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Clare Union Railroad Depot

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Clare Union Railroad Depot

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Clare Union Railroad Depot, Tourist Information Center, 201 W. 4th Street, Clare, MI.
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The depot, which was built by the Ann Arbor and Pere Marquette railroad companies in 1898, is in the historical Queen Anne style unit that includes a rare "witches hat."

12/12/2024

FEELING FESTIVE AND THANKFUL AT THE CLARE DEPOT

As she has done the past several holiday seasons, BETTY LEWIS has generously donated two gorgeous wreaths for our two cabooses. Betty’s late husband Larry was one of the prime reasons the Clare Depot was rescued and restored, and we will always appreciate this holiday gesture in his honor to share with Clare.

Thanks to Elm Creek Nursery in Farwell for designing, constructing, and delivering the wreaths to us, and thanks to the crew from the city Department of Public Works for the installation.

12/11/2024

WARRICK WEDNESDAY LOOKS BACK UPON THE FATE OF TWO ICONIC LOCOMOTIVES
Photo and article by Robert I. Warrick

There is a lot of history is found in this photograph from Spring 1986. The scene took place outside the west end of the Owosso shops in this photographer’s idea of a perfect sunlit situation.

To the right of the photo sits Tuscola & Saginaw Bay Railway (TSBY) ALCO RS-2, the very first RS-2 ever manufactured. Over 40 years old in this picture, the ALCO was built for the Detroit & Mackinac Railway in October 1945 and wore the number 466. The engine came to TSBY in 1984 and received the distinguished Burlington Northern inspired paint scheme that May. I am proud to say that my first ever photo chosen for “Trains Magazine” was of the TSBY 466 for their July 1984 issue.

At the left is TSBY 385 which we examined last week.

385 lives on today as Great Lakes Central Locomotive No.385 and the 466 went to work for the Michigan Southern Railroad in the early 1990s. Sadly, in 2011, the historic locomotive was scrapped at White Pigeon, Michigan, in its 67th year.

12/10/2024

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS SHOUTOUT FROM THE CLARE DEPOT TO ALL OUR DOWNTOWN NEIGHBORS!

With just over 2 weeks to go until Christmas, we took time last night to appreciate the lights and sounds of a walk through downtown. As pretty as all the window displays are in the daytime, one must see all the decorations at night to truly appreciate the “city sidewalks, (not so) busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style”. With carols being played over the speaker system, one can also enjoy the architecture of the century old buildings, and the Art Council sculptures take on a totally different look as well.

Step out of your car, put on the mittens, and enjoy the sights of Clare tonight.

12/09/2024

ON MARCH 24, 1903, THE GRAND RAPIDS ELECTRIC RAILWAY COMPANY WAS INCORPORATED and had some grandiose plans to change the landscape of Clare County.

In February 1910, the company filed paperwork with the Clare County Register of Deeds office laying out the planned route of an electric railway line from the City of Clare to the City of Gladwin. This was part of a proposed route from Grand Haven to Gladwin, and eventually to Alpena, crossing through 20 some counties. On this leg of the journey, the line would have had to cross over a dozen rivers and streams.

A number of articles in the local Clare papers dating as far back as 1903 laid out the hopes and ambitious plans for the line, but no further mentions appear after 1910, the date of the map shown. According to Grayson Meints book “Michigan Railroads & Railroad Companies” it seems that the Railway never actually operated any trains, and its charter lapsed. Assets and right of ways were acquired by other lines, and Clare citizens never got the opportunity to ride directly to Gladwin, Grand Haven, or Grand Rapids.

The map is an incredible 16 inches wide and 105 inches long. I’ve highlighted the planned routes through the centers of Clare and Gladwin. It is currently on loan to the Clare Union Depot courtesy of the Clare County Clerk’s office.

12/08/2024

HAPPY SUNDAY FROM THE CLARE UNION DEPOT

With the crowds of visitors we had yesterday during the Christmas in Clare Celebration, we are overjoyed to announce that for the first time in the six years we have been open to the public, our humble Clare Union Depot has welcomed over 2000 visitors in one calendar year.

There’s still three weeks left in 2024 to come and see our numerous holiday displays, to pick up a unique gift from the Art Council Gift Shop and Gallery, or to submit an order form for the purchase of just another brick in the walk in front of the Depot.

(Photo of the Pere Marquette 1223 from the current owners, the City of Grand Haven, Michigan, where it currently sits on display)

12/06/2024

Along with all:the other activities happening in and around the Clare Union Depot (see the Clare Chamber page for details) tomorrow Saturday l December 7, the Clare Depot is happy to announce that we’ll be hosting some things for kids of all ages to do while warming up inside. We have pages to color, wooden trains and cars to play with, displays to enjoy, with make and take projects downstairs thanks to the Clare County Arts Council and doughnut holes and cocoa courtesy of Cops and Doughnuts. The gift shop will also be in operation. We plan to open around 9:30 and stick around til after 2.

We’ll also be open after the tree lighting ceremony Friday evening for a bit.

12/04/2024

ANN ARBOR RAILROAD COMPANY UNVEILS ITS NEW GP-35 SIXTY PLUS YEARS AGO IN OWOSSO

Photograph by Jim Hediger (1942-2024), article by Robert I. Warrick

Here she sits in all her newly built glory: Ann Arbor Railroad’s Electro-Motive Corporation of General Motors 2,500 H.P. GP-35 Number 385. Produced at the class locomotive of ten sister locomotives acquired by the Railroad in 1964, she rests on a sunny day in May at the Owosso Shops, along with two other brand-new GP-35s from new AA owner Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad.
Being the class locomotive did not make it the first AA GP-35 to arrive on the Ann Arbor via Diann, however. No. 386 and 387 preceded the 385 by a couple days.

The ten new locomotives were ordered to replace fourteen worn out American Locomotive Company 1600 H. P. FA-2 engines owned by the company. The new 2500 HP locomotives operated in pairs and quickly gained a reputation of running away from dispatchers as the combined 5000 HP of the tandems could (and did) run freight trains much faster up and down the railroad.

Train traffic was quite heavy in the early 1960s. FT-2 and FT-4 ran daily the length of the railroad…as did TF-3 and TF-5. Local freight ran from Toledo to Dundee and beyond most days, as did a local from Owosso to Mt. Pleasant or Clare. Yet another covered the railroad from Boat Landing to Cadillac several days a week.

All this brings me back to May 1964, when I was a mere 7 years old at my grandparents’ home in Clare near the Clare Union Depot. An unusual train horn grabbed my attention. It was different than anything I had ever heard before, and I was quickly out the door to witness what was coming. The sound seemed to be coming from the south, but what exactly was it? Then I saw two sparkling new orange locomotives with Ann Arbor black lettering slowing appearing from behind the city maintenance garage sounding the horn that caught my curiosity just moments before.

Knowing what I know now, it was TF-3 running west towards Boat Landing, and it was slowing down to pick up train orders from Roy Harter, Station Agent and Operator for the Ann Arbor Railroad at the Clare Union Depot.

Today, six of the ten original AA GP-35s live on in their 61st year. All have worn various paint schemes of a succession of owners yet still operate on the same tracks they were built for. As one can imagine, all have seen millions of miles of use as they have seen extensive shop work many times over to keep them running efficiently

385 was no different and has been rebuilt to GP 35-3 specifications and features state-of-the-art electronics which replaced miles of dated wiring.

Hopefully, it should be around for many more years to come. Wearing Great Lakes Central colors, it makes frequent appearances on the same rails near the Clare Depot where I first heard that distinctive horn years ago.

12/03/2024

Just a cold winter uncredited memory taken sometime between 2014 and 2017…

12/01/2024

FOR SIXTY-FIVE YEARS “THE WORLD’S GREATEST TRAIN” OFFFERED PASSENGERS A LUXURIOUS RIDE BETWEEN NEW YORK AND CHICAGO. For a while, the Twentieth Century Limited actually ran the route in less time than today’s AMTRAK trains take to make the same 790 mile route.

In this painting by the great Howard Fogg of the eastbound train at New Hamburg, New York, one can witness the tender taking on water from the track pans (which were situated with frequency along the route) at speeds of over 80mph. The train with an all Pullman passenger car consist made no scheduled stops between the two metropolises. As the construction of lighter cars and more powerful streamlined engines were introduced, it could make the trip in about 15.5 hours, 5 hours less than the same journey by rail would take today.

The New York Central ceased operations of the Century in 1967. The last ride featured carnations for the men passengers and a bottle of perfume for the ladies…a tradition going back decades.

Information and picture from Lucius Beebe’s 1962 book, “20th Century: The Greatest Train in the World”. Available to read at the Clare Union Depot by request.

11/30/2024

Sad news from our friends at the Steam Railroading Institute.

11/28/2024

A MOST HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM US TO YOU

May this holiday find you and yours in the best of health and spirits. Image thanks to “Vikidigitartkids”

11/27/2024

WARRICK WEDNESDAY FOOTBALL SPECIAL THROWBACK

With the coming of the University of Michigan Wolverines football game this Saturday against The Ohio State Buckeyes, I thought it would be fun to join Sherman (who later attended MSU due to his interest in both history and agriculture) and step into Mr. Peabody’s WABAC Machine to attend yet another rivalry game from October 14, 1961, when the Wolverines hosted the Michigan State Spartans. One could say that the Ann Arbor Railroad was part of the game.

The Ann Arbor Railroad’s ferry yard was situated next to the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. This close location lent itself to one of the more unique passenger operations on the AARR…the annual fall Football Passenger Specials to the University’s home football games.

The very first of these specials ran from Owosso to Ann Arbor on Thanksgiving Day, 1902, for a game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Michigan won 23-6. The AA passenger department promoted it as just another successful special excursion. Nearly 50 years later, football fans were increasingly turning to their own automobiles and even buses to get to the stadium in Ann Arbor. However, Football Specials using the most up to date equipment still ran, and they always provided fast, convenient first-class operations with all the amenities a fan could ask for. And they ran on time.

In fact, in 1961, for the Wolverines/Buckeyes matchup in November, no less than five Football Specials brought fans to Ann Arbor, including a Grand Trunk Western that came down from Durand powered by one of GTW’s massive Northern locomotives.

In this photo by J. David Ingles, we see a Chesapeake & Ohio train in Ferry Yard on October 14, 1961, that had just arrived from being turned and ready to depart for East Lansing. It is powered by a pair of Chesapeake & Ohio 2000 Horsepower E-7A locomotives with nearly 20 passenger cars in tow.

For sports purists, you may know the results, but for rest of us the Spartans trounced the Wolverines 28-0 in front of over 103,000 fans.

11/26/2024

The Clare Union Depot plans on being open the Friday after Thanksgiving. The holiday display will be in full swing, as over 150 locomotives are ready for your visit. The Art Council Gift Shop and Gallery feature one of a kind new items at great prices just in time for Christmas shopping. We’re just a block off Main Street and should be open starting at 10AM.

11/21/2024

HAPPY THURSDAY…
107 Locomotive Ornaments ready to be hung on our tree

11/20/2024

VISTA ON A COLD AND CLEAR FALL AFTERNOON, 1978
Warrick Wednesday Words and Photo by Robert Warrick

While scouting out locations to shoot photos for the Cadillac Limited Run of the Pere Marquette 1225 last month, I came across this photograph taken at one of my all-time favorite photo sites.

Former Ann Arbor Railroad GP-35 No. 389 roars up the grade at milepost 181.8, just east of Harrison Avenue alongside the road between Clare and Farwell. All ten of the GP-35’s and the five ALCO’s rostered by the Ann Arbor Railroad had been sold three years earlier to the State of Michigan by the trustee of the Ann Arbor, John M Chase Jr.

On October 1, 1977, the year before this photo was taken, Michigan Interstate Railway Company was named the “Operator” of the Ann Arbor Railroad System, after a disastrous 18-month tenure under the government’s CONRAIL system.

One of the most important contract stipulations made between the State of Michigan and new operators Michigan Interstate was the complete rehabilitation of the locomotive fleet. Being only nine years old at the time of the Ann Arbor Railroad bankruptcy in 1973, the ten GP-35s were made a priority to get through the Owosso shops.

Following the necessary shop work, each of the locomotives received an (Allis-Chambers) Orange paint scheme featuring the “Ferry in the Fog” logo. Over the ensuing years, the GP-35s have changed owners as well as paint jobs.

The State of Michigan transferred the entire fleet to the Tuscola & Saginaw Bay Railway in the early 1990’s and the 389 received a stunning yellow and black motif. Later it was redone in the (Author's opinion tacky) blue, red and yellow paint and carried the name “City of Traverse City.”

In 2006, the Great Lakes Central Railway acquired the operation of the TSBY. The 389 then received a patch job featuring the GLC logo beneath the cab windows. The locomotive went down only to be parked in Owosso and then cannibalized by GLC for parts. It was inexplicably scrapped in April 2018.

For the record, 389 was built in May 1964 by the Electro-
Motive Division of General Motors. It rode on trade in ALCO trucks and carried a shorter fuel tank to accommodate these longer trucks. The frame number was 28995 and it weighed in at 257,500 pounds.

(Ed. Note: 46 years later, this section of track west of Clare is still in steady use by the Great Lakes Central)

11/19/2024

TREASURES OF THE CLARE UNION DEPOT: FINAL PART
The actual reason there IS a Clare Depot: THE PEOPLE

From the foresight of locals like Larry Lewis over twenty years ago who saw the dilapidated depot as more than an eyesore, to the continuing stream of over 9000 visitors from 47 states and 14 foreign countries (so far), people have made the Union Depot what it is today.

Thanks go out to our contributors, our caretakers, our donors, our volunteers, our brick purchasers, and so many others. Please stop in for a visit soon as we get ready for the holiday season!

11/16/2024

CLOSE UP OF THE 1873 MAP OF MICHIGAN
Subtitled: Showing the counties, townships, RAIL ROADS

Of particular note on this recent acquisition by the Depot are the inclusions and exclusions of some of the communities around Clare. Neither Harrison nor Mt. Pleasant (or any place else in Isabella County except Loomis) make a mark since they were lacking a railroad at this early date. Cadillac would be called “Clam Lake” for another 4 years after this map was published, and Grayling would still be known as “Crawford” for a while.

As for Clare County, the settlement known as Remick between Farwell and Lake was reported by the March 27 1873 Grand Traverse Herald to have shipped 7,300,000 feet of logs to Saginaw via the Pere Marquette Railroad thus far in 1873. On your next trip on the rail trail west, keep your eyes open between Bringold and Hemlock to see where Remick once stood.

11/14/2024

FROM THE AUGUST, 1912, PERE MARQUETTE MONTHLY MAGAZINE under the column callled “Points Along the Line”

Note the height of the boiler on the locomotive sitting to the left side of the photo.

Address

201 W. 4th Street
Clare, MI
48617

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 4pm
Tuesday	10am - 4pm
Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm

Telephone

+19894244074

Website

https://cityofclare.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Clare-Union-Railroad-Depot-Information.pdf

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