"Thumbing a Ride" on the Huron and Eastern

by Jeffrey Dobek

Michigan's Huron and Eastern Railway celebrated its third anniversary on Saturday, May 20, 1989. Several MCCA members participated by providing motor cars to display and give rides to the general public. The Huron and Eastern is a short line that was formed in 1986 to take over operation of the Chessie System's (now-CSX) former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and Pere Marquette Railway branch lines in Michigan's "Thumb." The railroad, based at the former-PM depot in Bad Axe, originally operated 83 miles of line. This total was increased to 141 miles earlier this year when the railroad acquired the CSX's line from Saginaw to Bad Axe.

The H&E management saw the railroad's third anniversary as an occasion to: 1) celebrate three years in business; 2) promote awareness of Operation Lifesaver, the national railroad effort to prevent grade crossing accidents; 3) celebrate National Transportation Week; and 4) promote shipper and community awareness of the H&E and its services. To this end, the H&E prepared an event-filled Saturday.

Bill Henning, an MCCA member and a member of the Mt. Clemens (MI)-based Michigan Transit Museum, was asked by the H&E about the possibility of bringing several motor cars to Bad Axe to give public rides. Henning contacted several other MCCA members, and four motor cars were en route to Bad Axe for the day's events. Despite a week of exceptionally sunny weather, clouds and rain moved into the Thumb on Friday morning. Three motor cars arrived on Friday: Bill Henning's T -287, a former-Grand Trunk Western 52; Craig Harris' "Buck's Bomb," former-Norfolk and Western M19; and Jeff Dobek's M-1824, a former-C&O M19. The cars were unloaded and stored on a track by the H&E's modern two-stall engine house. The remainder of the day was spent watching the H&E switching freight and preparation of the line's PM- inspired blue, yellow and white GP-9's for the next day. This included a fresh coat of blue paint on the underframes and trucks. A walk down to the foundation of the long-gone C&O enginehouse yielded the sight of a speeder that had been incinerated when the building burned 20 or so years ago. A little scouting and digging yielded a few salvageable motor car parts, including a headlight bracket, three coil boxes, and some brake rigging.

Saturday found more grey clouds and streaming rain. Following a 6:30 breakfast at the local supermarket (for less than $2!) with the railroad's crew, the motor car owners prepared their cars. As the cars were in good mechanical condition, this consisted mainly of a vain attempt to dry the cars off. By 9:00, the last car had arrived; Jim Lindholm and Rich Dunton pulled in with the West Michigan Railroad Historical Society's former-GTW M19.

  The motor cars used two tracks known as the "scale track" and the "Saginaw Main" to give rides. The total length of the ride was about 1/4 of a mile and included a curve and a hill. The four cars ran together, backing down the line and coming back at the same time. The rain occasionally stopped, and about 250 passengers were carried during the morning. The motor cars had to compete with the railroad's caboose trips being given on an adjacent track, but there was no shortage of passengers. The crowd thinned out after the departure of the railroad's shipper special at 1:00, and the motor car operators took the opportunity to get lunch at the local A&W drive-in. Excitement grew (it must have been the root beer) at the thought of an afternoon run down the line.

H&E General Manager John Emerick had given permission to make a run from Bad Axe to Kinde, a small farming town about ten miles due north. Unfortunately, a string of coveted hoppers was blocking the Kinde line just north of Bad Axe.  Motor car owners are a hardy lot, and those at Bad Axe didn't even hesitate to load their cars and drive them to the next grade crossing to the north. They were then able to head up the line to Kinde. All crossings were carefully flagged, keeping in mind the H&E's Operation Lifesaver message. The Kinde line is tangent for its entire length and passes through some of the flattest farmland that one could imagine in Michigan. The motor cars used a passing track to get around some hoppers that were sitting at the Kinde elevator and continued north of town about 3/4 of a mile. There, the track just ended. No bumper. The C&O line that once extended north to Port Austin is gone.

The group stopped for refreshments (non-alcoholic, remember- Rule G!) at Kinde before returning to Bad Axe under the cloudy, sometimes rainy skies. There, cars were loaded and the participants went their separate ways. The Huron and Eastern Railway has seen a three-fold increase in traffic from 1986 to 1988 and anticipates a 50 percent increase in carloadings this year with the addition of its Saginaw trackage. The MCCA participants in the anniversary celebration hope for continued success of this friendly and extremely classy short line railroad, as well as for a chance to ride the line again in the future.

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Last Edited 28 January, 2018