Greenfield Village Railroad Roundhouse Video

Nice video Jake...pretty sure I spotted you in a few shots. Going to be at the Henry and taking  the Ford Truck Plant Tour with my son-in-law tomorrow. Next trip, and when its warmer, I’ll spend the day at the ‘Village’...apparently, some parts of the original Marshall roundhouse were repurposed there? Of course, the first railroad union was started here in Marshall too. Our day tomorrow wouldn’t be complete, however, without stopping at Miller’s Bar before heading home, for one of their great cheeseburgers with a side of fries or onion rings!!! Just sayin...😋

I was in several shots throughout the video (as was my hand).  Hopefully we'll bump into each other when you visit!

The roundhouse does indeed trace its roots to the roundhouse built for the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee RR in Marshall in 1884.  The original building later became part of the Michigan Central Railroad who I believed mainly used it as a car shop facility through the 1930's.  After that it was used for various industries before it was finally abandoned.  They intended to move the whole building to Greenfield Village but many parts were in pretty bad shape, so they saved what they could.  The cast iron window sills, many of the cast columns between the big front doors, some metal roof structure components and possibly some more are from the original building.  It was replicated in 2000 in Greenfield Village.  Our oil-house, as I understand it, is constructed using the only original bricks from the building that were salvaged.

On that note, several wall sections and part of a later addition still stand as part of an industrial building in Marshall.

Here's another video they recently put together with us at work showing the very basics of operating one of our steam locomotives in Greenfield Village.