Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad Closing

Discuss park gauge trains and large scale miniature railways having track gauges from 8" to 24" gauge and designed at scales of 2" to the foot or greater - whether modeled for personal use, or purpose built for amusement park operation or private railroading.

Moderators: Glenn Brooks, Harold_V

Forum rules
Topics may include: antique park gauge train restoration, preservation, and history; building new grand scale equipment from scratch; large scale miniature railway construction, maintenance, and safe operation; fallen flags; track, gauge, and equipment standards; grand scale vendor offerings; and, compiling an on-line motive power roster.
Post Reply
Marty_Knox
Posts: 1723
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 6:50 pm
Location: Michigan, USA

Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad Closing

Post by Marty_Knox »

Howard and Joanne Schrader's Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad has been one of the premier Grand Scale Railroads for the last 20 years. The Schraders have decided to retire, so next weekend, October 14 and 15, will be their last operating weekend. The RR is in Fairview, Michigan, about 3 hours + north of Detroit.
Attachments
IMG_8500.JPG
IMG_8502.JPG
dash9
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2017 9:02 pm
Location: Barnesville , PA
Contact:

Re: Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad Closing

Post by dash9 »

It's been for sale for a while, no takers. If I had a 1,000,000.00 maybe... Hate to pay the property tax on it..
Glenn Brooks
Posts: 2929
Joined: Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:39 pm
Location: Woodinville, Washington

Re: Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad Closing

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Pretty amazing locomotives and their route through a national forest sounds very interesting. To bad we don't have something like this on the west coast.

Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
mikell
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2003 2:27 pm
Location: South West Michigan

Re: Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad Closing

Post by mikell »

That place is a few miles from my cabin and my plan was to retire and railroad there. plans change and it's sad. Michigan is losing too many railroads right now.
This one
Junction Valley closed after the summer
Version in Grand Rapids is for sale and closed
And rumors of another for sale
And that's just Grand scale that I know of.

Now we're building and have about 600' on the ground and another couple thousand to go. Couple of more years.

mikell
mikell
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2003 2:27 pm
Location: South West Michigan

Re: Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad Closing

Post by mikell »

The taxes should be rather low it's about 10 miles past the middle of nowhere. My cabin is less than $200 and worth probably aa tenth of the railroad.
dash9
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2017 9:02 pm
Location: Barnesville , PA
Contact:

Re: Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad Closing

Post by dash9 »

Just as soon as I find a winning ticket on the ground from the lottery for a 100 million i will buy it.
jamesjgould
Posts: 40
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 9:43 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI & Zephyrhills, FL
Contact:

Re: Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad Closing

Post by jamesjgould »

I heard from Jim O'Conner that Howard sold it to a new operator.
0-4-0
4-6-0
4-4-2
4-4-0
2-6-0(2)
5 batt elec
44 cars rolling stock
2400' 7 1/2" track
Marty_Knox
Posts: 1723
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 6:50 pm
Location: Michigan, USA

Re: Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad Closing

Post by Marty_Knox »

It re-opened Memorial Day weekend for the 2018 season.
Post Reply