Thanks to the Internet and E-mail, my request for information from the
University of Michigan has put me in touch with the person who took most of the
available photos, Dr. H. Mark Hildebrandt.(HMH)
He has filled in many
of the blanks I've had on my page and added a wealth of information. He even
took photos during a cab ride in the Steeple cab when he was a teenager!
The University built a powerhouse near East Huron and Glen Avenues to serve the needs of the entire campus. The powerhouse generated electricity, so they built an electric railroad to get coal cars from the Michigan Central mainline up to the powerhouse. Cinders were also removed from the powerhouse via the railroad. The maintenance building were located beyond the powerhouse and had two siding in front of them.
The building had one smoke stack and had coal fired boilers.The Powerhouse was expanded in 1924 and the coal handling ability was
increased. A second stack was added that helps to identify the age of area
photographs. The book "When
Eastern Michigan Rode the Rails, Book 3" (WEMRTR) has a map on page 92 shows
an additional siding at the Powerhouse that may have been added in 1924 as part of the expansion. The University of Michigan Facilities group has a terrific web
page with historic photos of the Powerhouse.
I HAVE received a response from the Facilities group to
my e-mails requesting help with additional information. They have forwarded my
request on to others that may be able to fill in some of my blanks.
Unfortunately, their web site has removed a number of pictures from their
website "...due to security concerns." I hope I wasn't the cause of their
concern.
This link is to my favorite photo on their page:
1914
Photo
It clearly shows the coal yard on the West side of the Powerhouse.
The photo is taken looking North. Two or three hopper cars are spotted next to
the building. The Overhead crane is really interesting. One side is held up by
supports, but the other side rests on top of the Powerhouse directly. The
support columns within the Powerhouse wall are extended up through the roof to
support the trolley beam that carried the crane. Wystan Stevens wrote an article
for the "Ann Arbor Scene" magazine in the mid-seventies. It had a picture taken
by HMH 1939(?) when the traveling crane on top of the power house was blown off
the south end by a gusty storm.New Gantry Installation Photographs
I saw a similar installation in Trenton, New
Jersey within the last five years, but it was torn down before I could get
photos of it.
The bridge in the foreground is over East Washington Street.
On the bridge, you can see what may be the third and "Fourth" rails that I
believe may have existed as stated below in the Steeple cab section. The track next to the Powerhouse was on piers to allow the coal to be dropped below the
track. The Coal yard had the same area as the Powerhouse.
The New York Central / Michigan Central Railroad ran East-West through Ann
Arbor, just North of the Hospital complex and on the South side of the Huron
River. The U of M Siding was a switchback to get cars up the grade to the
Powerhouse. The siding traveled West, East and then West again. At the end of
the East leg, the tracks ran out onto piers. The photo on the top of page 106 in
WEMRTR clearly shows the track ending on the piers and indicates that this leg
was also used as the ash drop. You can also see them in the above photo, just
above the foreground trees, on the left. The Hospital is in the center of the
photo and the two smokestacks are visible to the right indicating that this
photo was taken after 1924.
It then made a wide, sweeping turn South to get
to the powerhouse.
Do a search at Mapquest for the
following Location:
[300-399]GLEN AVE
ANN ARBOR, MI
48104
Click
on the Aerial photo tab just above the map and you can see the impact of the
trackage on the existing roadway. It had to follow the track
curvature.
Check out the other Aerial Photographs for other great shots of the powerhouse. Even when the two stacks appear to be far away, download the biggest image you can, and zoom in on the powerhouse. The detail of these photos is terrific.
What does the Right of Way look like in 2002? Check this link to Jim Rees' photos. He also has other photos of Ann Arbor on his home page.
A photograph in the book shows a New York Central Steam engine under the trolley wire.(Page 107) The photo appears to have been taken near the interchange and in the lower left hand corner of the photo is what appears to be a wooden cover typical of that used over third rails. (Closed Item)Thanks to HMH, the third rail shoe was used to pass the switches at the north end of the line. In operation, when the engine passed a switch, one of the trainmen would pull one of the pans off the line.
According to the web site, Don's Depot (DD),"In 1949 it
was sold to the Warwick Railway in Rhode Island, who rebuilt it as a diesel
locomotive 100." The photo at Don's Depot shows the addition of a small radiator
on the "West" side of the engine and a small exhaust pipe going up above the
cab. The overhead and third rail connections are gone and the photo is labeled
"...at Ann Arbor, MI."
Mr. Bell also provided the following information from his records:
I have made contact with Mr. Henry Elsner of Philadelphia. He has written
articles and modeled the Steeple Cab. He also tried unsuccessfully to save the
Steeple cab while it was at Strasburg. Mr. Elsner provided me with a copy of a
letter that was sent to him by Thomas P. Vaughan, the former Owner and President
of the Warwick Railway form October 30, 1961. The letter reads as follows:
Dear Mr. Elsner:
Your letter in September Trains in regard to ex. U of M
loco at Strasburg was interesting.
Not to be critical but I thought you
would like to know that when I negotiated the purchase of this unit, it was
still in service as the Plymouth had not arrived. As soon as the transaction was
completed it was shipped directly to Warwick and never was in Boston.
All
our boys did was to burn off the third rail shoes, remove the cab collectors,
bow trolleys and dick and install trolley poles, and it was in use immediately.
You may have forgotten that this unit was overhauled by GE and Detroit Street
Railways in Detroit.
In our operation it was known as the "Bluebird" because
of its color. Officially it was our No.100.
Regards
Thomas P.
Vaughan
This confirms that the engine was still electric when it left Ann Arbor. Mr.
Bell has indicated that the engine arrived as a Gasoline-Electric and was
converted to a Diesel-electric by the Strasburg Railroad.
Mr. Elsner also
provided copies of the two articles he wrote in the 1970's and he makes
reference that the Warwick converted the engine to a Gasoline - electric and the
Strasburg Railroad converted it to Diesel electric. The reason that the Warwick converted it to a gasoline engine was a lady named Carol. Actually she was a massive Hurricane in 1954 that slammed New England. I have to speculate that the overhead wire was severly damaged and not cost effective to replace. A news report from the time indicated extensive telephone disruption due to damaged wires, so the same would hold true for the trolley wire.
Mr. Henry Elsner's article was in "Traction & Models" magazine
from February 1970.
More information will be added based on information
provided by Mr. Elsner
Update!
Trains Magazine ran an article written by William M. Moedinger, Jr. in April 1961. The sequence of the conversions is confirmed in this article. I've received permission to use their photos!
According to Don's Depot
(DD), in 1954 it was sold to the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania. It was
repainted and renumbered as Strasburg RR 7. The photo of No. 7 (DD) shows a
major reworking of the car body when it was converted to a diesel-electric.
It was used by the Strasburg Railroad until 1964. In August 1969 it was
still intact, but in derelick condition at Strasburg. According to information
from the Railroad Museum of
Pennsylvania, the engine was never liked by the Strasburg Crews as the
electrical system would create "arcs" in the cab. The electrical components were
transfered to the Middletown & Hummelstown (M&H)Railroad and the body
was cut up for scrap. The electrical components are reported to be "under a
tarp" at the M&H railroad.
Major Update: There is more left of the Steeple Cab than Originally thought! Wendell Dillinger of the Middletown and Hummelstown Railroad informed me that the trucks AND CAB are still at the M&H RR. I visited them on 8/28/02 and found both! My family had a great time visiting the Railroad and Wendell and the other crew members were terrific.
HMH recalls the engine being a faded grey in 1942.
In its last days in
Ann Arbor, it was painted Blue (faded) with a yellow stripe along the running
board and arrived at Warwick to become the "Bluebird."
The book "When
Eastern Michigan Rode the Rails, Book 3" (WEMRTR) indicates that the
Electric Steeple Cab locomotive was replaced by a 35 ton Plymouth switcher when
the electrification was removed in 1949. Two switchers were purchased from the US Army.(closed item) They were probably used, as the book states, "One was needed for motive power and other was cannibalized for parts." They have a
picture of the active Plymouth switcher on the bottom of page 107. The Plymouths were painted blue with a block style "M" on the cab, which is the major University of Michigan logo. The photo is identified as being from the fall of
1960, just before it was replaced. The Plymouth locomotive was most likely gasoline powered.
Per HMH: The Plymouth engine was underpowered. The Plymouth engine could only move one car at a time up the hill,
backfiring and farting (as his sister reported when she had her first child 1951 in the old maternity hospital which still stood next to the UofM RR).
Jay Reed has provided this information on the Plymouth locomotive.
Plymouth 30 ton ML8/2
(4445, 10-42)
Nee USA #7577.
To Warren Iron & Metal (D) (by 1961).
The second Plymouth 30 ton
Nee USA #7628
After its time at UofM, it went to the Toledo Port Authority, as #999; then went to Hess Cartage at Melvindale, Mi.
I received info that one of the trains fell off the trestle around 1955 and landed on the street. Was this the reason that the Plymouth was replaced? Dr. Hildebrandt believes that the Steeple cab may have toppled off the ash dump as there are photos of it with a crushed cab dated 10/8/18. The photo of the engine above with the University of Michigan lettering was after it was rebuilt.
According to WEMRTR, the Plymouth switcher was replaced in 1960 with an ex-Navy, 70 ton(or 65 Ton), GE switcher.
I received a copy of a photo labeled "U. of Mich. GE 65T, Toledo, Ohio 8/23/69 on B&O." This might explain why I haven't turned up any 70 tonner photos. The photo is dated September 1969 and would indicate that the engine was just taken out of service and was on it's way to a new home, that being the Toledo Port Authority. This engine ran in Ann Arbor until 1969. The University built a new food processing building next to the line(west side) so that the railroad could deliver carload lots of food. This operation continued for several months after the power house was converted to gas. The need for a railroad was eliminated.
Per Jay Reed at the Comprehensive Guide To Industrial Locomotives web site or
the Critters, Dinkys & Centercabs
site:
The most likely candidate is serial #15188, built 3-42. It was
built for the Volunteer Ordnance Works in Tennessee as their #1, became USA
#7290, then went to the US - Atomic Energy Commission - Engineering Dept. at Oak
Ridge, Tn., then possibly to University of Michigan (although he has no record
of it), then to Port of Toledo, in Toledo, Oh., which later became Cargill, then
it went to Archer-Daniels-Midland at Ojibway, On., and was recently transferred
to their car shop in Decatur, Il. Please recall though, that this is just
"educated" speculation by Jay Reed.
Here's a link to another 80 Tonner: Eastman - Kodak
The final resting place of these U of M diesels is unknown.(Open
item)
The paint schemes of these U of M diesels is now
known.(closed item)
Work is going well on my HO Modular layout. I am in the process of building an eight foot by two foot module of the switchback and the interchange with the MC/NYC mailine. The Module will be to NMRA Standards.
The Steeplecab has been shortened and work on the Bow Trolleys is going well.
Here's a picture of my shortened Steeple Cab. It is now powered!:Steeple Cab It's HO scale and only 3-1/4" long.
Here's two recent pictures of my shortened Steeple Cab.Picture One
This picture shows my shortened Steeple Cab with a fifty ton hopper.Picture Two
Here's a link to see pictures of the HO, 40 ton steeple cab.
