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With the saddening news that the BO Tower has been torn down with filed preservation attempts to save it, I figured it would be good start a thread on what we have in Michigan now and what landmarks to see before they are gone I’ll start:

Carleton Tower: apparently still around and slated for demolition in a few months.

Holly Tower: still standing at the crossroads of CN/LSRC.

Detroit Amtrak station (not MC station) Amtrak has proposed to build a new station for Detroit with an unknown fate for the old one.

Charring Cross: Formerly a private station for GTW/Semta Commuter trains located inbetween Pontiac and Birmingham in Bloomfield Hills now just a cement platform with a ramp and stairs.

Delray Tower: more than likely will be torn down in the next couple years or less located in nasty part of Detroit suburbs.

Holly Station: not in danger but needs to be moved from current location a group out of Holly is raising funds to move the building.

located in nasty part of Detroit suburbs

Delray is in the city, not the suburbs.

While there have been close calls with drug addicts getting hit by trains, no one has wilfully jumped in front of a train on Dearborn St in recent history like people tend to do in higher status suburban communities that some college educated people portray as being "problem free". If life is so good in certain wealthier suburbs, why are people wilfully ending their lives by standing in front of trains?

I will probably need to observe a day of mourning when Carleton tower is demolished! Bring out the sackcloth and ashes! While still in high school, I started visiting the tower in 1966, and worked 3rd shift there for C&O from 1970-1974 before going to Saginaw. I'm surprised it has lasted this long! Other towers I worked (Kearsley in Flint and Wash Ave in Saginaw) are long gone, and Mershon was "saved" but moved.

What about the Augusta MC Railroad Coal Tower between Galesburg and Augusta? That’s still standing and is a pretty cool site.

Elmdale station is still standing as well.

GTW Dude wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:02 pm

Charring Cross: Formerly a private station for GTW/Semta Commuter trains located inbetween Pontiac and Birmingham in Bloomfield Hills now just a cement platform with a ramp and stairs.

Charing Cross wasn't a "private station".
Here is the Google Maps aerial view of the site.
https://goo.gl/maps/u9zjzWhbEVZb49uo7
Do you see any platforms there? I don't. Ramp and stairs such as they are now, yes.
Station itself was a shelter as was the stop at Oakwood Boulevard(Twelve Mile).

Don't remember if Pleasant RIdge was a shelter or actual station building.

Pleasant Ridge was also a shelter.

DaveO wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 2:59 pm

GTW Dude wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:02 pm

Charring Cross: Formerly a private station for GTW/Semta Commuter trains located inbetween Pontiac and Birmingham in Bloomfield Hills now just a cement platform with a ramp and stairs.

Charing Cross wasn't a "private station".
Here is the Google Maps aerial view of the site.
https://goo.gl/maps/u9zjzWhbEVZb49uo7
Do you see any platforms there? I don't. Ramp and stairs such as they are now, yes.

There's still some concrete in the ground there but not up to the tracks, very much overgrown at this point. Light poles remain too.

Bloomfield Hills, Charing Cross, 12 Mile, Royal Oak, and Ferndale all have some remnants of the commuter stops.

DaveO wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 2:59 pm

GTW Dude wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:02 pm

Charring Cross: Formerly a private station for GTW/Semta Commuter trains located inbetween Pontiac and Birmingham in Bloomfield Hills now just a cement platform with a ramp and stairs.

Charing Cross wasn't a "private station".
Here is the Google Maps aerial view of the site.
https://goo.gl/maps/u9zjzWhbEVZb49uo7
Do you see any platforms there? I don't. Ramp and stairs such as they are now, yes.
Station itself was a shelter as was the stop at Oakwood Boulevard(Twelve Mile).

Don't remember if Pleasant RIdge was a shelter or actual station building.

I’d like to apologize for that massive blunder in info. At some point in time I got the idea in my head that the residents of Charring Cross which if you have ever been there is a nicely wealthy residence, had paid to have a station built in their neighborhood and don’t want to use Birmingham as a station to which after looking back in the books I thought I had got the information from was not prevalent but in fact listed it as a spot in the regular commuter timetable. I have no clue why I thought Charring cross was some sort of private station I must at some point have thought that given the thought that the residents had it built that it worked more like a flagstop station like the one at Greenfield Village (not the John D. Dingell transit center) again, my mistake and something I should have instantly caught because I railfan not 5 miles from it on occasion.

On another note, I visited the station sometime last summer and while the platform is in fact removed I must have imagined it was still partially there when I went for some reason. Must have been the Mandela effect from looking back at old photos of the station with the shack.

GTW Dude wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:04 pm

At some point in time I got the idea in my head that the residents of Charring Cross which if you have ever been there is a nicely wealthy residence

Oh take my word, it’s still a wealthy area

The former PM depot in Fowlerville was recently shown on Facebook to have plywood over all windows, so it is probably not long for this world. The former depot in Watervliet is also still used by the csx signal department.

David Collins wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:11 pm

GTW Dude wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 9:04 pm

At some point in time I got the idea in my head that the residents of Charring Cross which if you have ever been there is a nicely wealthy residence

Oh take my word, it’s still a wealthy area

I never said it wasn’t. Whats funny though is there’s one guy who has a barrier in his driveway to make sure he doesn’t overshoot it with his car and head into the Tracks located at the bottom of the hill in Bloomfield hills. What’s funny is he also has signs saying no parking because railfans must’ve camped out there before not knowing it was a driveway cause of how long and big it was until you hit the gate to the house. Just goes to show how wealthy it really is down there.

Yes, I know the area.
In fact Bloomfield Hills put up a sign off Kensington Road saying Trowbridge was a private road.
https://goo.gl/maps/7s5eD3i93xRkatLN7
It isn't.
Now that the bridge is removed, it doesn't really matter.
But when you have money and are "well connected" stuff gets done that would never happen for many.

The station at Bloomfield Hills/Long Lake Road was also a shelter.

GTW Dude wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:02 pm

Detroit Amtrak station (not MC station) Amtrak has proposed to build a new station for Detroit with an unknown fate for the old one.

They really should have brought Amtrak back to MC Station.
Maybe in the future MCS could be a high-speed rail or Maglev terminal.

DaveO wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 6:56 am

Yes, I know the area.
In fact Bloomfield Hills put up a sign off Kensington Road saying Trowbridge was a private road.
https://goo.gl/maps/7s5eD3i93xRkatLN7
It isn't.
Now that the bridge is removed, it doesn't really matter.
But when you have money and are "well connected" stuff gets done that would never happen for many.

The station at Bloomfield Hills/Long Lake Road was also a shelter.

I once set up to railfan at the edge of the road where the bridge used to be and was asked to leave by one of the residents, who then proceeded to call the cops on me and my dad, Now, I’m not sure if the person was just a Karen or if it’s actually private, but I have heard of other railfans getting kicked out of there. So, for now, just assume Trowbridge is off limits.

ConrailDetr​oit wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:36 pm

While there have been close calls with drug addicts getting hit by trains, no one has wilfully jumped in front of a train on Dearborn St in recent history like people tend to do in higher status suburban communities that some college educated people portray as being "problem free". If life is so good in certain wealthier suburbs, why are people wilfully ending their lives by standing in front of trains?

Mental illness does not know status or location. If life is so good in Detroit, why has the population of the city declined every year of the current Millennium? Besides the obvious reason of not wanting to live in an area that looks as if it had nuclear bomb testing done on site, pre Covid was the era of the young hip group returning to the city. Yet Detroit missed out on that trend. Says something, doesn't it?

https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/2297 ... population

Typhoon wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:14 pm

pre Covid was the era of the young hip group returning to the city. Yet Detroit missed out on that trend. Says something, doesn't it?

Except that was exactly what was happening in Detroit...especially along Woodward and Cass.

DaveO wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 6:56 am

Yes, I know the area.
In fact Bloomfield Hills put up a sign off Kensington Road saying Trowbridge was a private road.
https://goo.gl/maps/7s5eD3i93xRkatLN7
It isn't.
Now that the bridge is removed, it doesn't really matter.
But when you have money and are "well connected" stuff gets done that would never happen for many.

The station at Bloomfield Hills/Long Lake Road was also a shelter.

My mom grew up on Brookdale, just off of Big Beaver road on the west side of the tracks. Looking at the map you posted, Trowbridge is about 1.3 miles up the tracks from where her house was. Back then, between her house and the tracks was all woods, but it's a golf course now. When we'd go to visit my grandparents there in the 70s, my siblings and I would walk on a trail through the woods to the railroad tracks. Since the ROW was quite elevated, we never climbed up to the tracks, but I remember being down below and watching trains pass by.

NS3322 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 8:20 pm

Typhoon wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:14 pm

pre Covid was the era of the young hip group returning to the city. Yet Detroit missed out on that trend. Says something, doesn't it?

Except that was exactly what was happening in Detroit...especially along Woodward and Cass.

The population trends of Detroit reflect that, oh wait...

Mental illness does not know status or location. If life is so good in Detroit, why has the population of the city declined every year of the current Millennium

Every place has their problems. Younger foamers from suburban areas should not be brainwashed into dangerous thinking that every busy junction in an urban area is some dangerous place that one won't leave alive or without their vehicle or without a bullet wound. Life is too short and they will miss out on the positives that Detroit has to offer.

The difference is the higher status areas do a better job at concealing their problems. The higher status areas of Detroit that have growing populations have their own problems as well. Lots of narcissism and unjustified senses of entitlement, and cocaine being snorted inside of millon dollar real estate within 2 miles of downtown Detroit.