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Pdtpuck
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Username: Pdtpuck

Post Number: 63
Registered: 01-2006
Posted From: 208.251.168.194
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 5:00 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Detroit, 1971

Is this yard still there, and if so, is it still in use?

(I think the website's server has been acting up, so if it takes awhile to load, or doesn't load at all...)

(Message edited by pdtpuck on June 17, 2006)
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 874
Registered: 10-2004
Posted From: 69.242.223.42
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 6:30 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That's the former Wabash RR Boatyard which had its depot/offices at the foot of 12th Street. The Norfolk Southern owns the railroad "facilities" and transloads chemicals and such there. The roundhouses are long gone and the trestle near Jefferson Street to the FSUD became history during the 1970s.
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Lilpup
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Username: Lilpup

Post Number: 1105
Registered: 06-2004
Posted From: 69.130.18.100
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 10:29 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

that's one huge tugboat pushing the barge
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Hardhat
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Username: Hardhat

Post Number: 132
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.221.38.121
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 11:49 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That's a helluva cool shot...
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 1092
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 68.60.45.70
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 12:30 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The office tower at Detroit Edison looks to be under construction. Anyone know when that was built?
Edison
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Andyguard73
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Username: Andyguard73

Post Number: 100
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 141.209.33.164
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 1:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Psip, it was finished in '71, which I just now realized was in the link to the picture, lol.

(Message edited by andyguard73 on June 17, 2006)
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Jaredrich
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Username: Jaredrich

Post Number: 9
Registered: 01-2006
Posted From: 69.39.74.130
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 2:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This is the spot where they filmed the "trailer by the railroad track" scenes in TRUE ROMANCE... it's where Dennis Hopper lived in the movie.
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Rjk
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Username: Rjk

Post Number: 351
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.41.145.5
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 3:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

....and died in the movie.

I liked the Detroit part of that movie. Not because it was about Detroit, but I think it got kind of lame somewhere between here and Southern California.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1248
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.8.233
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 3:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here is the Wabash Yard a little farther down river. The building in the center near the river, is the 12th St Freight Depot, and on the left is the ramp leading up to the FSUD viaduct. Probably taken in the mid fifties, guessing by the look of the trucks.

Wabash Yard
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 876
Registered: 10-2004
Posted From: 69.242.223.42
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 5:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Wabash from 12th Street
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Wabashrr1
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Username: Wabashrr1

Post Number: 157
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 64.12.116.204
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 7:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

that's one huge tugboat pushing the barge




The Wabash RR owned 3 such car ferrys, The Wabash, The Detroit, and the Manatowak (sp?) to move trains over to Canada. The Norfolk & Western decided it was pointless and a waste of money to keep 3 boat crews on the payroll and began using a single tug to move the ferrys across the river. I don't know if they actually owned the tugboat of if some port athourity did though. Cool shot from the OP..
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Douglasm
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Username: Douglasm

Post Number: 572
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 66.189.188.28
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 8:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I believe the Wabash owned the ferries but contracted for the tugboats when the steam powered boats were converted to barges. If you look at the picture just above, you can see coal smoke from the docked ferry. On that note, anyone have a picture of the Lansdowne as a barge?

As to the date, it can't be much later than the mid '50's. I'm probably mistaken, but are there a couple of D&C boats that were tied up at the foot of 2nd by the NYC Freighthouse after the steamship line folded?
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Rustic
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Username: Rustic

Post Number: 2566
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 71.234.183.131
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 8:38 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Cool photo of the rail facility! Yay Detroit, arsenal of capitalism!

As a bonus in the original 1971 photo I think you can see a pre ANR building view of the woodward side of the CC building. cool
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Busterwmu
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Username: Busterwmu

Post Number: 251
Registered: 09-2004
Posted From: 66.134.108.131
Posted on Saturday, June 17, 2006 - 11:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That is a great photo and tells so much more than just the railroad yard at that moment in 1971. The remains of the NS Boatyard include 15 or 16 tracks, including most of the ones in the forground, between the River and the 12th St. freight depot. The ferry slip that the barge is at and the one just beyond it are still there, complete with tracks, but the leads from the yard sidings have been removed (1971 photo). Also from the 1971 photo, the yard tower and offices are still there, but gutted shells, sadly. The diagonal tracks to the left of the 1971 photo with the open sided autoracks are still there too, and that is the CSX 15th St. Yard, where they transload a variety of cargos. The old cement ramp to the FUSD trestle is still there, albiet with plants growing all over and rails removed. The end of the NS Boatyard is the Free Press plant, which I believe is in the process of shutting down. Still, both CSX and Norfolk Southern send out a daily local to switch the old Union Belt from Delray to the Boatyard/15th Street. CSX uses their yard for car storage and transloading. NS uses there's for storage and to hold cars for a few local businesses. Both roads switch down to the yard in the morning, between 9AM and noon on weekdays. Sad to see what this area has turned into, and how busy it was 35 years ago. Today, both yards end west of Rosa Parks.

By the way, the ferries last ran in 1994. In the lower left of the '71 photo, the slanted part of the seawall is where another set of docks used to be... for the C&O I believe. The C&O received trackage rights through the MC tunnel in the 60's and thus could eliminate their ferries in Detroit - contracting with the N&W to haul any oversize or tall cars on their boats instead. You can see that many of the cars in the '71 photo are 86 foot boxcars or 89 foot autoracks, no way they would fit through the tunnel!

You can see some great fallen flag railroads in that 1971 photo, including: Pennsylvania, New York Central, Penn Central, Norfolk & Western, Erie-Lackawanna, Illinois Central, DT&I, Pacific Fruit Express, Santa Fe, and more. Thanks for sharing this photo with us!
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Wabashrr1
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Username: Wabashrr1

Post Number: 159
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 152.163.100.8
Posted on Sunday, June 18, 2006 - 12:04 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was prepping this photo from the 1949 CULMA photo when my connection kicked me off (damn dialup)..

Boat Yard 1949

I purposely left the barge coming back across from Canada in the photo. The yard as shown in Hornwreckers photo is from the time that the Pere Marquette operated the yard and the photo is likely from the time or shortly after the time the Ambassador Bridge was built. I'm not certain when the Wabash took over at the yard, probably after 1949 when the C&O purchased the PM. I'm sure that the Wabash always Used the yard and ferrys because their route to Buffalo was through Ontario, sharing trackage with the Canadian National. I know that the Wabash used the three ferrys under their own steam until the merger with N&W. I'm not sure when N&W de-powered them and began using a tug to move them them. My info on this comes from the book "Trackside with Emery Gulash, Detroit". There are several errors in the book so my facts could be a little off but I think by 1970, the tugs were used exclusively to move the barges across the river.
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1252
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.8.21
Posted on Sunday, June 18, 2006 - 9:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think that this photo was taken at the same time as the one I posted earlier. Is the name of the ferry Windsor?

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Wabashrr1
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Username: Wabashrr1

Post Number: 160
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 205.188.116.137
Posted on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 11:47 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

When Was that picture taken, Hornwrecker? I'd think that from the angle, we should be able to see the Ambassador Bridge.. That is unless it's the slip that sits at the bridge (across the yard from where the Roundhouse was). Even still, we should be able to see some hint of the bridge, a shadow or something..
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 884
Registered: 10-2004
Posted From: 69.242.223.42
Posted on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 11:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Both times I saw that post of that photo, it seems to have an incorrect, reversed orientation. The background is downtown Detroit, I think...
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Burnsie
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Username: Burnsie

Post Number: 457
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 141.216.1.4
Posted on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 12:08 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That photo is correct. There's an Ann Arbor boxcar partically hidden by the supports for the ferry pilothouse, and you can just barely see that the "ANN" (and the pennant) is correct and not reversed. So the photo was taken on the Windsor side. Belle Isle is dimly visible in the background.
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Wabashrr1
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Username: Wabashrr1

Post Number: 161
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 205.188.116.137
Posted on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 12:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I thought the photo might be reversed too but if it were, the "W" in the barge name would be on the end of the name, not the beginning. Never occured to me it might be the Windsor side of the river. Thanks for clearing that up. Ambassador bridge is probably there, just behind the photographer....
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Hornwrecker
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Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1253
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 63.41.40.4
Posted on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 10:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

On History Channel right now, replaying the Wreck of the SS Milwaukee, a GTW carferry that sank on Lake Michigan.

Good pickup on the Windsor side for that photo. It was too low a resolution to get any detail of the background to identify anything.
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Detroitplanner
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Username: Detroitplanner

Post Number: 149
Registered: 04-2006
Posted From: 64.12.116.204
Posted on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 11:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

strange no reply from trainman
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Rsa
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Username: Rsa

Post Number: 880
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 69.212.214.108
Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 10:01 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

i was watching that last night hornwrecker.

you (and anybody else interested in old train ferries) should def. go check out the ss city of milwaukee (replacement for the ss milwaukee). it's worth the tour; i took it back when she was docked in elberta/frankfort, but she's now in manistee.
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J32885
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Username: J32885

Post Number: 38
Registered: 11-2005
Posted From: 68.41.108.161
Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 11:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Cool old pic of the Boat Yard, while it was at it's peak back in the old days. Too bad it's not used much by the railroads no more.

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