Railroad Marker question.

I saw a photo taken locally by a fellow student for an ART EXPO. There is a small Cement type marker along the track. It Says "SAG" than below it, the number 78. It is a small sign an is like chalk white.... anybody know what that sign could mean??

Also, my area used to belong to the Pennsy. well, while driving along last fall I saw an old PRR Whistle Post. it looked like the Pennsy herald and had a White W on it.

Just a guess, here, but it could be a mile marker -- as in distance from Saginaw?

(As in "It took me four days to hitchhike from...")

Yes, what you saw Engineer James was a mile marker, and the number emblazoned on it is the distance to Saginaw, Michigan.

Based on the mileage, I'd guess the marker in the photo you saw is most likely located in Northville, MI, on the CSX line that heads north out of Plymouth and that runs though places like Novi, Wixom, Milford and Flint before heading up to Saginaw. I'd further guess that the marker most likely dates back to the days of the Pere Marquette Railway. You'll find similar markers along a number of old PM/C&O lines across Michigan.

And that does sound like a Pennsy whistle post that you saw. The PRR only had one line into Detroit, which ran from the old Fort Street Station near the present-day Joe Louis Arena down to Carleton down south of Metro Airport. At Carleton, PRR trains (including the Red Arrow from Detroit to New York) swung onto the Pere Marquette (Chesapeake and Ohio after 1947) and travelled south to Toledo where they once again reached PRR trackage.

So it's neat to think that in the 21st century there are still vestiges of long-gone railroads along the rights-of-way of their successors.