How's the MCS restoration coming along?

[Detroitdave]

I have the PREFECT use for the MCS .
Make it into a 4 seasons hotel and put a Cheesecake factory and a House of Blues on the first floor !
I'm 100% sure it would be busy as hell !
The folks from the suburbs and everywhere would line up to come downtown !
It would be something you can't find anywhere else in the metro area .

[48091]

Happy New year : )

Happy New Year!

[p69rrh51]

On this date in 1988 the last passenger train left the station! Included is an image of the New York Central Mercury on its AM arrival in Detroit and a nice time table featuring the Mercury.

[cosine]

That is a great ad for the Mercury and a cool train. However, by 1988 I believe there were no more steam locomotives operating on a regular basis out of Detroit. Can you give us some information on the brochure and what date it might have been issued? For some more information on the Pacific-type locomotives that the NYC used, go to http://www.steamlocomotive.com/pacific/?page=nyc

Here's another link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Mercury

[p69rrh51]

That is a great ad for the Mercury and a cool train. However, by 1988 I believe there were no more steam locomotives operating on a regular basis out of Detroit. Can you give us some information on the brochure and what date it might have been issued? For some more information on the Pacific-type locomotives that the NYC used, go to http://www.steamlocomotive.com/pacific/?page=nyc

Here's another link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Mercury

Yes steam passenger service ended sometime in the 1950's I posted the image because its the only image I have from the platform at the MCS. As the link shows the first Mercury started in 1936. I do not have the exact date of the timetable. Most likely the timetable is from the mid to late 1930's. The enclosed image is the other side of the timetable.

[dtowncitylover]

This doesn't have anything to do with the renovation but I didn't want to start another MCS thread, does anyone know, at the height of the Station's usage, what routes one could take from MCS? It would be cool to see home old timetables from the 60s and before.

[Rocko]

On the NYC side, for sure the following routes:
Detroit-Cleveland
Detroit-Bay City-Mackinaw
Detroit-New York City (via the CASO and Buffalo)
Detroit-Chicago (with connections to GR and Lansing)

The Canadian Pacific and B&O also operated out of MCS for a while. I'm not sure of CP routes but my guess would be Detroit-Toronto. The B&O ran the Ambassador out of Detroit, which went to DC and Baltimore (via Pittsburgh). When the B&O moved this train from MCS and the NYC routing (as far as Toledo) to Fort Street Union Depot and a C&O routing in 1964, a lone B&O RDC car ran one round trip a week to Toledo and back.

In the Amtrak era, trains ran out of the depot at one time or another with the following end points: Chicago, Jackson, Toledo, New York City (via Canada and Buffalo).

I'm sure I can dig up some more train names if you're interested.

[goggomobil]

If our Montgomery Burns had restored the MCS years ago, I might not have worn out two pens and the Formica tabletop under my ballot ensuring a 'NO' vote to proposal 6.

[dtowncitylover]

On the NYC side, for sure the following routes:
Detroit-Cleveland
Detroit-Bay City-Mackinaw
Detroit-New York City (via the CASO and Buffalo)
Detroit-Chicago (with connections to GR and Lansing)

The Canadian Pacific and B&O also operated out of MCS for a while. I'm not sure of CP routes but my guess would be Detroit-Toronto. The B&O ran the Ambassador out of Detroit, which went to DC and Baltimore (via Pittsburgh). When the B&O moved this train from MCS and the NYC routing (as far as Toledo) to Fort Street Union Depot and a C&O routing in 1964, a lone B&O RDC car ran one round trip a week to Toledo and back.

In the Amtrak era, trains ran out of the depot at one time or another with the following end points: Chicago, Jackson, Toledo, New York City (via Canada and Buffalo).

I'm sure I can dig up some more train names if you're interested.

Thank you for the information! Another question about routes popped into my minds...where there any routes towards the south? Like towards Cincinnati, Louisville, or even Miami?

It would be cool to link Detroit to Miami via Cincinnati and Atlanta.

[ArmDetroit]

HistoricDetroit.org is reporting that the Morouns might be doing some window shopping. http://goo.gl/JpPgk

[bailey]

HistoricDetroit.org is reporting that the Morouns might be doing some window shopping. http://goo.gl/JpPgk

anyone want to wager the over/under on how long they last?

[southen]

if they are smart they will only bring them down so far where people can hit them with debris. anyone know how open the place still is? im out of the loop when it comes to that these days.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Per the link, TWO windows are in! Only a gazillion more to go.

I wonder how many apartments you could put in that place.

[gameguy56]

Per the link, TWO windows are in! Only a gazillion more to go.

I wonder how many apartments you could put in that place.

Great location for apartments in Corktown, too. Matty seems to hold the thing in a dilapidated state purely out of spite.

[48091]

Matty will never do anything with MCS.

[Honky Tonk]

Per the link, TWO windows are in! Only a gazillion more to go.

"A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step".

[southen]

Matty will never do anything with MCS.

the bridge vote is over and he is still spending money on the place. at least that is a step in the right direction.

[Rocko]

Thank you for the information! Another question about routes popped into my minds...where there any routes towards the south? Like towards Cincinnati, Louisville, or even Miami?

It would be cool to link Detroit to Miami via Cincinnati and Atlanta.

The C&O offered The Sportsman which ran from Detroit to Newport News, VA via Plymouth, Toledo, Columbus, and Ashland, KY before continuing east over the C&O mainline. Connections could be made at Ashland to Cincinnati, where one could connect with several roads going east, south and west.

The B&O offered the Ambassador from Detroit to Baltimore, but the farthest south that got was Fostoria, Ohio, before turning east. This train was combined with the Sportsman to Toledo for a time, and I think was discontinued in the mid 1960s.

The B&O also offered the Cincinnatian, from 1950-1971, which was a Detroit-Cincinnati train. As I said, Cincinnati was a great gateway to the south by rail. It's interesting that the B&O, which owned no track in Michigan, had two fairly prominent runs into the Detroit market. When combined with the C&O (they were affiliated formally beginning in the early 1960s), the C&O/B&O route coverage from Detroit rivaled the New York Central, though in different directions.

The PRR's service only got as far as Crestline Ohio before turning east to Philadelphia and Fort Wayne (as a Wabash train) before turning west to Chicago.

Like the C&O, the Wabash did offer service to farther destinations....in this case, one of the Wabash's most important mainlines ran a direct route from Detroit to St. Louis, and trains such as the song-worthy Wabash Cannonball ran that route. St. Louis was like a junior version of Chicago with many different roads from all directions meeting there.

I'm sure this is an imcomplete list, but it's a start. Service from Detroit south beyond northern Ohio was no road's strong point - we were much better suited for going east, north or west.

[Detroitman32]

It's happening!

[Király]

Are those really windows? Or are they plywood painted to look like windows?

[jtf1972]

I want to send a personal thank you to Matty Mouron.

Those two windows that he had installed at MCS a month ago today stand as two shining beacons to prove once and for all how much he truly cares about the hundreds of properties he owns in Detroit. Anybody with his resources could have left MCS to rot, but Matty Mouron stood tall and had two windows installed, bucking conventional authority.

Thank you, Mr. Mouron. Detroit sleeps easier knowing that a man like yourself cares enough to pour himself into a project such as this and give it all he has.

[401don]

I want to send a personal thank you to Matty Mouron.

Those two windows that he had installed at MCS a month ago today stand as two shining beacons to prove once and for all how much he truly cares about the hundreds of properties he owns in Detroit. Anybody with his resources could have left MCS to rot, but Matty Mouron stood tall and had two windows installed, bucking conventional authority.

Thank you, Mr. Mouron. Detroit sleeps easier knowing that a man like yourself cares enough to pour himself into a project such as this and give it all he has.

...and he got them 2-for-1 at Wallside! Maybe Matty should be EFM.

[jtf1972]

One day... Yes one day, Mr. Mouron may gather together all his resources and combine them with his desire to affect positiveity in this city, and add a third window to MCS.

One day...

[Honky Tonk]

One day... Yes one day, Mr. Mouron may gather together all his resources and combine them with his desire to affect positiveity in this city, and add a third window to MCS.

One day...

You gotta admit, it does look better with the 2 windows, though.

[Wesley Mouch]

...snip... Service from Detroit south beyond northern Ohio was no road's strong point - we were much better suited for going east, north or west.

It probably sounds unfair today, but you should consider that the south wasn't very important economically until recently. I personally know of one local business who saw growth in Atlanta in the 80s -- went down there -- and came back shortly after they realized that it was much, much, smaller than it seemed. Today of course we'd be so lucky to be as successful at Atlanta. The number of immigrants that are powering that economy is staggering.