Remembering a Day in Detroit 40 Years Ago

I never thought a railfan trip from years ago would come into play exactly 40 years later.

My early days of railfanning with Marty and Robert Surdyk, and Dan Pluta several times were a very early Sunday departure to take advantage of the longer daylight during the spring and summer.

Our focus would be Windsor, Ontario; and Detroit/Dearborn, Michigan on Sunday, June 10, 1984.

The photographs above show some of what we saw that day. That included a Chessie System train exiting the Detroit River tunnel in Windsor. Also in Windsor is shown a VIA Rail Canada train about to depart Windsor station. Then there was Canadian National light Pacific No. 5588 being refurbished.

Back in Detroit we photographed Michigan Central Station with an Amtrak train on the far left. Today there are no trains but last week the station complex held a grand reopening after a multi-million dollar refurbishment by the Ford Motor Company.

In Dearborn we visited the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. The last images shows (left to right) Marty Surdyk, Robert Surdyk and Dan Pluta.

The last several days there has been lots of media coverage of Michigan Central Station. Maybe we should return in the near future.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Tags: Detroit, Detroit's Michigan Central Station, Edward Ribinskas photograhs, Greenfield Village, Henry Ford Museum, VIA Rail Canada, Windsor Ontario