Trackside Guide no.3-Detroit,Michigan

[Anonymous]

I want to applaud and thank you for bringing back memories when I was a teenager back in the late forties. I lived about a mile north of Milwaukee Jct(GTW), where the GTW and Michigan tracks crossed each other. I also frequent the Michigan Depot and on my bicycle I went just of the depot near W. 20th and railroad tracks and watch both the Chicago and Cleveland Mercuries come and go as well as Twilight Limited,The Wolverine and many other NYC and MC Trains. Yes, I remember the White Castle on 15th and Dazell Streets. When I visited the Red Arrow(PRR),Wabash Cannon Ball, and the C&O famous train to Washington,DC and many others at Fort Street Station and let us not forget GTW Brush Street Station great commuter trains pulled by the 5600's as well as 6200,6300 and streamline 6400's too. When was the GTW roundhouse at Milwaukee Jct torn down? Boy this really brings tears to my eyes. Thank you.

[bowlerp]

I am from the Cleveland area, and boy do I wish I had been able to see the NYC Mercury. I own the Third Rail scale diecast Mercury and brass cars made to absolute prototype designs. What color does your memory of the Mercury conjure up? In your mind, were they a light gray or dark gray?

I cannot answer your questions, but I did ride the final run of ex-GT 4-8-4 6325 Memorial Day weekend on the Ohio Central. She looks and runs terrific, but the liability insurance got her in the end.

Speaking of tears, Founder of the NYC Historical Society, H. Lansing Vail, passed away a few days ago. Lans was a terrific guy, WWII hero of the Battle of the Bulge, NYC expert, highly socailly connected in the Cleveland area through his family wealth. He was always someone to enjoy a conversation, without pretension.

To fini***he conection I started, Lans was instrumental in the O-Gauge color selection for the Sunset Third Rail model of the Mercury, the trains you once watched run near your boyhood home.

[Anonymous]

Iam glad someone responed to the great trains that came in and out of the old MC terminal in Detroit. If my memory is correct the color of the Cleveland Mercury equipment was a light gray. I must have watched that particular train go by when me and my bike was parked at the tracks near 20th Street,during the evening Summer months when it leaving ole MC Terminal,many many times pulled by the mighty streamlined 4-6-4's.
I think that I had the rare opportunity of climbing aboard one GTW'S streamlined version 6400's when it was parked at the roundhouse at the Milwaukee Junction, it was really a thrill for a young teenager that one never forgets.
I hope that was some help for you getting started on the model of the Mercury.
No, I was not aware that of Mr. H. Lansing Vail, passed away. I guess that happens when I did not renewed my membership with NYCHC this year. Thanks for letting me know. Hope to hear more about your project,good luck.

[Anonymous]

Mr. Bowlerp I was checking some of my old nycshs calendar,especially April,2001 and I it displayed a photo of the Cleveland Mecury departing Delray Tower,with 4-6-4 5446 pulling the consist. And I looked closer the passenger coaches, dining car I guess, the color was a dark gray with exception it was a light gray or white in color. I hope that will help you in determine what color the train was back then. Also, if someone else may read this post can confirm this too. Let me know if I can be of anymore help in the future. As I said, when I was a teenager back in the late forties, I used to watch this train and many other MC and NYC departing ole MC Terminal near vantate point a lot of times. Lloyd Dolby in Aurora,Colorado.

[Anonymous]

Mr. Bowlerp:
I should check my letter writing. What I failed to tell you, the light color was the light gray or white was the trim around the windows of all the cars on the Cleveland Mercury consist,ok.

Lloyd Dolby of Aurora,CO.

[Anonymous]

Since old MC Terminal on 15th and Dazell Streets has been abandoned for many years now,does anyone know whether it has been torn down? As I said, previously I spent my teenage days visiting that train station inside and out and down the tracks,watching all the streamline and non-streamline trains come and go from that station,like back in the late forties and early fifties before Amtrack took over. Thanks guys for the replies and comments about this particular trackside. ldolby,Denver,CO.

[Anonymous]

The old MC Terminal still stands as a empty hull. The inside has been stripped by vandals, etc. of all its good marble, lights, lettering, etc.

She is a hull; as you drive by on I75 you can see through the windows straight out the back side.

What a shame.

There has been various talks of turning it in to something but the costs are prohibitive. Less expensive to just knock it down and put a shopping or office complex. The nearby area is not the greatest either.

Best Wishes.

[Anonymous]

do any rail car ferries still exist across the river to-from windsor, ontario?
if so, whose. thank you for info. [e-mail] requesting info.

[Anonymous]

To respond to sommerkamp, no. The ferries are long gone. Since CN bored the new tunnel between Port Huron and Sarnia in '92, the ferries there and between Detroit and Windsor were gone. The remnants of the ferry docks still remain. All the boats were scrapped in '93 or '94. CP and NS still use a tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, but it cannot handle large cars such as high cubes, auto racks, and double stacks. If you want to look at the remains, the best views are on the Canadian side.

[douglasm]

In answer to a couple of questions on the Michigan Central Station, there are some excellent pictures of its current state at www.detroityes.com . It may take a while to dig them out of the vast array of photos there. Also, there's a discussion of the Dequindre cut between Milwaukee Jct. and the old Brush Street site on the main forum there.

I don't know about the N&W/Wabash ferries, but the ex-CN sidewheeler Lansdowne is tied up at Erie, PA (I think). It was a floating resturant for a while, and lawrd knows who owns it and/or what its fate will be. There are pictures of it with two ex-Milwaukee Road skytop observation cars on the deck at www.trainweb.org/hiawatha/skytopferry6.jpg .

Doug Shirk