The Swartz Creek Depot
This geocache is placed in honor of the original location of the Swartz Creek depot. Since the original site is on railroad property, I'm gonna have to call "close enough" on this one. Please bring a pencil/pen as one is not included in the cache.
PLEASE BE ADVISED: THE RAILROAD LINE THAT RUNS THROUGH SWARTZ CREEK IS STILL AN ACTIVE RAILROAD LINE, PLEASE EXCERSIZE CAUTION AND REMAIN AT LEAST 15 FEET BACK
**NEVER TRESSPASS ON RAILROAD PROPERY**
**THIS CACHE DOES NOT REQUIRE YOU TO GO ON RAILROAD PROPERTY**
The Swartz Creek depot was originally built around 1876, shortly after the construction of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad line through the town. Swartz Creek was also originally home to a grain elevator located diagonally across from the depot on Morrish Rd. This elevator survived until January of 2021 when it was finally torn down due to instability.The original railroad line going through town was a double-track mainline due to the high volumes of train traffic the town saw back in the day.
[An overlay image of modern Swartz Creek compared to when the original depot stood]
In the 1930's, the original depot was torn down, and a new depot was built by the Grand Trunk as part of a replacement project. The depot closed in 1968 after the last mail delivery passed through the town, and was subsequently used as storage for a few years. The building was then moved off site with the intent of turning it into a restaurant, but that never came to be. The depot now resides on Reid Rd. as a beautifully restored home.
[A photo featuring the post 1930's depot during service life and after its conversion into a beautiful home]
The gravel lot marked for parking that sits direnctly across from the depot is still a great place to sit back, relax, and catch a train or two come through. Today, the line is managed by the successor of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, The Canadian National Railroad. It sees a decent amount of service throughout the day. The best way to check if a train is lined is to observe the lone signal standing at the location. This signal has a "default" position showing green on one side and yellow on the other even if no trains are coming. This can make it a bit hard to tell if a train is truly coming. If one side is green and the other red, or one side is red or the other yellow, there's a good chance a train will be heading your way soon!
Credit for pictures and information: MLive, Michiganrailroads.com, Alan Lotis Collection, Bill Morgan