All aboard

Fall train tours are
on the right track

By Maria Allard
C & G Staff Writer

Kick back, relax and enjoy the view.

As the leaves start to change color from green to yellow, orange and red, it’s the perfect time to take a scenic fall color tour by train. 

And Allen Brown, president of Train Travel Inc. in Walled Lake, looks forward to welcoming you. The company will offer a number of fall color tours this season, including a two-hour family dinner train ride every Sunday in October from 1:30-3:30 p.m.

“It’s a way to see the Oakland County countryside. It’s just spectacular,” Brown said. “A lot of people haven’t been on a train before. This is their first time on a train.”

Train Travel Inc. has a number of trains from which to travel, including the Star Clipper Dinner Train, the Walled Lake Scenic Railway, the Pullman Palace Bed & Breakfast and the Steel Wheels Entertainment Train. Among the journeys offered is the White Flag Extra, a special railroad day lunch car onboard a vintage 1920s train to Woodpecker Lake in West Bloomfield.

All offer different aspects of railroad travel, and all trains depart from the Michigan Star Clipper’s 1887 train station, located at 840 N. Pontiac Trail in Walled Lake.

“It’s a secluded lake, and we pass over several patterns of water,” Brown said. “This time of year there will be wildflowers growing.”

On a recent commute, the train came to an unexpected halt when it temporarily had to share the track. 

“There were about 24 geese that didn’t want to get off the track,” Brown laughed.

And if you like your tricks with treats, Train Travel Inc. has something spooky for you. This season, the company will offer its Hobo Halloween Express Trains. All train rides begin with a trip through the spooky haunted baggage car with friendly ghosts on the Hobo Halloween Express Trains for younger children and scary creatures on the Moonlight Ghost Trains for older kids and adults. Everyone is encouraged to come in costume.

Depending on the trip, food will be available in the Dead Man’s Diner, with Frankenstein franks, deadly doughnuts and spider cider on the menu. Visitors are invited to stick around after the train rides to see classic, short black-and-white Halloween movies. An additional charge of $3 per person applies.

While listening to the “choo-choo” sound is fun, it’s also a way to relive an era in which rail travel was the primary mode of transportation. A love for trains is what led Karl Joost to become a volunteer in 1985 for the Michigan Transit Museum while in his teens.

The Michigan Transit Museum is gearing up for its fall color tours. Rides on the Chicago South Shore Car are offered the last three weekends in October, including Oct. 13-14, 20-21 and 27-28. The rides depart from Joy Park, in downtown Mount Clemens, at noon, 1:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

With conductors at the helm, passengers can unwind to the clickety-clack of the wheels while traveling through Clinton Township and Harrison Township. The first three rides stop at the Selfridge Air Museum in Harrison Township, and commuters have the opportunity, for an additional cost, to tour the air museum. Passengers purchase their tickets from a 1900 Grand Trunk wooden caboose, and those aboard are treated to cider and doughnuts from Yates Cider Mill.

“The ride is about seven miles,” Joost said. “We pass through residential areas, under I-94, by older farm houses and a lot of trees. On a busy day, we’ll see planes taking off and coming in.”

The Chicago South Shore Car has also been known to pass by the occasional deer. Joost said the car was once used as a commuter car for people traveling from South Bend, Ind., to Chicago. At the time, the train traveled 70 to 80 miles per hour.

“We try to keep the inside as authentic as possible,” said Joost, now employed with Union Pacific Railroad in Chicago. 

It’s the dedication of several volunteers that keeps the Michigan Transit Museum wheels moving along the tracks. New volunteers are always needed.

And why are people so fascinated with trains?

“It’s a laid-back experience. You’re in comfortable seats and there’s a nice breeze blowing in the wind,” Joost said. “You don’t have to step on the gas or on the brakes, and there’s no steering. You’re just sitting in seats watching the world go by.”