  Jeduncan Member Username: Jeduncan Post Number: 175 Registered: 11-2006 |
Does anyone know what the story behind the old abandoned tracks that cross (surface level) warren between grand river and 96 is? I drive past these all the time and always find myself wondering what they were used for, and how far they originally went. I'm making a safe bet that they were obviously for industry of some sort, but it'd still be neat to know more. JED | ||
Hybridy Member Username: Hybridy Post Number: 214 Registered: 08-2006 |
i believe they run from the DIFT, possibly Zug Island, up to the Milwaukee Junction. it would be a faster route for amtrak. dift-detroit intermodal freight terminal (Message edited by hybridy on February 18, 2008) | ||
Transitrider Member Username: Transitrider Post Number: 45 Registered: 01-2007 |
Jed, between Loraine and Lawton? http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF 8&ll=42.347434,-83.093411&spn= 0.001126,0.003803&t=h&z=19 | ||
Ragtoplover59 Member Username: Ragtoplover59 Post Number: 207 Registered: 09-2006 |
Google Earth is great for following the tracks around the area. I have Rode the tracks via Google Earth and just get amazed how well connected the city was with rail in the past. | ||
Ragtoplover59 Member Username: Ragtoplover59 Post Number: 208 Registered: 09-2006 |
Transitrider, Did you look the track in your link with Street View? The track just disappears into a tree, Makes me wonder how long ago any rolling stock has been through there? | ||
Jeduncan Member Username: Jeduncan Post Number: 176 Registered: 11-2006 |
yes! those are the ones. Man, if only the city was still that well connected. I spent the weekend in chicago and it was pretty bittersweet. The fact that the city is so well connected via mulitple types of rail is amazing. I was there for three days and didn't really have to use a car. I can't imagine how much better this city would be if we were as transit-wise. If I lived in a place like chicago, I could easily ditch my car and save a ton (without even having to switch to Geico!) It was really depressing at some points when I was there because I saw all the things that Detroit was on its way to becoming before various things caused the downturn that put detroit where it is today. It's not all flowers and sunshine though. going to different points around town there are some huge areas of that city/region that are just as bad off as detroit. Glitz and glamour always sit on top of dirt. Taking the train out there and ending up at union station also made me think "DAMN IT, MCS IS WAY MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THIS!" oh well. I'm not gonna dog on chicago, it's a great town and they have done amazing things for themselves. I guess maybe all southeast michigan can do is build on its potential, learn from its mistakes and take heed to examples set by other metropolises. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 5247 Registered: 10-2004 |
The track in question had nothing to do with the DIFT--Livernois Yard. Most of the dozens of the small Detroit railroad yards were abandoned during or even before the major railroad rationalization that occurred during the 1970s and 1980s. Those that survived have only a fraction of their tracks left. The entire salvage yard facility (once 30+ tracks) of Junction Yard by Wyoming is gone so that all what's left of that yard has essentially coalesced to Livernois Yard. Other yards and dead switching towers have closed or been razed during the past decade after Conrail was sold to NS and CSX. (Message edited by Livernoisyard on February 19, 2008) | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1288 Registered: 11-2003 |
Those tracks were an industrial spur off the old MC line (I don't think they were off the parallel GTW line) that runs through the New Center. They didn't connect with anything at the other end. Jeduncan-- Union Station in Chicago once had a magnificent concourse, but in 1969 it was demolished. The new concourse is nothing more than the basement of an office building. The old concourse: http://harvey.library.arizona. edu/jpgs/4/8/4-8-3.jpg The headhouse with its magnificent waiting room still remains, of course. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 1114 Registered: 12-2006 |
Also, LY, correct me if I'm wrong but despite what I think people are assuming here, those tracks never carried any passenger traffic at all. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 5250 Registered: 10-2004 |
In the recent past (1971 to the present), there were only three older passenger depots with any passenger use: Brush, FSUD, and the MCT. Brush went through the Dequindre cut to and past Milwaukee Junction. The FSUD went through Delray along Jefferson, and the MCT used tracks from West Detroit to the tunnel. The much older depots at Junction Street (Lovers' Lane) and the older one near the New Center are gone and what's left now within Detroit is that small depot on Baltimore. If one wants to figure out when various tracks and facilities were abandoned the past 170 years, confer the time-line on michiganRailroads.com. Some of the older ROWs carried passengers to Bay City and such, but that's long ago. Almost everything in Detroit was for the railroad's bread-and-butter: freight. (Message edited by Livernoisyard on February 19, 2008) | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1289 Registered: 11-2003 |
Professorscott-- As I stated, those tracks were an industrial spur and didn't carry any passengers. | ||
Flyingj Member Username: Flyingj Post Number: 92 Registered: 08-2006 |
It's a fun hobby here but trying to compare Detroit & Chicago is ludicrous in many ways, esp when it comes to trains. Chicago is THE railroad city in this country. Period. Granted, the NY tri-state area has it all over in subway, commuter-not so much light rail but I recall reading there's more rail in the Chicago area than was used to build the transcontinental railroad. And Union Station is a lot better than that dreary basement they fob off as Penn Station-@ least in Chicago travelers can take a free shower(beats Detroit's old Amshak-but the newer jobbie has some charm & a nearby White Castle). But if you want to see a great restored classic station check out Union Station in Seattle, they did the job right with Microsoft $$$ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U nion_Station_(Seattle) | ||
Ray1936 Member Username: Ray1936 Post Number: 2752 Registered: 01-2005 |
It was just a spur to serve the warehouses on the north side of Warren Avenue, it dead ended up there. When I worked the Vernor precinct from 1959 to 1965, drove over those tracks every day, and I can't ever recall seeing a train on them. They may have been abandoned even back then. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 1692 Registered: 02-2006 |
NY's Penn Station is an embarassment if you look up the pictures of the old Penn Station. Similarly, look up the old pictures of the Chicago North & Western terminal and compare to the rather appealing Helmut Jahn Ogilvie Transportation Center that replaced it. | ||
River_rat Member Username: River_rat Post Number: 321 Registered: 02-2006 |
I remember freight movements on those tracks into the late 50's and early 60's. a switch engine with 5-6 boxcars and maybe even a coal hopper would serve warehouses and industries trackside. When crossing streets like Warren (and Grand River) traffic would be a mess. |
