Where was this Mopar Brochure/Ad Photo shot?

[John FatFab]

I love that you are posting up the ones that you are finding though. Such pretty stations with the cross tracks in front of them!

 

[ayilar]

@traintech55 and @Ripinator are both train cognoscenti -- tagging them here so that they may chime in.

 

[D Cluley]

Hadn't seen this until now. The sign is fake, but the rest of it is real. Except for a fence along the tracks it pretty much looks the same today.

GM also did at least one ad here, and like Chrysler they're an American Brand

 

[John FatFab]

Just found it too! The first time I looked at it the roof when I saw the full image made me move on past it. But closer look, that's definitely it. Located a little north east of you. I will definitely have to make a tip there as its only 4.5 hours to the north of me.

 

[ayilar]

Just found it too! The first time I looked at it the roof when I saw the full image made me move on past it. But closer look, that's definitely it. Located a little north east of you. I will definitely have to make a tip there as its only 4.5 hours to the north of me.

Got it. Thank you for providing information so that we could triangulate it.

 

[amazinblue82]

i believe i got it too. cool game.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Up until the mid 70s there was a second track

Alan

 

[John FatFab]

Hadn't seen this until now. The sign is fake, but the rest of it is real. Except for a fence along the tracks it pretty much looks the same today.

GM also did at least one ad here, and like Chrysler they're an American Brand

Got a picture of the GM ad? I haven't seen that one.

 

[John FatFab]

Looks like the sidewalk area is set back a few feet further from the tracks than it used to. Then they also added a fence. No way will the wagon squeeze in there now for a picture today

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Looks like the sidewalk area is set back a few feet further from the tracks than it used to. Then they also added a fence. No way will the wagon squeeze in there now for a picture today

I don't think the vehicles were ever there, the scale just isn't right. The stone wall under the windows is rail height 3 feet or so, the people by the wall are way to small for that.


Alan

 

[John FatFab]

I don't think the vehicles were ever there, the scale just isn't right. The stone wall under the windows is rail height 3 feet or so, the people by the wall are way to small for that.


Alan

Oh dang, you are right! That's funny it was all edited in there.

 

[D Cluley]

The funny thing is that I think you could fit the cars on the platform, but I agree that it looks like they didn't.

Cadillac went even farther and eliminated the East/West tracks altogether and added a parking lot in the wrong spot. That ad is shown here. Vintage Ad: Arriving In Durand, MI. And Getting Picked Up By The Chauffeured Cadillac 75 Limo - Curbside Classic

To fill in some details, this was all the Grand Trunk Western RR (now Canadian National). The line on the left, by the Plymouth Fury is the E/W main line from Toronto to Chicago. Amtrak's Blue Water Limited runs on that and stops at Durand every day. The track on the right by the van is the line to Detroit.

As Alan pointed out above, there was originally a 3rd line on the far side of the building. That was the Ann Arbor RR. At some point, as traffic on both railroads declined, they realized that an agreement to share the tracks from Durand to Owosso made more sense than two lines right next to each other for 15 miles.

While things were much busier in the early 20th century, I'm pretty sure this 7 train meet was staged for the photographer.

A couple of my drone shots from 2020-2021