Sunday, October 31, 2010

Visit to Ann Arbor

Over the weekend we went to Ann Arbor to visit my daughter who's in graduate school there. I was able to do a little railranning, as you'll see.

First of all, stored on a siding near the Amtrak station is this Budd tavern-lounge-obs originally from the NYC, then KCS, then Michigan Art Train (ARTX 105). So it was part of the same set as the two cars now in Yard 5.

It wasn't open when we were there; I'm not sure it's ever open any more. It's lettered "A Salute to Rail Labor" and "North American Railway Foundation".

Anybody who knows more about this car is welcome to chime in!









Nearby is this old coaling trestle with a D&M hopper on permanent display, since the track is now disconnected. It sits astride the parking lot for an office building. This is a really neat display!










And since David wasn't around, and I think this is out of his territory, here's the old Michigan Central station, now a high-class restaurant.









And finally, while walking around downtown, I noticed this historical plaque on the side of a bank. Watch out for those Michigan Rys. freight trailers, they're dangerous!!!

4 comments:

David Wilkins said...

Nice trip report Randy. The NYC car is a very nice car, except for the graffiti.

We do cover Michigan! Since I'm still the "new guy" I'm sure I'll get sent to Michigan starting in late November, through March...

At the airport in Miami, awaiting our American Airlines Astro-Jet to take us home to St. Louis. I'll have some Dave's Depots and a trip report to the Gold Coast Railroad Museum!

Unknown said...

Hello, the passenger car was on a siding in Saline, MI along with an
Ann Arbor orange boxcar, when we first moved there back in 1996. Then the passenger car was moved down to the siding, that you took the pictures. I got pictures of it in both locations, and BEFORE all of the graffiti!!! I was pretty sure that the name on the car was "BABBLING BROOK", a name I just saw on a NYC observation car at the recent EXPO in New York. That name is what prompted me to look up this car again on June 2, 2013. I thought that the car was owned by the old owner of the Ann Arbor Railroad, who then sold? or donated? to the ART TRAIN organization??? I was saddened to see that the graffiti artists got to it!!! Also, a previous Ann Arbor caboose was obtained and used by the ART TRAIN a number of years ago.
Roger Haag s_scale_man@hotmail.com
Moved from Ann Arbor 2 years ago to Hendersonville, NC. Will be modeling rolling stock of the Ann Arbor Railroad on my S-Scale layout.
Glad to hear from anyone on my email!!!
Yours in the hobby, Roger

Unknown said...

See my posted comment on the passenger car, OR contact me for my comment if my comment DID NOT get published???
Or, comment on my comment!!!

Randall Hicks said...

Let me comment on comments. We get an awful lot of spam comments here, 10 or 20 for every legitimate comment. It's a real annoyance. As part of this process, any comment on an older post gets flagged for moderation, which means I have to read it first and approve it to be published. And right now I'm on vacation and have limited access to the net, hence the delay.

In any case, comments on older posts are still welcome, of course. Thanks!