Event: MTM Autumn Special When: October 24, 1999 Where: Michigan Transit Museum, Mt. Clemens, MI

     A ride with the Michigan Transit Museum begins with a visit to their ticket office, a former Grand Trunk Western caboose. This was a special treat on this cool fall afternoon. The volunteers had the caboose's old stove working, with cider and donuts available for snacking. Without the heat of the old wood-fired stove the caboose would have been quite chilled. Oddly though, that little stove in the caboose ends up producing more smoke than the old Alco S1.

     The weather really could not have been better and people were taking advantage of it. The crowd of people was better than I expected. The volunteer crew assisted their passengers in boarding the train and making the final preparations for departure. Both the "EL" and "North Shore" cars were near capacity. By the scheduled 2:30pm departure the train and crew was ready.

     Today's trip would travel the entire length of the Michigan Transit Museum's track. To move the train past the part where people boarded the crew would have to couple with the caboose, and push it for the first portion of the trip. When the train passed the park again, they would drop off the caboose. The crew invited e to join them for this trip in the cab of the Alco S1. This treat gave me an excellent view of the operation. The Alco switcher slowly eased up to the caboose as they gently latched up. After connecting the air hose the train was ready for the first party of its journey.

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