Railroad locomotives thundered through this countryside for more than 130 years. The Michigan Air Line Railway was completed in 1884, a branch of the historic Grand Trunk Railway that became a vital shipping network between manufacturing centers of the automotive industry in lower Michigan. As this railway was later abandoned, the rails were torn up and the quiet natural corridor preserved. The West Bloomfield Trail is a 6.83 mile-long portion of the old railway offering remarkable interaction with nature while it enriches the community.
Wayside Sign – West Bloomfield Trail: Exploring the Tale of the Rail
Object ID: 2013-070-011
Date: 2013
Collection: Transportation, West BloomfieldSubjects: Wayside Sign
Wayside Sign – Waiting Room and “The Wye” at the Michigan Military Academy
Object ID: 2013-070-008
Date: 2013
Collection: Michigan Military Academy, Orchard Lake, TransportationSubjects: MMA, Wayside Sign
To change directions, trolleys had to turn around. At this location, at the back of what had been the parade grounds of the Michigan Military Academy, the Detroit United Railway (DUR) built a “wye.” This Y-shaped track allowed trolley cars to turn to go in the opposite direction along the trolley track that paralleled the Grand Trunk Railroad track. Nestled in the undergrowth here, barely visible, is a trace of the “wye,” a concrete basin where maintenance workers climbed under the trolleys for inspections and repairs. Near the “wye” was a DUR waiting room to shelter patrons.
Wayside Sign – Lakes and Attractions at the Orchard Lake Trolley Stop
Object ID: 2013-070-007
Date: 2013
Collection: Hotels, Orchard Lake, TransportationSubjects: Hotel, Wayside Sign
The heart of the lake country was well-served by the trolleys in the early 1900s. No stop in the entire Detroit United Railway (DUR) trolley system was more popular than the Orchard Lake stop located here, where the parallel tracks of the Grand Trunk Railroad and the DUR trolleys crossed Seminary Road. Day-trippers from Detroit and elsewhere could walk to Orchard Lake for activities like swimming or fishing, or walk to Pine Lake to take a steam ferry to the Interlaken Hotel. The trolleys also brought cadets to the Michigan Military Academy for their classes and drills, until the academy closed in 1908.