Station: Perry, MI

Above, the Grand Trunk Western depot at Perry, Michigan on the GTW's Port Huron to Chicago main line between Durand and Lansing. [Charlie Whipp] Below, another view of the depot with a crowd assembled. This station had a short-lived train control box, which sticks out from the depot near the train order signal. This box, which was back-lighted and had room for 8 digits, was used by the operator to indicate the time of the previous departed train. It was meant for train crews, not waiting passengers. Boxes like this were used on a number of Michigan roads for a short period. [Mark Worrall Collection]

Grand Trunk Western 5903 passes the Perry depot in the 1970's. [Doug Leffler]

Charlie Whipp comments: It is odd that Perry had a brick depot when many of the smaller towns on the Grand Trunk Western had wooden buildings. The GTW never had the money to construct stone or brick depots like the Vanderbilt roads did. Many of these small town depots didn't have foundations. They were built on wooden ties and tended not to be as long lived as some of the other road structures.