This daytime only cache is one of two replacements for GC4CXPR, which was susceptible to multiple "mugglings". The cache is not at the posted coordinates. To find the cache, solve the simple puzzle below.
Ann Arbor Depot at Thompsonville. Crossing is off camera left. .
Thompsonville:
Sumner S. Thompson operated a lumber company south of the village of Thompsonville. When the railroad came, he moved his lumber operation to the railroad and the village that sprang up around it was named Thompsonville. The original railroad stop was at Beecher, less than a mile southeast. Henry W. Beecher had established a settlement there in 1887. With the arrival of the second railroad, crossing further north, Business, a post office and railroad operations became focused in Thompsonville, leaving Beecher to become a part of Thompsonville. Edgar E. Hunt became the first postmaster in Thompsonville on August 15th, 1890. Thompsonville was incorporated as a village in 1892.
1915 Standard Atlas of Benzie County, Michigan, G.A. Ogle, plat courtesy of UofM Digital Library, CMU Clarke Historical Library.
1915 Thompsonville plat showing Ann Arbor and Pere Marquette Railroads crossing.
Railroads:
Thompsonville was once served by two railroads, the Ann Arbor, whose predecessors arrived in 1889, and the Chesapeake and Ohio, whose predecessors arrived in 1890. They crossed near the caboose that is on display in the village park.
Frankfort and Southeastern Railroad:
Two railroads that would eventually become the Ann Arbor, the Frankfort & Southeastern Railroad and the Toledo, Ann Arbor & Lake Michigan Railway, both reached Beecher, 7/10th of a mile southeast of the future site of Thompsonville. The F&SE built southeast out of Frankfort, on Lake Michigan, and the TAA&LM extended its line from Cadillac. A small station was established at Beecher. When the Chicago & West Michigan Railroad arrived in 1890, it built a station and an interlocking tower at the crossing. Businesses, a post office and the F&SE and TAA&LM railroads were attracted to the junction creating the village of Thompsonville and leaving Beecher behind. It appears that the C&WM depot may have been used for all three railroads for a short time. Eventually, the Annie's predecessors also built a depot at the crossing.
Photo courtesy of Charles Conn Slide Collection, CMU Clarke Historical Library, used with permission of Mr. Conn.
Ann Arbor Passenger Train crossing the diamond from the north, between PM Depot Depot and PM interlocking tower.
On April 16th, 1890, the TAA&LM was sold and consolidated into the Toledo, Ann Arbor & North Michigan Railway Company (TAA&NM). On May 15th, 1892, the TAA&NM bought the F&SE. On April 27th, the line went into receivership and was foreclosed on July 2nd, 1895. The bankrupt line was purchased by the newly incorporated Ann Arbor Railroad Company on October 14th of that year.
The Annie", as the line came to be known, served railroad car ferry routes across Lake Michigan from Elberta (Frankfort), which were put in to service to avoid congestion in the Chicago rail yards. Several boats owned by the AA were in service until 1982. The AAcame under control of the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railway Company from 1905 to 1910. On May 19th, 1925, the Wabash Railroad gained control of the AA. On August 29th, 1963, the Wabash transferred control to its, then, subsidiary, the DT&I for a second time.
The Ann Arbor sold the line from Cadillac to Frankfort to the State of Michigan in on October 1st, 1977. The State set up the Michigan Interstate Railway to operate the line under the name Ann Arbor Railroad System. The car ferries ceased operation on April of 1982 and railroad service north of a sand pit at Yuma all but stopped. On October 1st, 1982, the State designated the Michigan Northern as the operator. Two years later to they day, The Toledo & Saginaw Bay Railway became the operator. Operations beyond Yuma were ceased and "rail banked" in 1988 and the former grade has become the Betsie Valley Trailway.
Cache:
The cache is located on the former Ann Arbor right of way. To determine its location, solve the following field puzzle based in information on the caboose near GZ. Information to solve this puzzle can be found on the trucks (either), brake wheel stanchion (either end) and coupler (south end).
The two, black wheel carriages, one under each end of the caboose, are called trucks. Each truck has two axles and four wheels. On both ends of each axle is a journal box that provides access to the journal bearings so they can be lubricated. Each truck has a bolster through the middle that connects the truck to the caboose frame. There is a leaf spring under each end of the bolster to dampen the ride, just like in your family car.
The couplers are the big black things on either end of the car that look like an open fist. They are used to connect the cars in a train. I think the couplers are identical, but just in case, use the coupler on the south end of the caboose.
The brake stanchions are the yellow stands on the caboose ends with a wheel on top. The wheel was used manually set or release brakes on the car when it is not part of a train. When coupled to a train, compressed air was used to control the brakes.
N 44° 30.ABC W 085° 56.DEF
- Cast into the upper frame of each truck is the weight of the truck: WT-5A46.
- Cast into the lower frame of each truck, right of the leaf spring, is the journal bearing size: B X 9 JBS.
- On the base of either brake stanchion is a date the stanchion was made: AAR 194C.
- Cast into the (south) coupler is the date it was made: 9-7D.
- Cast into each truck frame, left of the leaf spring, is the date the truck was made: 1-E6.
- Stamped into each journal box cover is the following: AAR 1947 2F3 .
- Checksum (A+B+C+D+E+F) = 26
Please do not post photos in your log that give any of these answers away.
Sources:
- RRHX: Ann Arbor Railroad
- RRHX: Thomsponville
- The Ann Arbor Railroad Technical and Historical Association
- Great Lakes Central Railroad
- Pere Marquette Railroad
- Atlas of Benzie County, Michigan, C.E. Ferris, 1901, UofM Digital Library
- Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University
- Michigan Place Names, Walter Romig, © 1986 Wayne State University Press
- Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies, Graydon M. Meints © 1992, Michigan State University Press
- Michigan Railroad Lines, Graydon M. Meints © 2005, Michigan State University Press
- In the Pines, An Atlas of Michigan Logging Railroads, © 2017 by James S. Hannum, M.D.
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