Every December, Canadian Pacific runs two special holiday trains that make stops along CP's lines in Canada and the United States where musicians perform to raise money for local food banks.
While CP doesn't own any tracks in southeast Michigan or northwest Ohio, one of the trains will make a quick dash through parts of Monroe, Lenawee, Fulton, and Williams counties Thursday night following a performance scheduled to start at 5:15 p.m. in Windsor, Ontario. CP uses a Norfolk Southern line through Milan, Adrian, and North Morenci, Mich., and Alvordton, Montpelier, and Blakeslee, Ohio to run trains between Detroit and Chicago.
I can't offer a precise time for when the special train will run through these communities, but figure on it being no sooner than 8 p.m. or so for Milan. After the Windsor stop, it has to get a new train crew, cross the border, clear Customs, and then work its way through a freight yard on the southwest side of Detroit before it hits the main line. But it's a sight worth seeing, with the train lit up with Christmas lights -- and unlike the aurora borealis we might have seen the other night if it hadn't been raining, this light show will happen no matter the weather.
Here's a photograph of it in upstate New York last weekend, with lighting added by the photographer.
