Hello,

The Breif about the Steam Railroading Institute (SRI) site development in Owosso, MI mentions the following:

"Immediate plans call for SRI to renovate a freight house type building at the west end of the 10 acre site into a visitor's center, museum, merchandise store and a massive "O" gauge train layout."

Is this the former Ann Arbor Railroad (AA) Owosso yard office which SRI currently occupies (and could be loosely described as a freight house type building); or the former GTW freight house which is west of the yard and is/was last used as an Elks hall but looks like it just left railroad service.

Thanks,
Tom Cornillie

rrhistorian@hotmail.com

> Is this the former Ann Arbor Railroad (AA)
> Owosso yard office which SRI currently
> occupies (and could be loosely described as
> a freight house type building); or the
> former GTW freight house which is west of
> the yard and is/was last used as an Elks
> hall but looks like it just left railroad
> service.

Neither, it is a business building located on Washington St. There have been some big changes and additions at SRI in the last 3-4 months. The events in the next year will add much more.

http://mstrp.com
johncgra@locl.net

This is good news. For those of you who do not know, The former Ann Arbor Railroad (AA) Yard Office looks and feels like it just left railroad service. It is good to hear that this expansion won't result in the alteration of this building.

Tom

> Neither, it is a business building located
> on Washington St. There have been some big
> changes and additions at SRI in the last 3-4
> months. The events in the next year will add
> much more.


rrhistorian@hotmail.com

I asked Dennis Braid your question and he responded as follows:

Records indicate that the present structure was built ca. 1924 for the Isabell Bean Company and listed as a wood truss structure for storage of
up to 16,000 bushels. It is simply an old cold storage building that had railroad freight doors and a siding for loading and unloading bags
of grain.

In later years it was used for cold storage and warehoused Allied Van Lines customer goods.

It has been vacant a couple years now and vandalism is beginning to take its toll. We hope to have it purchased in 2-3 weeks and end the
possibility of further destruction.


Railway Preservation news
hkading@rypn.org

It sounds like the post above might refer to the old Ann Arbor Railroad freight house that stood near the warehouse that is to become the SRI exhibit space. This structure was badly deteriorated when it burned 6 or 8 years ago. This was on the same day as the Project 1225 barbecue in the adjacent field, but these events were not related. There is no yard office.

Few Ann Arbor structures are left in Owosso aside from the engine and car shops in use by the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway. A derelict steel workshop building and fuel tanks were removed this year, and the powerhouse and brick backshop that formerly housed PM 1225 was demolished two years ago. A new 3-track shed for the SRI locomotives is being erected now off the recently-completed turntable. The site is being fenced. Access by visitors is possible again, but only from the west off of Washington Street (highway M-71). No visitors may enter through the shops of the T&SB Rwy. Co.

Across Washington Street, the GTW station is in a fair state of preservation as a VFW hall. The wood portion of the GTW freight house still stands, but its brick headbuilding was demolished about 10 years ago.

Aarne Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48867-0665

In Re: >There is no yard office.

The building I am referring to can be seen in the photo below (from the MSTRP Media Page) - it is the white building with a green roof on the left, close behind the large object covered in a white tarp. It is currently used as the MSTRP office. The people I met on the day of my visit (Dennis Braid and Duane Sumner) said that the building served as the yard office, and that the names on the lockers were those of former operating crafts. I would greatly appreciate a correction if this information is incorrect.

Best,
Tom



rrhistorian@hotmail.com

> The building I am referring to can be seen
> in the photo below (from the MSTRP Media
> Page) - it is the white building with a
> green roof on the left, close behind the
> large object covered in a white tarp.

We were told this building was built as an air-brake shop, but it seems to have been last used by the Ann Arbor as a crew-caller's office and locker room for engine and train crews. A callboard with movable wooden markers representing jobs and call times remains untouched in the locker room, reflecting Ann Arbor operations in the 1970's or before. The Ann Arbor yard is some distance from the shops, and had a tiny yard office, demolished in the 1980's. The crew building will not be on Steam Railroading Institute property when the move to the new facility is complete, and will probably be re-used for something else by the T&SB Rwy. Co.

Aarne Frobom

> ... A callboard with
> movable wooden markers representing jobs and
> call times remains untouched in the locker
> room, reflecting Ann Arbor operations in the
> 1970's or before..

By all means, get the callboard for preservation!!

hi_plain@yahoo.com