Congratulations to the Vicksburg Historical Society as their Vicksburg Union Depot was listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service earlier this month! The 1904-built high style depot stood at the diamond of the GR&I mainline north to Mackinaw City and the GTW Chicago-Port Huron-Canada mainline. Serving passengers until 1971, it was closed later in the 1970s and left vacant. It was later acquired by the Village of Vicksburg and the Vicksburg Historical Society where it has been restored as a railroad history museum and as the gateway to the adjacent historical village. The operator's bay at the corner retains many authentic artifacts, and the interlocking model board from the late 1920s.
Although the GR&I has been abandoned, a small segment of track beside the depot remains and is held down by a caboose, boxcar and tankcar, which are interpreted. The GTW mainline continues to serve CN as their international mainline today. Despite the abandonment of one line, the depot benefits from remaining at its original location illustrating the context of a small town Union Depot at a junction.
It’s worth a visit if you’re in the area. This article has some more information and history. Cheers!
They have done an excellent job of restoring and restoring the depot and related area. it's well worth a visit and you might see a CN train or two during your visit. The rails are double tracked between Schoolcraft and Battle Creek.
Congratulations to the Vicksburg Historical Society as their Vicksburg Union Depot was listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service earlier this month! The 1904-built high style depot stood at the diamond of the GR&I mainline north to Mackinaw City and the GTW Chicago-Port Huron-Canada mainline. Serving passengers until 1971, it was closed later in the 1970s and left vacant. It was later acquired by the Village of Vicksburg and the Vicksburg Historical Society where it has been restored as a railroad history museum and as the gateway to the adjacent historical village. The operator's bay at the corner retains many authentic artifacts, and the interlocking model board from the late 1920s.
Although the GR&I has been abandoned, a small segment of track beside the depot remains and is held down by a caboose, boxcar and tankcar, which are interpreted. The GTW mainline continues to serve CN as their international mainline today. Despite the abandonment of one line, the depot benefits from remaining at its original location illustrating the context of a small town Union Depot at a junction.
It’s worth a visit if you’re in the area. This article has some more information and history. Cheers!
I take it then levers were in the depot itself to line movements at one point?
1223 OUT! President and Founder of the Buck Creek Central, the Rolling River Route! (2012-2017) President and Founder of the Lamberton Valley Railroad, The Tin Plate Road! Proudly railfanning with Asperger's since 1996.
Yes, the operator in the depot controlled the diamond. But, it didn’t have a big interlocking machine as found at many junctions. A close look at the model board shows no switches or derails in the interlocking, only signals. I think it was a small desktop switch machine. Vicksburg was previously guarded by a smashboard setup. It was also a train order office.
The michiganrailroads.com link Standard Railfan included shows some interesting historical views. One of the reasons I took and included my photo of the model board in the initial post was to provide a more detailed look at it than that thumbnail view found in the link
An interesting note about signalling, the depot grounds contain what I believe is the last position light signal in Michigan (unless there is one in a private collection somewhere). The old southward home signal for the GR&I/PRR is just to the north of the depot beside the rolling stock.
