Dinner train to keep on chugging

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Dinner train to keep on chugging


Web-posted Jan 17, 2005


By BOB GROSS
Of The Daily Oakland Press

The Michigan Star Clipper Dinner Train is not for sale.
The popular dinner train is owned by Larry and Judy Coe. They couldn't comment about a for-sale ad in the December 2004 issue of TRAINS magazine, but they did say the business, in its 21st year, isn't for sale.

"We have taken some legal action, and that's all we can say," said Judy Coe.

The Coes own the rolling stock - five diesel engines, four dining cars, two sleeper cars, a generator car and other rail cars - and the tracks from Arrowhead Road in West Bloomfield Township to Wixom Road.

The section has been eyed as a crucial link in a trail system from Jackson to Richmond in Macomb County.

"That is the link between the West Bloomfield Trail and the Wixom (Huron Valley) Trail," said Larry Coe. "What I wanted to do is put a trail next to the track so that we could have a link all the way from West Bloomfield all the way to Lakelands and Jackson."

Todd Scott, executive director of the Michigan Mountain Biking Association, called the 10-mile rail corridor critical to a plan to connect the east and west sides of the state.

The Huron Valley Trail goes "as far as U.S. 23 at Island Lake (Recreation Area) there. There are plans to connect it with the Lakelands Trail, which is already existing."

The 13-mile Lakelands Trail runs from Hamburg in Livingston County to Stockbridge in Ingham County.

The West Bloomfield Trail links to the still-under-construction Clinton River Trail at Sylvan Lake. That trail will link with the Macomb Orchards Trail at Dequindre.

The Macomb trail, also being constructed, will run as far as Richmond.

"I think eventually it's going to go all the way across the state," said Scott. "The goal is to go lake to lake. St. Clair County is planning to connect up to Richmond, so it will go to Lake St. Clair."

The Coe railroad line is strategically located.

"That would be a great trail for Michigan," said Coe. "I would be willing to do that, and I've proposed that to West Bloomfield, but funding is the problem."

Dan Navarre, director of West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation, said the township conducted an engineering study of the rail route. The right of way in most places is only 50 feet wide, which limits the township's options.

"That railroad runs through a lot of pretty environmentally sensitive areas, wetlands and woodlands," he said. "It would be a beautiful trail, but you would have to do a lot to put one in.

"In West Bloomfield alone, the railbed rises right up out of the wetlands. You would have to do some filling or put a boardwalk next to it. It would be extremely expensive to do that to the standards we would want to do."

The township would be interested if the rail line were for sale, he said.

The Coes run two trains - the Michigan Star Clipper and the Coe Rail Family Train. Both traverse the same route, a trip that takes three hours and covers about 22 miles.

The train leaves Walled Lake and heads west to Wixom. At Wixom Road, it reverses direction and runs east past Walled Lake to Woodpecker Lake and the West Bloomfield Nature Preserve before returning to the depot.

Developers have approached the couple with offers to purchase their easement. Judy Coe said, "It would have been quite lucrative for us, but we have always said no."

Checking it out

For information about the Michigan Star Clipper Dinner Train, visit www.michiganstarclipper.com. For reservations, call (248) 960-9440.

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