Lansing-North Lansing rail museum?

[Robert MacDowell]

Back around 1990 I was tracking the comings and goings of Chicago South Shore cars, and two of them went to a group called the Lansing-North Lansing Electric Railroad Association (or something like that).

What's the story of that group? What did they have in terms of equipment and track? What happened to it?

[CERY]

AHAHAHAHA your funny Robert. As far as I know they only had the South Shore Cars.

[Tim]

I don't know the full details on the Lansing – North Lansing Electric Railroad Museum except they were going to run trolley/interurban cars between downtown Lansing and North Lansing on the old LS&MS line. They were based across the tracks from what many assume to be the LS&MS depot on Grand River Ave (it's not a depot but a city "comfort station" or public rest room). They acquired an ex Ann Arbor business car, 2 CSS&SB interurbans and MA Tower among other things. I don't know why or when they folded up. The Ann Arbor car was stored for years north of the GTW Millett Yard at what was a steel company of some sort. No idea where it went. The 2 South Shore cars were stored indoors at what is now the Quality Dairy place on S Washington and went to the group at Selfridge.

[intocable83]

That would have been neat if they could have gotten their idea up off the ground. There was many times I walked from downtown Lansing to the North side, this would have been perfect.

[CERY]

It would have been cool but it never would have happened, there wasn't the money and never any support. This has all been told to me through third parties though.

[fmilhaupt]

The ex-Ann Arbor business car ended up on the Southern Michigan RR.

Last time I saw it, a few years back, it was stored at Farm Crossing (just north of Lenawee Junction), covered in plywood.

[Clay320]

The ex-Ann Arbor business car ended up on the Southern Michigan RR.

Last time I saw it, a few years back, it was stored at Farm Crossing (just north of Lenawee Junction), covered in plywood.

Are you sure they had the same car the SMRS has? IIRC SMRS acquired our car directly from the State of Michigan/AA in 1985.

[fmilhaupt]

No, that car you're showing is the "Emerald Vale", a former Pullman, ex-Wabash, used in MoW service by the Ann Arbor.

The business car that had been in Lansing was a wood-sided car with truss rods. The rotting wood siding beneath the plywood was painted yellow. When I saw it on the SMR in the early 1990s, it was at the south end of the line of equipment, just below Demlow Road. I was under the impression that it arrived when the South Shore cars did.

I've no idea who owned the car at that time, only that I saw it sitting there. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it has been hauled off and scrapped by now.

[Clay320]

No, that car you're showing is the "Emerald Vale", a former Pullman, ex-Wabash, used in MoW service by the Ann Arbor.

The business car that had been in Lansing was a wood-sided car with truss rods. The rotting wood siding beneath the plywood was painted yellow. When I saw it on the SMR in the early 1990s, it was at the south end of the line of equipment, just below Demlow Road. I was under the impression that it arrived when the South Shore cars did.

I've no idea who owned the car at that time, only that I saw it sitting there. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it has been hauled off and scrapped by now.

Ok, this one then. From what I know about it, it was privately owned and ended up being scraped on site several years back. I got involved with the SMRS after that happened so I've only known the "Ann Arbor Car" as being the Emerald Vale. My bad, FNG syndrome.

[CAT345C]

That thing supposedly got chained to the farmers tractor and dragged into his field and set ablaze, at least thats the story I was told.

[MichRails]

Back in the 80's I visited The Lansing-North Lansing Electric Railroad Museum and aquired a copy of the Sesquicentennial Guide Book Of Lansing & Ingham County From 1862 to 1987 by one of the cofounders of the museum, Henry A. Reniger Jr. Pretty neat little book with track plans, timetables, maps and pictures. I don't know if it can be found anymore but would be great for anyone interested in Lansing area railroading.
Neal

[Robert MacDowell]

Interesting. Well the South Shore cars couldn't have gone to the Michigan Transit Museum at Selfridge, unless they immediately resold them to somewhere else. Their one South Shore car came from the East Troy Electric Railroad in Wisconsin, and in fact, was the LAST railroad car ever to cross Lake Michigan on a carferry.

It's a real, real shame about the wooden Ann Arbor coach. Real shame.

[justalurker66]

There are three CSS&SB cars in Michigan - The Southern Michigan Railroad in has retired cars 1 and 36 and the Michigan Transit Museum owns retired car 11 (formerly owned by East Troy).

24 cars have been scrapped ... 34 are in museums (some operable, a pair in Iowa being used as salvage). 8 cars are in private ownership. Many of the "museum" cars are not preserved - they are parked - and could use major work.

Thanks to the move of some stored cars last September the largest concentration of old CSS&SB cars are in East Troy (the 6 cars they had plus 5 more moved from storage in East Chicago). The Illinois Railway Museum has 6 cars and the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad in Iowa has five (with two being used as salvage).

[CERY]

That thing supposedly got chained to the farmers tractor and dragged into his field and set ablaze, at least thats the story I was told.

Sounds like a good time, too bad I missed it. I know a couple of cabooses that could use the same treatment.

The SMRS South Shore cars are the ones from Lansing and I have been told that by several people from the area.

[Clay320]

That thing supposedly got chained to the farmers tractor and dragged into his field and set ablaze, at least thats the story I was told.

Sounds like a good time, too bad I missed it. I know a couple of cabooses that could use the same treatment.

The SMRS South Shore cars are the ones from Lansing and I have been told that by several people from the area.

We bought them from the national park service, don't know where the NPS got them from, so maybe.

[Robert MacDowell]

The SMRS South Shore cars are the ones from Lansing and I have been told that by several people from the area.

SMRS's cars definitely did not come via Lansing. The Park Service dealt with SMRS directly. SMRS was invited to come to the Park Service storage site in Gary Indiana to examine and pick out its cars. They sent me. We had particular requirements, we needed open-window coaches, and we wanted ones which had not been stretched to 78 feet, we picked #1 and #36 and that's what we got.

So the Lansing cars were definitely other cars, and their fate has always been a mystery to me. I don't suppose they went to Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson IN? #4 and #31? http://www.flickr.com/photos/k9mq/29171 ... otostream/
That doesn't seem right, I thought Lansing got stretch cars.

[justalurker66]

We bought them from the national park service, don't know where the NPS got them from.

The NPS got them from the railroad ... they were the first owners beyond CSS&SB for most of the cars, and still own quite a few of the ones in museums.

[DTIDave]

The 2 South Shore cars were stored indoors at what is now the Quality Dairy place on S Washington and went to the group at Selfridge.

Tim, the MTM has only had a single South Shore interurban car in all of it's existence. Like Robert McDowell says in his post, it came from the East Troy Electric. For a little more detail (and pictures of the move), go to http://www.michigantransitmuseum.org and click on "South Shore #11 in the list on the left. The website is in the process of being updated (to THIS century) and hopefully will be in service soon. Until then, the old one will have to suffice.

A good resource for searching the history of old electric cars is: http://www.bera.org/pnaerc.html, and you can search a number of ways. I don't have time to do it right now or else I'd help look to see if there is anything on there about this Lansing thing. You might have to look up each car's history separately.

Best of luck to you,
DTIDave

[Tim]

Dave,
Thanks for the tip however the North Lansing Group wasn't listed anywhere as intern owners. I think I have a slide around here somewhere of their being pulled from storage that might show the numbers but it has remained elusive.

[Dan Cluley]

The cars were #13 & 21. Conrail delivered them to Lansing, and on Nov 13 1988 they were moved from Saginaw Yard to the Quality Dairy warehouse at Mt Hope & Washington.






The next time I saw them, was Sept 1997 when they were sitting at the Conrail yard in Jackson. The website for the East Troy Electric Railroad says that they received them in 1998. http://easttroyrr.org/roster.html