Amtrak in Michigan
 

I'm looking for a fun place to take my nephew who really wants to go on a train. He's going to be 6 this summer. We live in the Detroit area so I would take the train out of Dearborn. Want to be able to get off the train and not have to take a taxi. Just looking for a day trip - maybe go some place for lunch or do a little shopping. Looking for a Northville or Plymouth type town. Any suggestions?

Out of Dearborn your only choice is the Wolverine, which goes to Chicago. You can download the timetable here:

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten.../1237405732505

Right now it runs three times a day, but the one you would want leaves Dearborn at 11:50 AM and arrives as follows:

Ann Arbor 12:29 PM
Jackson 1:10 PM
Albion 1:33 PM
Battle Creek 2:06 PM

You can see the other destinations on the timetable.

Return train arrives Dearborn at 6:23 PM and leaves as follows:

Battle Creek 2:12 PM
Albion 4:41 PM
Jackson 5:05 PM
Ann Arbor 5:45 PM

If you want to go the other direction, there is a 2:12 PM train out of Dearborn that stops in Royal Oak and Birmingham and arrives in Pontiac at 3:07. Return train leaves Pontiac at 5:35 PM (stops the same places) and gets into Dearborn at 6:40 PM.

That's it out of Dearborn on Amtrak.

That should have been a 4:13 PM departure from Battle Creek.

Thanks for the info!! Does anyone know about Battle Creek? Does it have a downtown area? Is it near the train station?

You can go to Clara's on the River in Downtown Battle Creek. Just a few blocks from the Amtrak station.
It has a railroad and historical theme. Good food too.
http://www.claras.com

Thanks for the suggestion joe!

Battle Creek? ecch! quaint-not

I'd suggest you Google-image some photos of beautiful downtown BC before committing. If that doesn't disssuade you, they used to allow tours of the cereal factory, but I think that's been discontinued, due to lawyers.