The Bluewater Michigan Chapter NRHS is pleased to announce the following excursion. Let me know on or off-board if you have any questions about this event.

Thanks.

Chris Jacks
Bluewater Michigan Chapter NRHS.

Travel to Durand Railroad Days by Train

The Bluewater Michigan Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society announces train excursions to Durand for their Railroad Days festival. Durand has for a century been a major crossroads for railroad traffic in Michigan, and their annual festival celebrates this history. Join Bluewater for an all-day rail excursion to Durand aboard our fleet of restored passenger railcars from the 1940s and 1950s. Passengers will have three and one-half hours to spend at the Railroad Days festival, which features tours of the historic depot, carnival rides, food, wood-carving demonstrations, and the chance to railfan at the busy railroad junction. All cars are air-conditioned, and passengers will have ample opportunity to relax, enjoy the passing scenery, purchase food & beverages in our dining car or shop for rail-themed souvenirs.

Trains will depart on both Saturday, May 15th and Sunday, May 16th, 2004 from the Valley Plaza Inn in Midland at 8:00am, Defoe Park in Bay City at 9:30am, and from Court St. in Saginaw at 10:00am, returning to Saginaw at 5:30pm, Bay City at 6:00pm, and Midland at 7:30pm. The round-trip fare is $49.00 for adults and $29.00 for children. For this excursion a special first-class service on a lounge car will be offered as well for $79.00 for adults and $59.00 for children.

A special two-hour trip will be run for festival-goers in Durand at 12:30PM. Cost for this excursion is $15.00 for adults and $5.00 for children. Tickets for this trip can be purchased at Durand Union Station from 1:00 to 5:00PM Tuesday through Sunday.

This 73-mile excursion will follow tracks formerly operated by the Grand Trunk Western and New York Central railroads, now operated by RailAmerica. Taking the train gives you the opportunity to see the towns and countryside en-route from a different perspective, from a time before highways linked these cities and when railroads were the only way to travel. This train will be only the third public excursion over these rails since passenger service was discontinued nearly 50 years ago, the first passenger train on this route in over a decade, and the first Bluewater excursion to Durand Railroad Days since 1993.

The Bluewater Michigan Chapter is an all-volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of railroad history. Bluewater has been operating public excursions since 1984. It has a fleet of fourteen passenger cars that it maintains in its shops in the historic Pere Marquette Railroad roundhouse in Saginaw. All net income from operation of excursions is used to restore and maintain the passenger fleet and to preserve the chapterÂ’s archives and photo collection. Bluewater coaches are available for lease for festivals, employee excursions, and economic development purposes.

Bluewater, with over 350 members, is an affiliate of the National Railway Historical Society, which was founded in 1935. Bluewater was founded in November 1982 in a model train hobby shop in Royal Oak, Michigan. The chapter is a very hands-on, active organization. It operates a wide range of excursions ranging in length from one hour to two weeks and with a wide range of prices.

For more information, please call (248) 541-1000 or to order tickets call (800) 594-5162 or write Bluewater at Box 296, Royal Oak, MI 48068-0296. You can visit Bluewater on the internet at http://www.bluewaternrhs.com



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