The 15th Michigan Railroad History Conference will be held on Sept. 20-22 in Ann Arbor at Washtenaw Community College.
The registration fee is $65 if paid before Sept. 1 and $75 after that date.
Headlining the conference on Sept. 21 will be featured speaker Kevin Keefe, former editor of Trains magazine and the author of the Mileposts column published on the Classic Trains website.
Keefe’s presentation is titled: How the Michigan Central got to Chicago and Personal and Professional Reflections on a Life with Trains.
Other presenters and their programs include: Mark Hildebrandt, Electric Trolleys of Washtenaw County; Nick Korstange, Wood, Water and Wheels–Logging by Rail and Water; Jefferson Seaver, A Peculiar Lumber Tramway; E. Ray Lichty, History and Sale of the Pere Marquette/C&O/CSX Carferry Services; Ford Cotton, Rail Service Through Ewen from the DSS&A to the Soo Line and into History; Rahn Stokes, Jackson Yard: Viewpoint of the Second Shift Yardmaster in the Early Seventies; and Dean Pyers, Train Robberies in Michigan.
There will be two field trips, both of which have additional charges.
On Sept. 20 there will be a tour of railroad operations at Greenfield Village and the Michigan Central Depot in Detroit that is limited to 25 people.
It will begin at The Henry Ford where the curator of transportation will discuss the role of railroad history at Greenfield Village.
There will be a walk through the DT&M roundhouse moved from Marshall, Michigan, where an active shop performs collection maintenance and restoration.
Additional structures that tour attendees will see include the coaling tower, water tower, manually-operated turntable and ash dump.
Lunch will be at the Cork and Gabel Restaurant in Detroit (included in the field trip fee of $75) where the construction manager for the Michigan Central Station project will describe plans for rehabilitation of Michigan Central Station.
The depot is now owned by Ford Motor Company and is the focus of its facilities devoted to development of autonomous vehicles.
There will be a brief walk through parts of the station with the points to be seen dependent on construction work underway.
On Sunday, another field trip will be held to view the remains of the Jackson-Ann Arbor electric railways.
Two companies (Hawks–Angus and Boland–Foote syndicates) competed to provide interurban service between Ann Arbor and Jackson
Their tracks were never more than three miles apart and crossed each other in five places.
This tour, led by Norm Krentel and Doug Johnson, will follow one line from Ann Arbor to Jackson and the other back to Ann Arbor.
There will be a stop at the Lost Railway Museum in Grass Lake.
The fee for this bus tour is $30 and it will depart from the Washtenaw Community College parking lot at 8:30 a.m.
For more information visit www.michiganrailroadhistory.org or contact mrhc2019@gmail.com.