We’re looking at P42DC No. 34 as it sits in Jackson, Michigan, on June 12, 2003, and powering the eastbound Lake Cities to Detroit (Pontiac). On the other end of the train is a former Metroliner cab car. During this era Amtrak often used those in the Chicago-Detroit corridor. It also was before all trains on the route has been renamed Wolverine Service.
It is a pleasant June 28, 1997, summer morning in Jackson, Michigan. I’ve drive here to spend a day catching Amtrak trains. From here I would drive to Battle Creek to catch the International in both directions on its Chicago-Toronto trek and end the day getting trains in Ann Arbor.
At the time, trains in the Chicago-Detroit (Pontiac) corridor were powered by P32-8 locomotives built by General Electric. The units were pointed east, which meant they pulled eastbounds and pushed westbounds.
Facing west was a cab car, either a former F40PH that had been rebuilt into a non-powered control unit, or a former Metroliner car serving as a cab car.
Amtrak owned 20 P32-8 units that it received in December 1991. They wore a stylized Phase III livery that was unique to these locomotives. It wasn’t long before railfans began calling them “Pepsi cans” because of the resemblance of the livery to a beverage can design of the time.
It also was a time when trains between Chicago and Detroit had individual names of Wolverine, Lake Cities and Twilight Limited.
In the top image No. 504 is pushing the Lake Cities out of Jackson toward Chicago. In the bottom image, No. 513 is pulling the Wolverine into the station.
Notice the mismatched style of the number boards above the front windshields.
Although P32s saw service on long-distance trains, they were most commonly used in corridor service. The “Pepsi can” look lasted a few years but eventually gave way to Phase IV.
The special Phase III livery used on the P32s was revived this year when a P42DC No. 160 was repainted in that livery.
Amtrak plans to rehabilitate the 144-year-old Michigan Central station in Jackson, Michigan, this summer to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The work also includes re-pointing the brick on the chimneys and working on the roof.
Other improvements include bathrooms being made ADA compliant, installing signs with braille markings and creating an ADA accessible path from the parking lot to the station.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said cost estimates won’t be available until the project is finished.
Amtrak has owned the station since 1973. It is served daily by six Wolverine Service trains between Chicago and Detroit (Pontiac).
The Victorian-Italianate-style structure opened on Sept. 1, 1873, and is one of Amtrak’s oldest stations that has been in continuous use as a passenger facility having served the Michigan Central, New York Central and Penn Central.
Other renovations were made in 1978, 2008 and 2013.
Police released this photo showing the debris placed on a rail on track owned by the Michigan Department of Transportation and used by Amtrak and Norfolk Southern.
Police in Jackson, Michigan, are seeking a suspect who may have been trying to derail an Amtrak or Norfolk Southern train by placing debris on one of the rails.
An Amtrak polic
e officer found the debris on Wednesday morning and notified the Jackson Police Department.
The debris included ballast and tie plates. Police said the debris resulted in a “dangerous situation.”
The debris was placed on a rail between North Jackson and North Blackstone streets.
Jackson is served by Amtrak’s Chicago-Detroit (Pontiac) Wolverine Service trains.
A Jackson Police spokesman said that walking on the railroad tracks, or property owned by the railroad is a misdemeanor offense.
It is late afternoon in Jackson, Michigan. Amtrak’s eastbound Lake Cities is making its scheduled stop at the venerable former Michigan Central station en route to Pontiac via Detroit.
To avoid having to turn the motive power in Pontiac, the Lake Cities and other trains on the Chicago-Detroit route at the time operated with a locomotive or cab car on one end.
I don’t recall what No. 353 had on the head end, but on the rear was P42DC No. 34 in the Phase IV livery.
When this image was made on Sept. 12, 2003, the Genesis locomotives had been mainstays on Amtrak corridor and long-distance trains for about a decade.
Some things have changed on the Chicago-Detroit corridor since I made this image. All trains have been renamed Wolverine Service and the trains no longer have locomotives or cab cars on both ends.
The Jackson station no longer has a ticket agent, only a caretaker to open and close the depot at train time.
Yet the P42DC remains the mainstay motive power, at least for now. Amtrak was to begin assigning Charger locomotives to this route, once it gets some positive train control issues worked out.
Ticket agent staffing of the Jackson, Michigan, Amtrak station ended this week.
Amtrak said that effective April 2, it closed its ticket office in Jackson, but will continue to serve the station with its six daily Wolverine Service trains between Chicago and Detroit (Pontiac).
In a service advisory, Amtrak said passengers will continue to have access to the station waiting area and restrooms for all train arrivals and departures during normal station hours of 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
However, half of the Wolverine trains arrive and depart in Jackson outside of during those hours.
Amtrak personnel aboard the trains will assist customers boarding and detraining.
Passengers who pay for their tickets with cash may still do so aboard the train, but such tickets will be priced at the highest fare and subject to availability if not reserved in advance.
Amtrak said passengers who require full customer service for unaccompanied minors traveling on Amtrak or other services provided by employees should travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan, located 37 miles east of Jackson.
Amtrak ticket agents will be removed on March 1 from stations in Jackson and Niles, Michigan.
Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman in Chicago, said the move is being made to save money.
He said an overwhelming majority of passengers no longer purchase tickets from station agents.
As a result of the change, Amtrak might keep the Jackson station open later in the afternoon.
The waiting room is now open 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. but three of the six Wolverine Service trains that serve Jackson depart after 2:30 p.m.
Amtrak plans to hire a part-time caretaker to open and close the station and Magliari said that worker could work a split shift and close the waiting area later in the day.
Passengers and those waiting on trains must wait outside the former Michigan Central depot when the waiting room is closed.
Staffing of the Jackson ticket office was reduced last August from daily to five days a week. No agent is on duty on Tuesdays and Wednesday.
Amtrak will for the time being continue to provide ticket agent service at the Jackson, Michigan, station five days a week.
The ticket office is open Thursday through Monday between 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. During other times and on days when the ticket office is closed all day a caretaker will open and close the station.
Amtrak reduced its staffing at the Jackson station last August.
The current agent assigned to Jackson is retiring and Amtrak is staffing the station with other agents.
The rail carrier said it is talking with the Michigan Department of Transportation, which funds the Wolverine Service trains that stop in Jackson, and the City of Jackson about the necessity of having a ticket agent in that city.
“The volume of business we do at the ticket window has been falling over years because people aren’t buying tickets that way anymore,” said Amtrak Spokesman Marc Magliari said.
Magliari cautioned that Amtrak may at some point stop staffing the Jackson station with a ticket agent.
Amtrak has reduced ticket agent service in Jackson, Michigan.
The changes, which became effective on Aug. 29, means the ticket office will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Amtrak has hired a caretaker to open and close the station on those days. Ticket office hours on other days of the week will be 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said that Tuesday and Wednesday are typically the lowest travel days in the Midwest.
He also said that many Amtrak passengers are printing their tickets at home or having them scanned on their smart phones aboard the train.
“Overwhelmingly, our passengers choose electronic ticketing,” Magliari said. “Most people are using the eTicketing and a lot of people are doing it without talking to a human.”
Magliari also quipped that “the days of people pushing coins and folded dollars across the counter to a ticket agent with a big stamping machine are pretty well gone. It’s all through automated systems.”
Jackson lacks any Quik-Trak Self-Service Ticketing Kiosks and Magliari said those are being phased out.
At the present time, Amtrak has no plans to remove its ticket agent from Jackson, Magliari said.
Jackson is served by six Wolverine Service trains a day between Chicago and Detroit (Pontiac).
An electrical fire forced the evacuation of Wolverine Service No. 352 last Monday in Jackson, Michigan.
Firefighters arrived at the station about 6 p.m. after a small fire began beneath a passenger car.
The cause of the small fire was determined to have been mechanical failure in its batteries.
The firefighters extinguished the blaze and removed the smoldering batteries from their compartment.
No injuries were reported. The train, en route from Chicago to Pontiac, Michigan, had 153 passengers and crew members onboard.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said the train was delayed by 39 minutes before it continued eastward.
Magliari said the car in question will be repaired.
Amtrak in the Heartland 