Help Finding Pictures

[wagnew0923]

I have seen the pictures on this board but I am looking for more pictures of trains going through Lake Orion and Rochester Michigan, especially pictures of trains in Down Town Rochester. Thank you for any help or links.

Bill W

[bnsfben]

I would like to second this request. Being that I live in Rochester, I want to know more about what once was a semi-busy railroad town

[firemedic54]

Have you checked with anyone from the city and see if they have anything on file back from the old days? Could have some old photos stashed away somewhere. Might find some old plans or something to that effect...good luck.

[wagnew0923]

I did do that and got some steam pics of poor quality. The Lake Orion Historical Group no longer exist so I got nothing from them. The Pictures here of Grand Trunk through Rochester are great and I have some cool stories about them. However the New York Central is hard to locate anything on. BNSFben I can give you the history of the area if you would like.

[firemedic54]

For what it's worth maybe give Oakland Twp. a shot. Either they'll have something or try Goodison. I suggest those because of their proximity to Rochester and the Penn Central days.

[wagnew0923]

Rails through Rochester

Rochester Michigan had two railroads run through it. One was the New York Central that ran from the current rail line in Sterling Heights to Bay City through Lake Orion. The other was the Grand truck that Ran from Pontiac to Richmond through Romeo. Both of these railroads have a fascinating history.

The one that intrigues me the most is the NYC line which ran along Rochester Park and behind the post office and grain elevator. Back when I was a child there used to be a string of passenger cars on display behind the Post Office. The dining car was a restaurant that my dad would take me to eat at. It used to have the best hot dogs, at least that was what I thought when I was 4. The line itself was profitable up until it was abandoned in 1974. It was popular for passengers on vacation, who would take the line to Lake Orion (back when that was considered “Up-North”). This line also ran huge coal trains up to Bay City. I think I would have a good laugh today watching a stinky 100 car coal train rumble through Downtown Rochester at 15 mph. They had to go that slow due to the steep grade out of Rochester Valley. I always wished I could have seen one of those trains but we did not move there until 1984 and I was not even born until 1979.

The next railroad was the Grand Trunk which was really neat to watch as a kid. Back in the mid 1980’s my dad and I would go down below Rochester rd Bridge and watch the train go by. Their was one every weekday evening pulling a string of 18 to 20 rail cars pulled by a long hood GP 38 and also had a caboose at the end. Most of the freight cars, where from the Ford Romeo Tractor Factory and headed for Pontiac. Their were also smaller local trains that would switch the three sidings in Rochester (two of which were active when I was there). I remember my brother and his friends would tell me about how they would hop on the back of the trains and ride them to Pontiac (that’s how slow they went).

The first siding, in Rochester, was just past Crooks and Hamlin rd’s and was some kind of plant that would take 2 or 3 hoppers at a time. The next was west of the Rochester Road Bridge and from what I understand was for either a lumber yard or was farm related. And then on the east side of the Rochester Rd Bridge was the Ink factory that got one box car a week. The one on the west side of Rochester Rd you can still find remains of it way back in the bushes but watch your step.

In the late 80’s the Ford Factory stopped making tractors and stopped needing rail service. The traffic dwindled to just a few trains a week most of them just short switch jobs. I would listen in my bed at night and hear the horns of the train creeping through town. The busiest traffic was Northwest of Rochester around Romeo and Almont. There were some large grain and freight trains would cruise through from Port Huron and back. By the new millennium traffic had all but ceased and the line was abandoned.

I hope this helps you with your quest for Rochester Railroad history. Let me know if you find out anything in addition to this.

[bnsfben]

Wow, this is some great information. I have walked back on the old GTW toward where the diamond was. Just west of the diamond on the old NYC there is some track there. It seems to have been some kind of spur going off the NYC. It goes eastbound away from the main. There is also a signal lying in the ground. All of the bulbs and glass are gone, but it is pretty neat to see stuff that once was.

On the GTW I was able to find an old battery box for a signal. I'm assuming it was for the eastbound signal on the GTW. The box is west of the diamond, south side of the trail. On the west side of the diamond and on the north of the old GTW tracks is a concrete base with some cast iron cingular out of it. I think it was the old signal on the GTW.

I live up in Goodison, and I have been unable to find anything left of the NYC between Ludlow st and the Gunn Rd bridge. There is still some pole line along the river and the Rochester Park, but that's all I have been able to find.

[wagnew0923]

A lot of that stuff has been removed. The signal boxes you speak of actually are from before the 70's they were only there when both lines were active. When it was just the GTW you would never see a signal along the whole route. So a lot of what you are seeing is from the 50's and 60's.

[bnsfben]

Here are some pictures I found on railroadfan.















Hope these pictures are what you are looking for. This has inspired me, I think I am going to head back out to the diamond tomorrow. I'm also going to Yates to see if there is anything left of the wreck there.

[bctrainfan]

Ahhhh, from that last pic, there are some more in that series, are those some F units shoving the NYC plow? That would have been cool to see!

And if it was either 67 or 68, i would guess 67, i believe there were some really big snows that winter...

[wagnew0923]

One of my favorites is the derailment of a coal train by Yates Cidermall. The coal looked so deep you could not even see the rails. I guess those PC and NYC tracks were not that well maintained

[M.D.Bentley]

The derailment near Yates was caused by a log jam at the bridge. The trees caused the water to loosen up the soil behind the wing walls,resulting in a washout. No matter how hard you try, water always wins ( Grand Canyon ).