Station: Brighton, MI (Livingston County)

Brighton was founded about 1832 as Ore Creek. It was renamed to Brighton in 1838. It became a village in Livingston County in 1867 and a city in 1928. [MPN]

Brighton was a station stop on the Pere Marquette railroad main line between Detroit and Lansing.

Photo Info: Top and 2nd photo, views of the PM depot in Brighton. [Alan Loftis collection]. 3rd photo, a large number of people great this passenger train at Brighton. It likely was some type of special occasion or an excursion train. [T.J. Gaffney collection]

The Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan railroad had a water tower at Brighton. [COHS]

Notes

The PM had a large water tower in Brighton, adjacent to the depot. [PHO]

Time Line

1880. The D&LN made improvements to its water tower here. [DL&N-1880]

1906. A new water station was erected by the Pere Marquette here. [PMAR-1906]

1945. East switch of the passing siding was handled by the depot operator. The west switch was a spring switch. [PM45]

1989. Equipment failure may have caused eight cars on a Soo Line train to jump the CSX tracks in downtown Brighton. The Montreal-bound train was carrying explosives and hazardous materials on four cars, but none of those derailed. The wreck damaged 500-600 feet of track and split the rails 2-3 times their normal width. A coupling on one of the cars broke just before it left the track. Crews from the Soo Line railroad worked throughout the night righting the upended cars and repairing the track. [LDP-1989-0315]