Durand is the home of the Railroaders.
As NBC 25's Kevin Usealman reports, it has an amazing railroad past that many are working hard to preserve.
Durand Union Station was built in 1903 and is now home to the Michigan Railroad Museum. But at one time, this major Michigan hub saw 8,000 travelers per day.
"From here you could stop in Fenton, Pontiac, Royal Oak, Birmingham and then to downtown Detroit," said Connie Colby, building director for the museum.
In the late 1970s, the building was deteriorated and vandalized. Its owners, Grand Trunk Railroad, had the wrecking ball standing by.
"The first windows I saw broken I stood and cried because I didn't think anyone would damage a building like this," said Norma Ward, a union station board member.
Ward couldn't just watch it happen. With her inspiration, a "Save the Depot" campaign started. After a long fight, the news of success was delivered by a visitor.
"He said, 'I am from the attorney general's office and he said a judge has put a stop to the tearing down of this building,' " Ward said.
The now, fully restored depot and museum boasts an extensive collection, a nice compliment to another piece of history, the the 268,000-pound 5632 engine. The engine was ready to be scrapped when Cliff Semple helped bring it here in 1960. It took volunteers almost two years and great care to get it to its current spot and restore it.
"in 1920, it rolled over in Belsay Yard and killed the engineer and fireman," said Cliff Semple, chairman of the Durand Jaycees. "We were watching very closely to make sure nothing happened, cause once that baby started tipping it would be gone!"
Back in the days of the steam engine, when a train went by here every four minutes, the skies overhead would be filled with soot. But today's diesel engines get more than 400 miles per gallon, they burn clean and generate their own electricity. So, we're not just looking at the past, we're looking at the future.
"This is one of the greenest industries that is happening," Colby said. "We see Canadian National refurbishing their tracks with the newest of technologies. This is Columbia grain, you've got wheat, chemicals, petroleum. this is USA re-stocking right now."
In next week's Made in Michigan, Kevin Usealman takes us to the Thumb to find out why a farmer once purchased more than 500 acres of unfarmable land.
