Station: Durand, MI

Durand was settled about 1836 and originally called Vernon Center. The town was renamed Durand in 1876 and became a village in 1887 and a city in 1932. [MPN]

Durand is and was a major railroad town for the Grand Trunk Western. Their Detroit to South Haven line (former Detroit & Milwaukee railroad) crossed their Port Huron to Chicago main line here. They also had a branch go north from here to Saginaw and Bay City. The north-south Ann Arbor railroad also crossed all three GTW lines here near the depot. Both roads used the Union Station (see photo at left) which is one of the most photographed railroad stations in the history of railroading.

Image Info: Top, a view from a Sanborn insurance map in 1901, prior to the building of the new depot. At this time, the depot was northwest of the crossing between the  Detroit & Milwaukee and the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan railroads. 2nd, an early view of Durand Union Station with six trains at the crossing. 3rd image, two GTW passenger trains cross at Durand in 1955. Note the gated crossing. [Robert Warner collection]. 4th image, GTW 3750 at the Durand engine service facility in 1958. [Doug Leffler] 5th image, GTW 6405 at Durand in the last 1930's. [Charlie Whipp collection]. 6th image, GTW 5926 at Durand with a railroad fan trip. [Dennis Schmidt], 7th image, an Ann Arbor Railroad motor car passenger train stops at the depot. Note that the AA track is on the east side of the depot at this time. [AL]. 8th image, the Durand Depot with a passing CN freight train in 2002. [Charlie Whipp], 9th image GTW 5632 heads northbound on the Ann Arbor line at Durand in 1951. [Cecil Hommerding photo, Doug Leffler collection]

Notes

The GTW at Durand had a water tower. [GTWHS-Cal/89]

The Ann Arbor railroad used platforms on the east side of the station.

Coming in from the south, the AA tracks ran parallel to the GTW (former Detroit & Milwaukee) from Pittsburgh Road to a point just south of the depot and then crossed the GTW at a signaled crossing called “Emergency “ a few yards south of the depot. Today, the Great Lakes Central merges into the CN Holly Sub-Division tracks at Pitt (Pittsburg Road) and uses CN tracks north when crossing the east-west CN main line.

Time Line

1888. July. Work on the Toledo, Saginaw &I Mackinaw road (later the GT Bay City branch) is advancing finely and it is confidently expected the construction train will reach this southern terminus tomorrow evening. A fresh impetus is given to Durand in the way of business growth and in the month of June along, there has been started a lumber yard, brick yard, printing office, two brick stores and a new band. Plans for a good deal of building, both houses and stores, are being made and a first-class boom has set in. [SAG-1888-0713]

1889. February. P.C. Floeter & Co. the architects, are drawing plans for a new depot to be erected at Durand by the TS&M road. It will be 35x90 feet. It will be placed at the crossing of the C&GT, DGH&M and TS&M roads. It will have a slate roof and finished in native woods. [DFP-1889-0214]

1898. February 23. A GT switch engine with three coaches backed into a CS&M train at 10 o'clock today. One of the GT coaches struck a CS&M smoking car, staving a large hole in the side and frightening the occupants, but fortunately not injuring any one. [GRP-1898-0223]

1900. This is a telegraph station on the Ann Arbor railroad. [OG-1900]

1900. January. The four railroads operating through Durand will erect a union passenger and freight station house there this summer. It will be of the most modern type and will be begun as soon as the frost is out of the ground. The plans call for the expenditure of $50,000 for the main building alone. The roads which enter into the arrangement for building the new station house are the C&GT, the CS&M, the Ann Arbor, and the DGH&M. Three of these roads are GT roads. Durand is considered one of the most important GT stations in Michigan and is planned to make it even more of a center than it is now. General offices will be fitted in the station building for the division superintendent and the telegraph officials. Express offices will also be built adjoining the station house. [GRP-1900-0109]

1902. The GTW builds a new station here. [MCR-1902]

1903. August 7. A Wallace Brothers Circus train is rear-ended at Durand killing 26 and injuring 15. It is one of the worst rail accidents in Michigan.

1917. The AARR had a station operator here around the clock. [TRT]

1917. The GTW had a day and night chief dispatcher, four relay operators, and around-the-clock station operators-telegraphers. [TRT]

1923. July 5. A derailment of a GTW train here kills five people.

1931. The MPUC agrees to allow the GTW to replace an elevated watchman tower at Oak Street with a ground shanty. [MPUC-1931]

1974. January. The Durand diamond is now CTC controlled from Pontiac Yard. New equipment was into service at the end of January, thus ending the ancient manual gate/flagman system. By now, the gates and crossing shanty are gone. The Ann Arbor railroad is now using the GTW main tracks from Pittsburg Road to the new track north of Oak Street. [IT-1974-04]