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?
Ashley near Catherine St.
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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
I heard it faintly (at Packard & Coler) around noon — I thought I was hearing somebody’s ring tone.
#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?
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.
Thanks for explaining this – I heard a great deal of tooting yesterday and wondered what it was. Two different toots?
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
Did anyone happen to get a photo of this train passing thru?
Here is a great youtube video a friend took of the train. With sound. [YouTubeVideo]
We heard this, too – I’m glad to know what it was!
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.