Ann ArborMI Railfan Guide

RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

ANN ARBOR MI
RAILFAN GUIDE

Ann Arbor's biggest attraction is probably the University of Michigan and all of it's night life, even during the summer as we saw when driving thru town to get to the interstate. Well, if you didn't come here for that, I guess you'll just have to settle for the two depots on the north side of town, Amtrak and an ex Michigan Central. The old MC depot is beautiful, as evidenced by the photos, and the food is top notch. Please support these establishments as you tour the rail community, you could make the difference between them staying around or not, like the depot in Berea OH which recently closed.

There's an interchange track between the two lines, which looks like it hasn't seen any activity for many, many years.

Aerial shots were taken from www.bing.com/maps (it used to be maps.live.com).

The snap-shots off of Bing are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it! Give it a try!

My RSUS philosophy: Pictures (oh yea, my maps too) are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning. Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented. Take along good maps (or a GPS). I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches. ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them. If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and consise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads.

Getting Here

Getting to Ann Arbor is not too difficult, but there are as many ways to get to the depot as there are directions to come from:

1) From the south, you can come up US23 from the Toledo area, which is also another east/west funnel via I80, although getting between the two is tedious because of the lack of a direct interchange. If coming up from Toledo, exit 37 would probably be the best... Washtenaw Ave. Take the street into town, paying attention to stay on it as it bears a right and then a left. Finally hang a right onto Main street, and then another right onto Depot Street.

2) From the Detroit area, it's straight out I94 or I96. If doing the I94 thing, take exit 180 to get on US23 going north, to exit 37. If coming out on I96, look for the US23 exit going south, and take the Plymouth Road exit, exit 41.

3) From the west side of the state via I94 (Battle Creek, Kalamazoo), take exit 172, Business 94 into the center of town to Main Street, and then go north a hair to Depot St.

4) From Grand Rapids or Lansing, take I96 east, and then go south on US23 at Brighton to MI14 at exit 45. Take the Main St exit, exit 3, and go south till you pass under the railroad, and Depot Street is the next left at the light.

5) From northern Michigan, on the east side, come down US23 from the Flint area where US23 and I75 join (or split up, depending on which way you are going.) Then follow the second half of the directions from 4).

Food, restaurants, and gas..... The map above shows where the main places to find these things.

1 The Amtrak Station

The WB Wolverine was caught around 7:40am, heading to Chicago. The group of three were caught around the corner from the depot adjacent to the observation car. The two other WB's are slated for 12:29pm and 7:17pm. The EB's coming thru Ann Arbor are scheduled for 1:04pm, 5:45pm, and 11:32pm.

2 The Michigan Central Depot - now the Gandy Dancer Restaurant

The food here is most excellent, the service is excellent too. I've eaten here twice for dinner, and have not been disappointed on either occasion. It is a worthwhile stop if you are travelling thru the area. The owners also own the train station restaurant in Pittsburgh that is along the water, and the menus look identical. Pictures were taken July 2009, except for the three on the bottom right, taken Sep 2010.

3 Observation Car

Unknown building with observation car on siding..... Don't know the history on it, but the reporting mark is ARTX105. I was there, and still not sure what the building is used for, but it is a recent build, maybe 20-30 years old. The car has a banner promoting the North American Railway Foundation, saluting railroad labor, and also has a logo for Artrain USA on the front end of the car. If this is car number 5, and an observation car which goes on the end, anyone know where the other four are???

Above: the building that looks like an old depot, switch and equipment cabinet, and a platform where good shots can be had.

4 Coal Tipple

I have to give the owners of this building kudos for retaining this small piece of history, and using an old Detroit & Mackinac hopper to put on display... the 201 Depot on the car is the address of the building on Depot St, which is also the street where the Amtrak station and the Gandy Dancer restaurant are located.

5 Bridge

I don't know how often trains cross the water here, but I'm sure if you know ahead of time when they are supposed to come, and you have a bit of patience, great shots can be had from the jogging path on the small dam located next to the bridge. I took a lot of detail shots in case someone out there is interested in copying the design, which from ground level, is most interesting! Tetris anyone?

The over the road part.....

The over the water part.....

A bunch of detail shots.

The flood control dam with a jogging path / walkway going over it.... good for train shots.

1 Dual GRS Searchlight Signals

I didn't manage to find many signals around here, in fact, this is the only one I saw, and is west of the Amtrak station, across from the observation car. The mounting is kind of unique in the sense that they are located side by side, instead of being mounted one behind the other. Didn't have a chance to catch the signal going yellow, for the signals are approach lit.