RRHX

Growing Up at "Town Line"

Michigan's Internet Railroad History Museum

Chapter 1

Why Town Line

Existed

Town Line was a railroad junction at the west end of the Michigan Central Railroad Detroit yard limits. The "tower" (actually best described as a 1-story shanty) was staffed by an operator, 24 hours per day, 7 days a week until the 1980's. It was probably built between 1910 and 1915, when the north portion of the DD&D branch was abandoned in favor of the new Junction Yard branch, which ran along the west side of the Ford Rouge complex.

The reasons why Town Line existed were to:

Act as a "go-between" between the Detroit yard operations and the Michigan Division, based in Jackson.
Act as the initial train order facility for westbound trains leaving Detroit
Facilitate Advanced Departure yard movements which occasionally needed to use the main tracks west of Town Line, and between Town Line and Livernois Avenue.
Facilitate movements on the Old and New wyes between the MCRR main line and the Junction Yard branch to YD and Toledo.

The Detroit yard operation is best described as informal. Train orders were not used in Detroit yard operations and verbal permissions were provided to use main tracks as well as yard tracks. But when you got out to Town Line, formality kicked in as you were leaving yard limits and venturing out into a much more formal environment of from a train control standpoint.

As an example, if a yard job at Miller Road (near Junction Yard - see map above) needed time on the east bound main to switch a drag of cars against the current of traffic, the yardmaster at Junction Yard called the Detroit Yard Dispatcher. The Yard Dispatcher notified the operator at Town Line to put a "S.D." (or "Stop Displayed") on the eastbound main. Once this was confirmed, the yard master gave verbal permission for the yard job to enter the main line and they did.

The operator kept the Jackson dispatcher updated about the progress of trains in the Detroit yard which would need to be run between scheduled passenger trains. Likewise, the operator kept the Detroit Yard Dispatcher (who was located in the Michigan Central depot) and Junction Yard Yardmaster about inbound freight trains which would need their attention.

Trains leaving Detroit for the west would often require "train orders", written instructions about how to proceed. Most often, these were to identify slow orders, or spots in the rail where the train needed to be restricted in speed due to degradation of the rail or roadbed. Sometimes, trains were routed against the current of traffic (as an example, westbound on the eastbound main track) and train orders were necessary to provide protection and authority for the train. The MCRR main line was double track, automatic block system only for the current of traffic on one track. Another words, westbound trains had signals only when on the westbound track, and eastbound trains had signals only when on the eastbound track. Any train switching to the other track (the "opposing" track) were running "dark", or without signals. Train orders were also accompanied by Clearance Form "A" forms. These forms documented the number of train orders being delivered to engineers and conductors.

The Advanced Departure Yard was a four track yard, extending from Junction Yard (at approximately Miller Road) to Town Line. In 1935, track #4 was designated as a westbound freight main, and track #6 was designated as an eastbound freight main. But by the 1960's, the entire yard was principally used as a receiving yard for east bound freights, or a temporary storage place for westbound freights that needed power, crews or air tests. Sometimes the yard was just used to store cars. Engines (such as Yard "goats" that needed to come out from one yard track and go back through another needed the permission of the operator at Town Line.

Finally, there were 6-8 trains a day that went between Toledo and Jackson, using the Junction Yard branch between Town Line and YD Tower (in River Rouge, also known as Pleasant Avenue). The operator at Town Line cleared all of these moves with the Detroit Yard Dispatcher and the leverman at Schaefer Tower. Often, a northbound train would be in the Old Wye, waiting for a southbound train to clear Town Line on the New Wye. Neither the Old or New Wye was controlled by signaling, though ABS (automatic block signals) were present on the double track Junction Yard branch. It was always an exciting time at Town Line when a derailment on the Toledo-Elkhart main line would cause the diversion of Water-Level route trains like the 20th Century Limited up through the Junction Yard branch and then westbound on the Michigan Central main to Jackson and back down to Elkhart.

Continue on in our tour to see the outside layout of Town Line's interlocking plant.