Been More Than a Decade Now

I recently ran across this image of the Amtrak 40th anniversary exhibit train in Jackson, Michigan. The exhibit train contained numerous artifacts regarding Amtrak history in those three baggage cars.

The Amfleet food service car contained a gift shop while the sleeping car on the rear provided quarters for the traveling exhibit train staff.

The image was made in October 2011. That was more than 10 years ago. Last year when Amtrak marked its 50th anniversary, it did not send an exhibit train out to tour the country.

Aside from a few historic photographs posted on its website and giving some locomotives a 50th anniversary herald Amtrak did little to celebrate its half century of service.

The lingering COVID-19 pandemic no doubt had something to do with that. So did Amtrak’s aversion to spending money on something management viewed as a “frill” during a time when the passenger carrier continued to struggle with less revenue due to pandemic-induced ridership losses.

On the point of the exhibit train is an F40 non-powered control unit painted in the Phase III livery. The same retro look has been applied to the trailing P42DC, which provided motive power and head-end power to the train.

This image also is noteworthy for having been scanned from a slide that came from one of the last rolls of slide film that I ever exposed. Three months earlier I had purchased a digital single lens reflex camera and I seldom made photographs with slide film after that.

On this day I had both cameras although most of the images I made were created with the digital camera. I finished off a roll of slide film with my other camera, which left just one roll of slide film left in my camera bag.

Later this summer will be the 10th anniversary of my having exposed my last frame of slide film. That image was of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 in Bucyrus pulling a Norfolk Southern employee appreciation special.

Those NS employee specials, like the Amtrak exhibit train, are both now things of the past and nothing similar has come along to take their place.

Photograph and Article by Craig Sanders

One Morning in Jackson, Michigan

It is a pleasant June 28, 1997, summer morning in Jackson, Michigan. I’ve drive here to spend a day catching Amtrak trains. From here I would drive to Battle Creek to catch the International in both directions on its Chicago-Toronto trek and end the day getting trains in Ann Arbor.

At the time, trains in the Chicago-Detroit (Pontiac) corridor were powered by P32-8 locomotives built by General Electric. The units were pointed east, which meant they pulled eastbounds and pushed westbounds.

Facing west was a cab car, either a former F40PH that had been rebuilt into a non-powered control unit, or a former Metroliner car serving as a cab car.

Amtrak owned 20 P32-8 units that it received in December 1991. They wore a stylized Phase III livery that was unique to these locomotives. It wasn’t long before railfans began calling them “Pepsi cans” because of the resemblance of the livery to a beverage can design of the time.

It also was a time when trains between Chicago and Detroit had individual names of Wolverine, Lake Cities and Twilight Limited.

In the top image No. 504 is pushing the Lake Cities out of Jackson toward Chicago. In the bottom image, No. 513 is pulling the Wolverine into the station.

Notice the mismatched style of the number boards above the front windshields.

Although P32s saw service on long-distance trains, they were most commonly used in corridor service. The “Pepsi can” look lasted a few years but eventually gave way to Phase IV.

The special Phase III livery used on the P32s was revived this year when a P42DC No. 160 was repainted in that livery.

An Early Look at Amtrak’s New Motive Power Look

Amtrak ALC-42 Nos. 300 and 301 were testing in Michigan last week. No. 301 is a one-off Day One 50th Anniversary unit that itself was a one-off design applied in 1971 to a Penn Central E8A for an Amtrak first day of operation ceremony. No. 300 has the Phase VI livery. I caught them resting at Jackson, Michigan, near the old New York Central shops.  

Photographs by Todd Dillon

Pa. Short Line Acquires ex-GTW Steam Locomotive

A former Grand Trunk Western steam locomotive that has been on display in Michigan has been sold to a Pennsylvania short line railroad.

The locomotive, 4-6-2 No. 5030, has been on static display for more than 60 years in North Lawn Park in Jackson, Michigan.

The Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust has agreed to pay $50,000 over five years for the locomotive, a light Pacific type built in 1912 by Montreal Locomotive Works.

The trust represents a 9-mile short line railroad, the Colebrookdale Railroad in Boyertown, Pennsylvania.

The locomotive had been donated to Jackson in in 1957. City officials said they agreed to sell it after concluding they lacked the money needed to continue to maintain it.

Colebrooke officials said they have been looking to acquire a steam locomotive for their tourist operations

Moving and rebuilding the locomotive is expected to cost $2 million.

Amtrak to Renovate Jackson Station

Amtrak plans to rehabilitate the 144-year-old Michigan Central station in Jackson, Michigan, this summer to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The work includes re-pointing the brick on the chimneys and working on the roof.

Other improvements include bathrooms being made ADA compliant, installing signs with braille markings, and creating an ADA accessible path from the parking lot to the station.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said cost estimates won’t be available until the project is finished.

Amtrak has owned the station since 1973. It is served daily by six Wolverine Service trains between Chicago and Detroit (Pontiac).

The Victorian-Italianate-style structure opened on Sept. 1, 1873, and is one of Amtrak’s oldest stations that has been in continuous use as a passenger facility. It has served the Michigan Central, New York Central, Penn Central and now Amtrak.

Other renovations were made in 1978, 2008 and 2013.

Police Probe Apparent Sabotage Effort in Michigan

Police released this photo showing the debris placed on a rail on track owned by the Michigan Department of Transportation and used by Amtrak and Norfolk Southern.

Police in Jackson, Michigan, are seeking a suspect who may have been trying to derail an Amtrak or Norfolk Southern train by placing debris on one of the rails.

An Amtrak police officer found the debris on Wednesday morning and notified the Jackson Police Department.

The debris included ballast and tie plates. Police said the debris resulted in a “dangerous situation.”

The debris was placed on a rail between North Jackson and North Blackstone streets.

Jackson is served by Amtrak’s Chicago-Detroit (Pontiac) Wolverine Service trains.

A Jackson Police spokesman said that walking on the railroad tracks, or property owned by the railroad is a misdemeanor offense.

Amtrak Pulling Tickets Agents at Niles, Jackson

Amtrak ticket agents will be removed on March 1 from stations in Jackson and Niles, Michigan.

Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman in Chicago, said the move is being made to save money.

He said an overwhelming majority of passengers no longer purchase tickets from station agents.

As a result of the change, Amtrak might keep the Jackson station open later in the afternoon.

The waiting room is now open from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. but three of the six Wolverine Service trains that serve Jackson arrive after 2:30 p.m.

Amtrak plans to hire a part-time caretaker to open and close the station and Magliari said that worker could work a split shift and close the waiting area later in the day.

Passengers and those waiting on trains must wait outside the former Michigan Central depot when the waiting room is closed.

Staffing of the Jackson ticket office was reduced last August from daily to five days a week. No agent is on duty on Tuesdays and Wednesday.