We may be midway through the Space Age, with our sights set on sending humans to Mars, but back on earth, the mystique of trains is still going strong. No launchpad show has ever quite duplicated the magic of steam blasting from a smokestack, the clang of bells at a whistle stop or the creak of heavy metal as a train leaves the station to power off into history. In part that’s because, unlike a rocket bound for the stars, trains have always been accessible to you and I.
Filmmakers Producer/Directors Keith Famie and Mark Salloum are proud to announce All Aboard ! The Great Lakes Train History, a film that captures the romance and amazement of train travel while celebrating the history of an irreplaceable artery that has moved Michigan’s people and mobilized her manufacturing through three centuries.
The history of Michigan’s rail system even predates statehood; in 1832—five years before Michigan was admitted to the Union—the first railroad was chartered. The following year, Michigan’s first set of tracks were laid by the Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad on a route between Adrian and Toledo. By 1900, the state boasted almost 8,000 miles of tracks and proved essential to a nascent automotive industry. Always a leader in motorized innovation, Detroit has contributed many superlatives to the railroad system, including the iconic Michigan Central Depot in 1913, which at the time was the tallest railroad terminal in the world. A century later in 2013, the first intercity passenger rail service to operate at speeds of 110 mph opened on the corridor known as the Chicago–Detroit Line to accommodate Amtrak’s Wolverine and Blue Water trains.
Michigan’s railroads remain inseparable with our economic development. Freight railroads provide shippers with cost-effective transportation for bulk commodities and the automotive industry continues to rely on the railroads to transport materials to plants and finished automobiles to the market. Equally, Michigan agriculture depends on the railroad to transport grain, and as an ecological bonus, freight-by-rail is not only cost-effective but energy efficient as it generates less air pollution per ton-mile than trucking.
As part of this journey down the tracks, we will explore some of Michigan’s iconic train collectors whose passion for elaborate train displays goes much further than a train going around a circle under a Christmas tree.
Join Keith Famie and Mark Salloum to explore Michigan’s long-standing love affair with trains and see how they have offered us as much for our imaginations as for our industries.