Published In
Ann Arbor News, April 29, 1957
Caption
Makes jump, stoops to get books. "Taking a shortcut" is as old as life itself, especially where boys and girls are concerned. The element of risk often serves only to add zest to the adventure. One "shortcut" that has Ann Arbor police and Ann Arbor Railroad officials worried is pictured in the accompanying series of sequence photos by News Photographer Douglas Fulton. When the arrival of a freight train coincides with dismissal time at Ann Arbor High School, adventuresome students use this method, and some others, to get past the obstacle. The trains stop and switch cars on the tracks which run past Ferry Field. Switching involves sudden stops and starts without warning, and the fear is that someone may be thrown off balance and under the wheels. In some instances, boys have been observed crawling under trains that are actually moving. In other cases, air locks have been released, stalling trains for 10 to 150minute periods, and seals on freight cars broken. Railroad officials and police wish the homeward-bound students would cross over the Stadium Blvd. viaduct and give up the potentially dangerous "shortcut" through Ferry Field.