TOLEDO, SAGINAW AND MUSKEGON - ASHLEY

Double headed train entering the Ann Arbor Railroad enroute to Owosso.

Did he say Turntable? Ashley had a wye! Yes, Ashley did have a wye but only after 1914. Let me back-up a little, in my research (obsession?) of the TS&M I came across an official Grand Trunk map of Ashley. I expected to see a wye on the map but there wasn't. Where the wye should have been there was a large empty space. A notation to the plat on the map said that it had been quit claimed back to the original owners (the original owner had died so it went to his heirs) for lack of use by the railroad. Now the plot thickens, I then found a map of Ashley from 1917 that showed a wye in the same plot of land!

How did the TS&M turn thier trains at Ashley?, the answer is they didn't. A look at the timetables from that era none of the trains turned at Ashley until the motorcar of 1914. So where does the turntable come in? I found a Gratiot County plat book from 1889 that showed a turntable and a three stall roundhouse at Ashley. I don't beleive that the roundhouse was built, but I do think the turntable was. The TS&M had to have a way of turning the engines at Ashley before the Grand Trunk took over and trains started running to Owosso Jct. The TS&M did build a roundhouse and 70' turntable at Muskegon. Also, in my timetables from this era, a turntable is listed at Owosso Jct. So I believe that the TS&M had a turntable at Ashley and moved it to Owosso Jct. when the trains started running there.