The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company was an American subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, later of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holding company, the Grand Trunk Corporation. Grand Trunk Western's routes are part of CN's Michigan Division. Its primary mainline between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan serves as a connection between railroad interchanges in Chicago and rail lines in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. The railroad's extensive trackage in Detroit and across southern Michigan has made it an essential link for the automotive industry as a hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants.
The Ann Arbor Railroad was an American railroad that operated between Toledo, Ohio, and Elberta and Frankfort, Michigan with train ferry operations across Lake Michigan. In 1967 it reported 572 million net ton-miles of revenue freight, including 107 million in "lake transfer service"; that total does not include the 39-mile subsidiary Manistique and Lake Superior Railroad.
Michigan Services are three Amtrak passenger rail routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with the Michigan cities of Grand Rapids, Port Huron, and Pontiac, and stations en route. The group falls under the Amtrak Midwest brand and is a component of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.
The Michigan Central Railroad was originally chartered in 1832 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in the United States and the province of Ontario in Canada. After about 1867 the railroad was controlled by the New York Central Railroad, which later became part of Penn Central and then Conrail. After the 1998 Conrail breakup, Norfolk Southern Railway now owns much of the former Michigan Central trackage.
The Michigan Central Railway Tunnel is a railroad tunnel under the Detroit River connecting Detroit, Michigan, in the United States with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. The U.S. entrance is south of Porter and Vermont streets near Rosa Parks Boulevard. The Canadian entrance is south of Wyandotte Street West between Cameron and Wellington Avenues. It was built by the Detroit River Tunnel Company for the Canada Southern Railway, leased by the Michigan Central Railroad and owned by the New York Central Railroad. The tunnel opened in 1910 and is still in use today by the CPKC Railway.
Durand Union Station is a historic train station in Durand, Michigan. The station, which now serves Amtrak Blue Water trains, was originally a busy Grand Trunk Western Railroad and Ann Arbor Railroad hub, as well as a local office for Grand Trunk Western, from its construction in 1903 until 1974. It is currently owned by the city of Durand and leased by Durand Union Station, Inc. a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and maintenance of the building and its surrounding property.
Birmingham was an Amtrak train station in Birmingham, Michigan, served by the Wolverine service. The station was located on an embankment at the eastern end of Villa Road, and consisted of a concrete platform with a small shelter and wheelchair lift. On October 13, 2014, the station was closed and replaced by the Troy Transit Center, located about 1,200 feet (370 m) southeast on Doyle Drive in Troy, Michigan.
Railroads have been vital in the history of the population and trade of rough and finished goods in the state of Michigan. While some coastal settlements had previously existed, the population, commercial, and industrial growth of the state further bloomed with the establishment of the railroad.
The Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway is a defunct railroad which operated in the US state of Michigan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Itself the product of several consolidations in the 1870s, it became part of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad in 1928.
Milwaukee Junction is an area in Detroit, Michigan, east of New Center. Located near the railroad junction of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad's predecessors Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway and the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction, the area encompasses the streets of East Grand Boulevard to the north, St. Aubin St./Hamtramck Drive to the east, John R Street to the west, and the border following I-94 to the south. Due to the presence of numerous car companies within it at the turn of the 20th century, Milwaukee Junction is considered the "cradle of the Detroit auto industry".
Transportation in metropolitan Detroit comprises an expansive system of roadways, multiple public transit systems, a major international airport, freight railroads, and ports. Located on the Detroit River along the Great Lakes Waterway, Detroit is a significant city in international trade, with two land crossings to Canada. Three primary Interstate highways serve the region.
The Pontiac Transportation Center is an intermodal terminal station located in Pontiac, Michigan that is served by Amtrak's Michigan Services Wolverine. The transportation center is also served by Indian Trails intercity bus service and Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) regional bus service.
Due to its unique geography, being made of two peninsulas surrounded by the Great Lakes, Michigan has depended on many ferries for connections to transport people, vehicles and trade. The most famous modern ferries are those which carry people and goods across the Straits of Mackinac to the car-free Mackinac Island but before the Mackinac Bridge was built, large numbers of ferries carried people and cars between the two peninsulas. Other ferries continue to provide transportation to small islands and across the Detroit River to Canada. Ferries once provided transport to island parks for city dwellers. The state's only national park, Isle Royale cannot be reached by road and is normally accessed by ferry. The largest ferries in Michigan are the car ferries which cross Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. One of these, the SS Badger is one of the last remaining coal steamers on the Great Lakes and serves as a section of US Highway 10 (US 10). The Badger is also the largest ferry in Michigan, capable of carrying 600 passengers and 180 autos.
The Fort Street Union Depot was a passenger train station located at the southwest corner of West Fort Street and Third Street in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It served the city from 1893 to 1971, then demolished in 1974. Today, the downtown campus of Wayne County Community College occupies the site.
SEMTA Commuter Rail, also known as the Silver Streak, was a commuter train operated by the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority (SEMTA) and the Grand Trunk Western Railroad between Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan. It began in 1974 when SEMTA assumed control of the Grand Trunk's existing commuter trains over the route. SEMTA discontinued operations in 1983. Amtrak began offering intercity service between Detroit and Pontiac in 1994 as part of its Michigan Services.
The Maple Leaf was a passenger train pool operated by the Canadian National and the Grand Trunk Western Railroad between Chicago, Illinois and Toronto, Ontario. It operated from 1927 to 1971. The train took its name from the maple leaf, the national symbol of Canada. The Maple Leaf was one of many trains discontinued when Amtrak began operations in 1971, and is unrelated to the Maple Leaf which Amtrak now operates between Toronto and New York City. The train operated on Canadian National railroad territory through Ontario, but west of Lake Huron it operated via Grand Trunk Railroad.
Grand Trunk Western No. 4070 is an S-3-a class 2-8-2 USRA Light Mikado steam locomotive, and it was originally built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in December 1918 for the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) as No. 474. It was later re-numbered to 3734 by the Grand Trunk Western (GTW), after the GTR was absorbed into Canadian National (CN). In the late 1950s, the locomotive received a larger tender from an S-3-c class locomotive, and it was further re-numbered to 4070.
The Holly Union Depot is a former train station located at 223 South Broad Street in Holly, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. It sits at the junction of tracks which are now owned by CSX Transportation and Canadian National Railway.
The main line of Ann Arbor Railroad is a partially-abandoned railway line in the states of Michigan and Ohio. It was constructed between 1874 and 1897 by the Ann Arbor Railroad and its predecessors, and constituted that company's main line. At its fullest extent it ran 292 miles (470 km) from Toledo, Ohio, on Lake Erie, to Frankfort, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. A train ferry service operated across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. The original Ann Arbor Railroad went bankrupt in 1976, and ownership of the line is now split between the state of Michigan and two short-line railroads: the Ann Arbor Railroad and the Huron and Eastern Railway. The northern end of the line is now near Yuma, Michigan.
