history and educate their passengers along the way. They 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 THEY GO

We own and operate approximately 14 miles of track between Coopersville and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their track connects with the Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad, CSX and Grand Elk (N.S.) via an interchange at Walker, MI. They haul freight cars for their 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 they travel through family-owned farms and fields. For a brief stretch, their 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 their 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 their 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 like the Great Train Robbery, the Murder Mystery Train, the Rails, Ales, & Wine trains, Pumpkin train, Oktoberfest Express train, and the Santa train.

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