Ashley near Catherine St.

Stopped. Watched. icon

Noon. Ann Arbor Railroad track parallel to Ashley, near Catherine Street. Heard the distinctive whistle of a steam locomotive, saw motion between the trees and great white clouds of steam puffing along the track. Is Ann Arbor Railroad running again?

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10 Comments

  1. By Mike Garrison
    October 12, 2009 at 6:35 pm | permalink

    My guess is that it was the 765 returning to Fort Wayne, Indiana after their fall colors trip with the Pere Marquette 1225.

    Link: 765
    Link: Pere Marquette

  2. By Bibliophagist
    October 12, 2009 at 8:08 pm | permalink

    I heard it faintly (at Packard & Coler) around noon — I thought I was hearing somebody’s ring tone.

  3. By John Floyd
    October 13, 2009 at 1:51 am | permalink

    #1 Mike – you’re right. I saw it northbound last summer. It’s quite a thrill to hear it, then see the steam, then see the engine. Do you know why the Annie had a locomotive pulling it?

  4. By Mike Garrison
    October 13, 2009 at 3:14 am | permalink

    It was the 765 – their twitter just posted they were back home.

    @John – yeah, when they are traveling on tracks which are frequented by freight or passenger trains, they are pulled by a loco just in case the train has problems so they do not block traffic.

  5. October 13, 2009 at 8:30 am | permalink

    Thanks for explaining this – I heard a great deal of tooting yesterday and wondered what it was. Two different toots?

  6. By Susie
    October 13, 2009 at 8:40 am | permalink

    After hearing the loud whistle, I looked out my back window and saw two old-fashioned passenger cars marked Ohio Central Railroad. They looked like the ones in this video: link to YouTube

  7. By zollar
    October 13, 2009 at 8:06 pm | permalink

    Did anyone happen to get a photo of this train passing thru?

  8. By Linda Diane Feldt
    October 13, 2009 at 8:19 pm | permalink

    Here is a great youtube video a friend took of the train. With sound. [YouTubeVideo]

  9. By Rici
    October 19, 2009 at 11:14 pm | permalink

    We heard this, too – I’m glad to know what it was!

  10. By Linda S.L. Keen
    October 24, 2009 at 9:05 am | permalink

    I was in our backyard just north of Miller with about 9 childcare children. We all sat and listened to the distinctly different whistes and until now did not know what was happening “out there somewhere”!! I’ll be checking out the video and show the children next week. Glad I found this site after googling ann arbor michigan train whistles october 2009.