Street Running on N. Lincoln street

[Ypsi]

Does ant one have any pictures/ video of Conrail/NS(?) or Penn Central(???) running on the side of the street on N. Lincoln street headed to or from the visteion plant? I know the plant is now closed, and the track are now torn up, but I was wondering if any one had some pictures of this because I want to use this Idea in a layout I am building soon...

Almost Forgot! There is still a Conrail Mile post on a wooden post next to where the tracks, but that's all that remains

Any pictures or descriptions of the operations will help

[J T]

Ever since I worked in Ypsi back in 2000, I have wanted to see pics of this line being used. I always found it interesting where the rails veered off the road (between North and Babbitt) and into a yard and were covered by the grass/earth.

I'm going to guess that pics of these rails in place or activity on them will be very hard to come by. I wish I had taken pics back then.

How many years have those tracks been removed? On Bing, the crossing signals are still in place on Factory St.

[TrainWatcher]

Never in the many years I was in the Ypsilanti Area did I ever see rail traffic on this line. It was once the mainline for the Ypsi-Ann Interurban. The carbarn was located on the south side of Michigan Ave (Intersection with Lincoln Street) with the powerhouse across the street IIRC. The rail splits from the NS Michigan Line, continues south across Michigan Ave, south along the Huron River (This section was double track to Factory Street), and ended at the Ford Complex. In older satellite photos, there were a few gons parked outsied with what appeared to be scrap but no locomotive.

Trackage was torn up in 2006 by a private company offically removing any trace of the Ypsi-Ann from Ypsi althogether. The powerhouse has a state historical plaque outside stating what was on the site.

Mackinac Mac did a photo tour of the line back on April 1, 2006:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1559&hilit=Ypsi+Ann

Here is the historic "street-running" track on Lincoln in Ypsi. It is hard to saywhen this abandoned piece of history will be pulled up. The switch is disconnected and the tracks now end prematurly at Michigan Ave US-12.

Also OwlCaboose posted about the project happening:

Here is the historic "street-running" track on Lincoln in Ypsi. It is hard to saywhen this abandoned piece of history will be pulled up. The switch is disconnected and the tracks now end prematurly at Michigan Ave US-12.

The project also includes repairing a bridge along LeForge Road and removing abandoned railroad tracks along Michigan Avenue and Lincoln Street, he said. http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index. ... xml&coll=2

Can't find any older posts

[J T]

Mackinac Mac did a photo tour of the line back on April 1, 2006:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1559&hilit=Ypsi+Ann

Thanks for the info. Too bad the photos in that thread don't show up any more. I wasn't a member of the forum when that was posted in '06, so I missed that thread. Does anyone know if MM's photos still exist anywhere online?

[GP30M4216]

I recently looked through all the files at the Ypsilanti Historical Society about the MCRR and never came across anything about this trackage. Didn't look through anything about the interurban though. You can still clearly see where the rails were removed and then paved over on Lincoln and the concrete put down where the tracks once crossed Michigan Avenue, and the signal wire and box still extending over US-12. I think the crossings are still in place at the north end of the Ford property, or at least they were about 15 months ago.

[Ypsi]

So I did some digging for all interested, and found some info in this old fourm:

from, redside20:
The article on mlive said that the plant is located along I94 in that city, are any railroad tracks near there? here is the link http://www.annarbor.com/business-review ... lant-sold/

NYC3001:
The former NYC Ford Spur was removed just a few years ago. This was part of a large-scale urban plan by the city of Ypsilanti, to develop the south side of Michigan Avenue in that area. The plan called for the creation of a large condo and retail center, and the city wanted the tracks removed as the land was more valuable. Likewise, the plant hadn't really used the rail service since the late 1990s.

The last time I can remember seeing a train on that spur was in October of 1997, when I was going to a friend's funeral. There was one lone GP15-1, and dozen empty boxcars heading northbound. Nonetheless, here are some photos of the line in question from early 1985. The first shot was looking northbound at the old Michigan Central mainline, while the second shot is looking south down Lincoln Street.

some pics from NYC3001:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3025/282 ... 847d_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3002/282 ... 6865_o.jpg

So boxcars they were, maybe hi-cubes? anyway I will keep digging to get some more info

admin edit: merged this new thread you made with the old one you made from 2 days ago

[TrainWatcher]

Can't imagine 86' footers making the turns that the branch had. Maybe 50's and 60's.

[J T]

some pics from NYC3001:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3025/282 ... 847d_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3002/282 ... 6865_o.jpg

Thanks for the pic links, YAB. When I clicked and saw the first one, I was hoping the second would be looking the opposite direction down the street. The link didn't disappoint! That's exactly how I remember it.