From Priscilla Geyer, Curator of the museum for the Crawford County Historical Society:  I did some research and I also spoke at length with a man who is in his eighties named Irv McIsaac.  He was a brakeman for Michigan Central and slept upstairs in the depot between 1950 and 1952. He not only told me how the depot was run in his day but also how it was run in 1900 and earlier.  He came to the depot (he lives in Grayling) and showed me exactly what each part of the depot was used for and where everyone sat. Irv's father was a trainmaster at the Grayling Depot between 1928 and 1930.

 

In 1872, the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw Railroad Company made a grade and laid track in Grayling. The company also built a freight house. At that time, the railroad companies named the areas and they named this area Crawford Station.  However, in 1874 Rube Babbitt Sr. had the grayling fish identified as such and the townspeople changed the name to Grayling.

 

In 1882, the JL&S leased the track and property to Michigan Central Railroad.  That same year, Michigan Central built the depot that now stands and they also built a new freight house. A roundhouse was also built. There were 8 tracks between the depot and the roundhouse. In its heyday, the depot was truly a terminal. There were 7 northbound passenger trains and 5 southbound trains as well as freight trains, all of which went through Grayling daily.

 

There never was a dispatcher in the Grayling Depot.  Irv explained that the dispatcher was always in Bay City.  The telegrapher/operator sat at the desk by the large bay window on the track side of the depot.  He received the different train orders from the dispatcher in Bay City.   He then typed the order and gave it to the engineer and conductor.  The telegrapher/operator also gave the crewmen their orders, letting them know which train they were to ride. In addition, he operated the train order lever, allowing only those trains to pass which had their order.

 

The upstairs of the Depot consisted of 2 kitchens, a bathroom and sleeping quarters.  The crewmen slept in the rooms on the left side of the long hallway and the engineers and firemen slept in the rooms on the right side.  The agent had his desk in the large area which is to the right of the telegrapher's area on the main floor. The agent was the one who assigned the crewmen their room and bed number upstairs; he wrote their names on the boards that were upstairs so that he could easily find them to get them on the train the next morning.  The agent also sold tickets at the ticket window to passengers. His main function was to prepare the billing for the train cars and freight. Irv explained to me that the billing had nothing to do with money but, just as an order was prepared for a whole train to know where the train was going, a billing was prepared for a car.  There has been some confusion between the agent and the dispatcher. The dispatcher has been credited with assigning the room and bed numbers for the crew and also with sitting at the telegrapher's desk.  However, Irv made it clear that there never was a dispatcher at the Depot and was very firm that the man who performed the above mentioned duties was called an agent.

 

Unfortunately, the roundhouse burned to the ground in July, 1939 at a loss of $150,000 and was never rebuilt. The cause of the fire was not clear. The roundhouse was made of pine and the fire started in the south end which had not been used for several years. There were two engines in the roundhouse at the time of the fire.

 

Crawford County Historical Society:  Web page.