Inside the Durand Station

Durand, Michigan, is like many small towns served by Amtrak in that twice or more a day, people start gathering to wait for the train.

In the case of Durand, a caretaker opens the waiting room of the former Durand Union Station. In many places, the Amtrak “station” is a glorified bus shelter.

But Durand Union Station has been saved and preserved with part of the structure serving as the Michigan Railroad Museum.

The “union” in the station’s name derives from the fact that it was served passenger trains of the Grand Trunk Western and Ann Arbor railroads.

It has been several decades since the Ann Arbor last ran a passenger train and the former AA tracks on the east side of the depot have been removed.

Shown are a handful of passengers in the waiting room in July 2016 as they awaited the arrival of Amtrak No. 365, the westbound Blue Water for Chicago.

It is a ritual as timeless as the feel of this old passenger station, which has seen several generations waiting here before embarking on a journey.

Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders

Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak in Michigan, Amtrak stations, Durand Michigan, Michigan railroad stations, Railroad stations, restored train stations, train stations