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GT Spur on GR's NE side

Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 10:14 pm
by MQT1223
So can anyone shed some light on what looks like a long gone GT spur that ran north along the East side of Monroe and ended right near where present day I-96 borders the Veterans Cemetery? Looks like it went right through the property of the present day Vets home and ended near a structure that looks much like a depot along Lamberton Ave, and several streets such as Riverside Drive are angled in such a way that suggests a right of way was present at some point. South of there several streets dead end into an overgrown strip of land, and a dirt alley called Cusick Place seems to be in the place of an old right of way that leads right to the present GRE main.

A friend of mine's dad showed us a 1951 map of the area just to the south of the Vets home with a clearly marked Railroad ROW south of 3 mile, and today its largely gone due to modern development. That map is what prompted the investigation.

Re: GT Spur on GR's NE side

Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:31 pm
by ~Z~
If you zoom in on this old map from 1918, it shows that ROW being what looks like an interurban line. Looks like it went across the Grand River near Park St.
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/Br ... _62500.jpg
Image

This site is a great resource for any old maps: http://www.oldmapsonline.org

Re: GT Spur on GR's NE side

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 7:31 am
by Raildudes dad
I'm pretty sure all the info you are looking for is archived on this site. Search away:) I remember the interurban bridge up stream of the North Park St truss bridge, 1 span of which is in Riverside Park. IIRC, it was called the dummy line.

Re: GT Spur on GR's NE side

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 8:02 am
by Michael
Here another great site for research. http://www.historicaerials.com/viewer
It is heavily watermarked but the slide/overlay function allows you to see all available aerials and USGS topos together and do a comparison.

Re: GT Spur on GR's NE side

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:51 pm
by trnwatcher
Raildudes dad wrote:I'm pretty sure all the info you are looking for is archived on this site. Search away:) I remember the interurban bridge up stream of the North Park St truss bridge, 1 span of which is in Riverside Park. IIRC, it was called the dummy line.
IIRC the interurban just crossed the river and stopped in CP. I think their plan was to head north out of CP but WWI and then the demise of the interurbans after WWI stopped any further push north.

Re: GT Spur on GR's NE side

Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 4:49 pm
by C&O6084
Interurban? No.

That was one of the City trolley lines. Interurban crossed on Leonard and went West, then up Remembrance.

Trolley went North to North Park, crossed the Grand River right next to the road bridge, and did a return loop just before the old Fairgrounds. ALl that 's left is the ROW you noticed, plus two tubular piers on the East side of the river that you can see from tyhe I-96 Westbound bridge.