Lifelong railroad fan now runs engine on his own tracks
By John Ristow / The Alpena News
Howard Schrader of Fairview said he cannot explain why people, including himself, love trains so much. The printer-turned-train engineer's passion for iron horses started at the age of 3 and continues even today to the enjoyment of his many passengers.
"There is just something that attracts people to trains," Schrader said. "I can see it in their eyes."
Train enthusiasts who visit Schrader's railroad from all over the world first approach a station house modeled after Chicago's Northwestern Railroad as it appeared in the early 1900s. As the quarter-scale train's whistle sounds in the distance, waiting visitors grip their tickets tighter in anticipation of the approaching engine.
The scene reminds Schrader of himself as a young boy when his father took him for his first train ride in Ann Arbor. After a short tour, he distinctly remembers not wanting to leave the engine. As a boarding school student, he recalls being fortunate enough to travel by train from Ann Arbor to Evansville, Wis.
"I traveled about 7,000 miles a year by train when I was pretty young. It was quite an experience," Schrader said.
His interest in owning a railroad did not leave the station until he turned 21. After he met a neighbor who built miniature, yet large enough trains capable of carrying people, he became fascinated with the idea that he could build his own railroad.
Schrader soon found he shared his interest in trains not only with his neighbor, but an automotive engineer who retired in Fairview. At his neighbor's suggestion, Schrader's family stopped to see Carrington Eddy's Pinconning and Blind River Railroad in Fairview on their way back downstate from a summer vacation.
Eddy's train had existed in Oscoda County since 1952. He built his engine and tracks from scratch to haul logs out of a cedar swamp. At his wife's suggestion, he started offering train rides.
"Carrington didn't think anyone would come that far back in the woods to ride a train. He printed up a thousand tickets and was completely surprised when they were all gone in the first weekend," he said.
While Schrader continued living downstate, finished his education and started a printing business, he maintained contact with his new friend. Eddy encouraged Schrader to build his own miniature railroad, and he did so at his downstate residence. Like Eddy, Schrader started offering rides five times a year, but for free, and happily found himself overwhelmed by passengers from the surrounding neighborhood.
When Eddy became terminally ill in the early 1970s, Schrader sold his business and moved to Fairview for a year to help and learn everything he could from him. The pair worked seven days a week to build a steam locomotive.
"Carrington knew he was going to pass away and wanted to finish the locomotive because he knew no one else could do it. He was a very good mentor to me," Schrader said.
After his friend died in 1973 and his railroad closed, Schrader moved back downstate to manage a large printing business. He continued to work on his own miniature railroad and laid track around his five acres of downstate property.
Interest in his railroad grew until hundreds of people showed up each time he offered rides. He also began developing friendships with other train enthusiasts from throughout the United States who visited his railroad.
"There is a society of these fellows around who go to different railroads every weekend during the summer. My railroad was bigger than most so I couldn't easily put my engines, which weighed three and a half tons, on a trailer and move them around," he said.
Finally in the late '80s, Schrader moved back up north to pursue his dream of reopening his mentor's railroad. He started a national mail order business that features railroad memorabilia and collectors items to help pay for his hobby.
After the business flourished, he purchased a large tract of land in the Au Sable River Valley south of Fairview. With the help of his wife and son, he used one of his mentor's steam engines and a small amount of track to start his railway.
Few steam engines like his exist in the nation. Eddy spent large amounts of time building detail into the engine. The Hudson locomotive is modeled after an engine that was built to run for the New York railway system along the Hudson River.
"The engine sat for 25 years so I completely took it apart and rebuilt it. There is something about a steam engine that is just magical. For some reason, people think it is alive as it moans and hisses," Schrader said.
In the meantime, he purchased an additional locomotive called an F-Unit from a Chicago company, which custom built the engine for him. The company delivered the locomotive to Fairview on trailer pulled by a semi truck. Schrader backed the locomotive off the trailer directly onto his tracks where it has stayed since.
In honor of his Ann Arbor upbringing, he had the engine and seven cars it pulls painted blue and gold. The refurbished cars are over half a century old and can carry a maximum of 175 passengers.
The train travels a mile and half long track made of 5,500 railroad ties that winds its way through rolling forest. The route named after the Kirtland's warbler takes passengers through a 115 foot long tunnel that curves its way onto a 220 foot long tussle that bridges a deep valley.
Schrader built the trestle using oak so it would be strong enough to support three times the weight of his fully loaded train. The piers, which hold the trestle in place, had to be hand dug seven feet deep. A company from Saginaw brought in a cement mixture specially equipped with a boom and hose to fill the piers.
"We didn't want to disturb the land. We could have brought in a bulldozer, but because we wanted to save the land, everything had to be done by hand," Schrader said.
Despite Schrader's passion for railroads, he never considered a career working for a real railway. He said he knows the mystique, which drives his passion, would quickly disappear if his income relied on ãworking the rails.'
He said he always runs the engines because the railroad is his hobby. If the railroad was simply a money making venture, he would have someone else do the work he calls fun.
"A job is a job and the two shouldn't mix. What I have is a pure hobby. I do it because I love it," Schrader said.