This cache is close to the former grade of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad through the settlement of Sheffield. Use extra caution. There is no shoulder on the road at this point and it is well traveled. If you park in the two tracker on the west side (the old grade), don't pull in further than the road right of way is wide, and don't linger. It is a driveway. Night caching is not recommended.
Sheffield, for a short time, was a post office and a flag stop on the railroad in Courtland township. In 1897, it had a population of 80 people. By 1907, Rural Farm Delivery from Cedar Springs had eliminated the post office. There was a livery and a combination general store, grocery, dry goods and produce wholesaler. The owner of that business also served as the railroad and telegraph agent. Today, Sheffield is only a small collection of houses. Sheffield was 53 miles from Ashley on the railroad. A boxcar on blocks for the station. The next stations east and west were Evans and Cedar Springs. The plat below shows Sheffield and its proximity with nearby Evans.
In 1887-89, a railroad line originally known as the Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon, was constructed between Ashley and Muskegon. Rails reached Carson City in September of 1887, Greenville in November of 1887, Cedar Springs and Muskegon by the end of the year. Construction continued in 1888 for ballasting, sidings and depots. On August 1st, 1888, a lease of the TS&M to the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada was completed. GTC later purchased the line outright. A mail and express train and a mixed train (with passenger service) was operated daily between Owosso (over the Toledo, Ann Arbor & Northern Michigan to Ashley) and Muskegon. The line was locally known as the GT version of the Turkey Trail because it meandered like a turkey and also because it allegedly never made money.
In 1928, GTC was merged with other Michigan Grand Trunk subsidiaries into the Grand Trunk Western, itself a subsidiary of the Canadian National. In 1930, GTW secured trackage rights between Grand Rapids and Muskegon over the Pennsylvania Railroad (former Grand Rapids and Indiana) Muskegon Branch. Service on the Turkey Trail was reduced to way freights and mixed trains. In 1946, with heavy service operating over the PRR, the portion of the line between Greenville and Muskegon was abandoned.
Sources:
TS&M history.
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