Railroad yards in Detroit?

**Searay215** · November-02-10, 05:20 PM

I need some help....where are some railorad yards in Detroit. I want to go and take photos of the tagging on the rail cars. I will then reduce the photo and transfer it to decal paper and put it on my Lionel rail cars to give them a more realistic look. I have seen some on ebay, but not the quality I think I can accomplish.
Thank you in advance for your help.....!!!!

**Pcm** · November-02-10, 05:34 PM

Careful, the city and rail cops get kinda cranky when they catch you on the property.

**wolverine** · November-02-10, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by Searay215

I need some help....where are some railorad yards in Detroit. I want to go and take photos of the tagging on the rail cars. I will then reduce the photo and transfer it to decal paper and put it on my Lionel rail cars to give them a more realistic look. I have seen some on ebay, but not the quality I think I can accomplish.
Thank you in advance for your help.....!!!!

There are some really good ones that are taken straight on, and can be viewed "large size" on flickr. I'd try there before venturing into a railyard where you could get in trouble. I like your idea for the trains though.

**Russix** · November-02-10, 06:41 PM

Along Industrial St. S of Dix will give you an unimpeded view of the south side of CSX's yard. It's posted, but no big fence/wall since your underneath their control tower. The neighborhood to the east is stable working class and not some post apocalypse wasteland typically seen adjacent the city's railways.

**GrandCircus289** · November-02-10, 07:31 PM

Livernois @ John Kronk St and at Mt. Elliott/Caniff

**douglasm** · November-02-10, 07:50 PM

Is Ferndale still an active GTW/CN yard?

**Magnatomicflux** · November-02-10, 08:02 PM

Any of you guys on Railroadfan.com?

**Searay215** · November-02-10, 08:29 PM

I would like to thank all of you for the advice, help and warnings.....2 of my hobbies are photogaphy and Lionel trains....so it is only natural that I combine both. I may try the Flicker thing first. The ones on Ebay suck...I bought some and they are not something I want on my trains. Would perfer local stuff....but hey as they say in the photograph world...No guts not Glory. Again thanks for the tips!!!

**canuck** · November-02-10, 08:50 PM

Be careful if you go inside the yards. It is usually pretty difficult to get inside actual yards for security reasons. You might as well shoot from the ide of tracks. Last sunday, five taggers in Montreal were preparing for a graffitti underneath a highway interchange and didnt hear an oncoming passenger train and three of them were hit and died. Another guy was hit earlier this year walking on tracks near the same place and got killed. Dont get too close to tracks!
My wife works as a passenger agent on Via trains and there are a lot of accidents. In fact the incoming train from Toronto was three hours late because of a suburban train fatality in Toronto delayed its departure.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/high+...500/story.html

http://www.montrealgazette.com/enter...461/story.html

**douglasm** · November-02-10, 08:52 PM

Ralroadfan.com? No, but thanks for the tip. Living in the Pacific NorthLeft, it's www.railroadforums.com or www.altamontpress.com 's fourm.

**canuck** · November-02-10, 08:57 PM

Check these out for reference; they have graffitti on rolling stock and cities all over the world.

http://www.puregraffiti.com/graffiti-gallery/detroit

**Rocko** · November-02-10, 09:11 PM

I'm on railroadfan....GP30M4216 is me!

I'd stay out of the yards if I were you. No reason to go in there and get yourself in any needless trouble when you can easily stay on a public street and get the same results. The "Homeland Security" threat is not always justified, but why deal with the hassle if you don't need to? Industrial Road in Dearborn and John Kronk west of Livernois are both great options. There's a SMART park and ride lot at the corner of Outer Drive and Allen Road in Allen Park that is right at the western throat of NS' Oakwood Yard where the trains are up close.....also kitty corner from there between the Allen underpass and the Thunderbowl is a nice parking lot right up against the tracks where I've never had a problem watching the trains switch and enter/exit the yard. They have their west end switcher[[s) come far west down the lead sometimes allowing for multiple photos as they often stop right in front of you.

Good luck and be safe out there.

**Magnatomicflux** · November-02-10, 09:36 PM

Rocko....meet ETR#101 ! you'll usually find me in the Michigan forum.

and you're welcome douglasm......I also know you from Internationalmetropolis.

**FlyingJ** · November-02-10, 09:36 PM

Given the risk, just buy the pre-tagged cars from '99 & leave it @ that;
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi...i-bay-76147352

**Searay215** · November-02-10, 09:45 PM

Originally Posted by Rocko

I'm on railroadfan....GP30M4216 is me!

I'd stay out of the yards if I were you. No reason to go in there and get yourself in any needless trouble when you can easily stay on a public street and get the same results. The "Homeland Security" threat is not always justified, but why deal with the hassle if you don't need to? Industrial Road in Dearborn and John Kronk west of Livernois are both great options. There's a SMART park and ride lot at the corner of Outer Drive and Allen Road in Allen Park that is right at the western throat of NS' Oakwood Yard where the trains are up close.....also kitty corner from there between the Allen underpass and the Thunderbowl is a nice parking lot right up against the tracks where I've never had a problem watching the trains switch and enter/exit the yard. They have their west end switcher[[s) come far west down the lead sometimes allowing for multiple photos as they often stop right in front of you.

Good luck and be safe out there.

Thanks....sounds like sound information. I guess I would prefer not to go into the yards themselves if I can get the shots I need.

**Searay215** · November-02-10, 09:48 PM

Originally Posted by FlyingJ

Given the risk, just buy the pre-tagged cars from '99 & leave it @ that;
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi...i-bay-76147352

Got all the ones Lionel has made....not much in the way of realism, even have some prototypes that I got from a person who worked at the Chesterfield office. I am a big time collector and seller of Lionel trains, so I know what is out there as far as Lionel goes. Not sure what MTH or Williams has though. I might want to look into that arena. Thanks anyway!!

**CLAUDE G** · November-02-10, 11:03 PM

Just drive over to the area of 6 Mile between Mound and Van Dyke, about 3-4pm in the afternoon and wait.

Chances are you will catch a few trains. That train down there pisses me off royally. It takes about 15 minutes for the train to pass. Its a slow moving train, and as soon as the last car is about the clear the intersection, the train stops and backs up.

The train moves slow enough and with the several stops it makes while its blocking traffic, im sure you will get the picture you need.

**detroitbob66** · November-03-10, 12:00 AM

How about those train cars ALL along Dequindre St. between Mack Ave and E. Forest along the Dequindre Railway. I see graffiti here all the time

**wolverine** · November-03-10, 12:33 AM

You might also want to consider photographing graffiti on solid walls. Actually...probably the best route since application on your model will look the best. Railcars, of course have an uneven surface. The shadows and edges will show up in places you don't want them to on your model.

If you like, I can walk around town tomorrow and photograph some graffiti and share the images

**Lombaowski** · November-03-10, 01:02 AM

At the Norfolk Southern Dix/Livernois yard, there was once a baseball stadium that was called Burns Park. Wolverines [[baseball) and Tigers played there on weekends back in the blue law days because it was just outside the city limits, and people could drink alcohol. It was apparently a pretty rowdy place.

Here is the link to the history: http://www.detroit1701.org/Burns%20Park.html

I went out there in 2008 but there are no markings or even a plaque which sucks. I had thought to contact the Tigers to see about getting something out there, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

**FlyingJ** · November-03-10, 01:22 AM

Prototypes-well, color me impressed. You seem like you're aware of K-Line's "Herbie" cars[[hard 2 read, of course)

http://cgi.ebay.com/M-K-T-BOX-CAR-/270657041340
http://cgi.ebay.com/K-LINE-TRAINS-6-...-/230541867562

**Zacha341** · November-03-10, 04:36 AM

Indeed train tracks are very, very dangerous. As a kid and younger teen my friends and I would sneak up onto the tracks by Warren and Lawton, Grandriver area, walk along on the tracks and hop on the slow moving ones and jump off in between the couplings. Nuts! Things look a lot different up there and the view was incredible.

And trains being very tall [[unlike cars) are moving faster than they appear! It's easy to get disoriented spatially... and not hear sounds or the fast moving Amtrak trains which where not running the main tracks back in the 70's as they are now. Amtrak's go very fast and can slip on you quickly up there as they would not be blowing their horns until too late to stop!

Flickr is a safer route! Thanks for the links.......

Originally Posted by canuck

Be careful if you go inside the yards. It is usually pretty difficult to get inside actual yards for security reasons. You might as well shoot from the ide of tracks. Last sunday, five taggers in Montreal were preparing for a graffitti underneath a highway interchange and didnt hear an oncoming passenger train and three of them were hit and died. Another guy was hit earlier this year walking on tracks near the same place and got killed. Dont get too close to tracks!
My wife works as a passenger agent on Via trains and there are a lot of accidents. In fact the incoming train from Toronto was three hours late because of a suburban train fatality in Toronto delayed its departure.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/high+...500/story.html

http://www.montrealgazette.com/enter...461/story.html

**Hermod** · November-03-10, 07:04 AM

If a you belong to a railroad's historical society [[and there are such for just about every railroad still in existence and most that are defunct), a lot of times the watchman will let you into the yard on a Saturday or Sunday if there is no active switching going on. CSX is pretty anal about it, but NS and CN are pretty good guys.

You could also go up to Pontiac where the yards are a little less active and the watchmen are more laid back. The "tunnel" yard in Port Huron on a Sunday might be a good bet.

Go to the Grand Trunk museum up in Durand. They will let you wander around a bit and there is a large yard just north of the junction.

**Searay215** · November-03-10, 07:18 AM

WOW...Never thought I would get the kind of response from all of you for this subject. I want to thank all of you for your ideas, concerns, warnings and information. I will be careful and use this information to not get into trouble or worse. Thanks again!!!!

**Detroitnerd** · November-03-10, 10:05 AM

What's that massive railroad yard you can see from Mount Elliott between Caniff and East Yemans, or from Brockton Street? It's just east of Hamtramck. I hear it all night long, but seldom drive over because it's so hard to get on Mount Elliot over there. Great noises at night. I don't know what that sound is -- either them starting up the hydraulic braking system or getting a train going -- but it sounds like God cracking his knuckles!