Ode to an Amshack
Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:51 am
I don’t think too many people lament the loss of an Amshack. The austere yet definable architectural style of these first-decade Amtrak stations continue to serve many cities in America as the home of rail passenger travel – but one fewer in recent times. I’m proud to have visited Dearborn’s new multi-modal transit center, but am just a little bit sad for the retirement of the old Amshack behind the police headquarters. Maybe not sad, just a bit nostalgic.
I shared this station with hundreds of thousands of other people over the years, but growing up, it was my hometown depot. From my earliest memories, I remember going to the station to see Amtraks come in with my parents. I have them to thank for nurturing my interest in trains, and for taking photos of my early train experiences. I remember meeting the train when my grandma would come up to visit us from Indiana, and eventually taking trips to and from the Niles station to visit her.
I learned about trains from going to this station. That green signals mean a train is coming. That Amtrak engines had special sounding horns which freight engines didn’t (true in the 1990s, not so much today). That the alternating “round, square, round, square” cars were actually called Amfleets and Horizons. That the locomotives were called F40’s, but a new engine called the Genesis was slowly replacing them.
It’s where I learned about Amtrak and America. I inspected the system map posted on the wall and learned the route names. I collected schedules and pamphlets. It's where I left for an overnight trip to Chicago with the scouts, my first visit to the "other end of the line." It’s where I first saw an “Am-Cab” (metroliner) cab car, an NPCU, and a P-32. Somehow my parents managed to keep it together when their 12 year old kid kept repeating that we needed to go to the station to see a new “Pepsi-Can.” The F40 vanished. I documented Heritage Baggage Cars and the Automat during their brief Michigan Line era. Paint schemes changed from Phase III to Phase IV and the jumbled schemes during the transition. I struck up conversations with various station agents, like “I remember the E units” guy, and Jim. My photos went from ones my parents took for me to ones I was taking myself.
The station was a place full of memories. Walking the long platform under the overhang on a warm and rainy summer’s evening watching that light slloooowwwwwwly approach on the horizon. Freezing in the bitter cold to see what the power would be on a Saturday 353. Going there with J32885. Meeting Mackinac Mac for a round trip 350/355 journey to Pontiac and return. The smell of brake shoe smoke when a train came to a stop. That one time, during the F40 era, when two Amtraks met at the platform, but we forgot the camera at home. When station announcements used to include the old train names: Wolverine, Lake Cities, Twilight Limited.
I moved to Kalamazoo during college, and my railfanning moved westward. But at least once a semester, I planned an Amtrak trip back home, and disembarked and then boarded again from the Dearborn Amshack. The trains were jammed. The trains were late. The 355 consist finally got a 3rd coach car. The humor of the Colin Powell café car attendant. Would I get stuck sitting next to some old person? Still, the fluorescent and flickering glow of the platform lights out the window was always a pleasant sight as an eastbound weekend train trip concluded at the Dearborn station. My summers were still spent in Dearborn, and one of the best I remember was the season the ITCS was down an Amtrak sent whatever power they had to Michigan again.
Train consists grew, the paint scheme was finally looking matched again with Phase V. But the station was often crowded now. The seats torn and frayed. The platform cracked and uneven. The letter “r” fell off the outdoor sign, spelling “Amtak.” I remember in high school, 2002 in fact, going to a presentation about the new Dearborn Amtrak station they were planning for Elm Street. Three tracks, an overhead walkway – like Fullerton, California, a station I had been to several times. Too good to be true? After Kalamazoo, I moved to Ypsi, then to Connecticut.
The construction finally took place. Platforms were constructed and a bridge was installed, and a station building rose from a parking lot. The mainline will be double track again. Dearborn’s new station just opened in December 2014. My last visit to the old station was actually as a passenger, not a railfan, and was now quite some time ago – boarding the 6030 bus to Toledo to catch the Capitol Limited in early 2013. My first visit to the new station was as an arriving passenger just over a week after it opened – again from a connection to the Capitol Limited. Dearborn’s new station is large, modern, airy. The sun streams through the arched windows. Passengers – the non railfan types – enjoy a modern first-class facility, giving a brand new first impression of Amtrak travel. It will serve the Michigan Line’s growing ridership well for decades.
I’m impressed by the new station, and pleased to see it open. But I’m just a little sad for the closure of the old. It doesn’t matter where your first train experience was, most every railfan, regardless of age, gets that hint of excitement when a headlight first appears down the track. The old Dearborn Station was that place for me.
All aboard for the next great adventure!
I shared this station with hundreds of thousands of other people over the years, but growing up, it was my hometown depot. From my earliest memories, I remember going to the station to see Amtraks come in with my parents. I have them to thank for nurturing my interest in trains, and for taking photos of my early train experiences. I remember meeting the train when my grandma would come up to visit us from Indiana, and eventually taking trips to and from the Niles station to visit her.
I learned about trains from going to this station. That green signals mean a train is coming. That Amtrak engines had special sounding horns which freight engines didn’t (true in the 1990s, not so much today). That the alternating “round, square, round, square” cars were actually called Amfleets and Horizons. That the locomotives were called F40’s, but a new engine called the Genesis was slowly replacing them.
It’s where I learned about Amtrak and America. I inspected the system map posted on the wall and learned the route names. I collected schedules and pamphlets. It's where I left for an overnight trip to Chicago with the scouts, my first visit to the "other end of the line." It’s where I first saw an “Am-Cab” (metroliner) cab car, an NPCU, and a P-32. Somehow my parents managed to keep it together when their 12 year old kid kept repeating that we needed to go to the station to see a new “Pepsi-Can.” The F40 vanished. I documented Heritage Baggage Cars and the Automat during their brief Michigan Line era. Paint schemes changed from Phase III to Phase IV and the jumbled schemes during the transition. I struck up conversations with various station agents, like “I remember the E units” guy, and Jim. My photos went from ones my parents took for me to ones I was taking myself.
- My brother and I beside "Am-Cab" 9650 around 1993. My green shorts were awesome!
- Freshly converted and outshopped NPCU 90218 leads Wolverine 350 demonstrating the square-round-square-round car arrangement I noticed as a child. Point and shoot film cameras could take some decent shots! 1998.
Train consists grew, the paint scheme was finally looking matched again with Phase V. But the station was often crowded now. The seats torn and frayed. The platform cracked and uneven. The letter “r” fell off the outdoor sign, spelling “Amtak.” I remember in high school, 2002 in fact, going to a presentation about the new Dearborn Amtrak station they were planning for Elm Street. Three tracks, an overhead walkway – like Fullerton, California, a station I had been to several times. Too good to be true? After Kalamazoo, I moved to Ypsi, then to Connecticut.
The construction finally took place. Platforms were constructed and a bridge was installed, and a station building rose from a parking lot. The mainline will be double track again. Dearborn’s new station just opened in December 2014. My last visit to the old station was actually as a passenger, not a railfan, and was now quite some time ago – boarding the 6030 bus to Toledo to catch the Capitol Limited in early 2013. My first visit to the new station was as an arriving passenger just over a week after it opened – again from a connection to the Capitol Limited. Dearborn’s new station is large, modern, airy. The sun streams through the arched windows. Passengers – the non railfan types – enjoy a modern first-class facility, giving a brand new first impression of Amtrak travel. It will serve the Michigan Line’s growing ridership well for decades.
I’m impressed by the new station, and pleased to see it open. But I’m just a little sad for the closure of the old. It doesn’t matter where your first train experience was, most every railfan, regardless of age, gets that hint of excitement when a headlight first appears down the track. The old Dearborn Station was that place for me.
All aboard for the next great adventure!
- Passengers wait for train 353 to arrive at the new Dearborn Amtrak Station, 12/29/2014.
, but my list is just the ones built to the standard Amtrak design of the '70s.
