Railroad: Greenfield Village Railroad

The Greenfield Village railroad is a standard gauge, 2.5 mile loop railroad which encircles the historic village at the Henry Ford. It was built in 1972.

The operation is primarily a tourist passenger railroad, but it does switch historic cars which are part of the collection at the village and the adjacent Henry Ford Museum. The road has a connection with the Amtrak (former MC) main line in Dearborn.

Notes

The railroad uses the following locomotives for passenger service:

• The "Edison", a 4-4-0 locomotive.
• The "Detroit & Lima Northern No. 7"
• The Hecla & Torch Lake No. 3 Mason Bogie style locomotive

This is not a common carrier railroad.

The connection with the Amtrak line (former Michigan Central) has existed since the 1930's when the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village were established by Henry Ford.

This railroad has several modern crossing protection systems at various street crossings. It also has an old "wig-wag" crossing warning device at the main park entrance.

The railroad has four stations (only three of which are regularly used for passenger trains).

Time Line

1997. A signal system is installed on the 2.5 mile loop railroad at Greenfield Village. It utilizes semaphore and searchlight signals and is part of an automatic block system. [MIS-2024-Q2]

2000. The former DT&M Marshall, MI roundhouse is reconstructed at Greenfield Village and is connected to this railroad. [MIS-2024-Q2]