Grande Valley Railway Midwestern Trainsportation Systems

In 1978 a company was formed to service the transportation industtry.Since the company was in the midwest (on the eastern edge of) it was          decided by vote to call the company Midwest Transportation Services.By 1979 it was determined that the rail industry could benefit from what MTS had to offer so the company was renamed Midwest Trainsportation Services and embarked on a quest to be the best rail linked rebuilder in the area.

In January of 1980 the company bought the Grand Rapids & Indiana yard in Grand Rapids Michigan and really got into the railroad business.This new railroad was named by unanimous vote the Grande Valley Railroad later changed to Railway as the CEO (me) liked the sound of it.The origonal railroad ran from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo but has since expanded both north and south with Petosky the northern terminus and Elkhart,Ind. the southern end.

The industries served include lumber,steel ,furniture,and grain.MTS is currently in negotiation with the city of Wyoming to construct an industrial park at the old location of the 36th street GM plant.

MTS has an aggresive rebuilding program for freight cars and diesel locomotives.Our repower choice in all cases is the use of CAT diesel engines across the board.Thus any MTS rebuild will carry a CAT power decal .The GVR being owned by a locomotive and freight car rebuilder with a somewhat eccentric owner has a large varieity of locomotive power some fairly new and some a truly antiques.these range from GE 44 tonners to U boats to Dash 7-8 and 9s. The Emd side of the coin is GP 7,9,10 & 20s plus 35s to GP50s, Six axle power is 38,40,40-2 ,45,50 & 80s.All ,our locos camev from the used (and Abused) market and are from the rails up rebuilds with CAT diesel prime movers with the most modern electrical equiptment available. All rebuilts are built to current polution standards or better.

The GVR interchanges with CSX,CP,CN,and NS plus a few local shortlines.

On the modeling side this modern day class 2 comes in three scales Z,N ,& HO.

The Grande Valley Railway / Midwestern Trainsportatrion Systems company is a founding member of the North American Rail Alliance or NARA for short.NARA is a North American wide organization of railroads located everywhere in North America from Northern Canada to Southern Mexico.

The GVR will begin a total renovation of all trackage and company facilities to improve customer service begining 4-1-15. This will include a total rebuild and update of all locomotives to new CAT prime movers and a total replacement with upgraded electrical systems for both improved fuel economy and reduced maintainance of all things railroad.