The Pere Marquette Railway was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its primary connections included Buffalo; Toledo; and Chicago. The company was named after Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste Marie.
The Mid-Michigan Railroad is a railroad owned by Genesee & Wyoming. It operates 39.8 miles of track in Michigan.
The Chicago, Kalamazoo and Saginaw Railway (CK&S), known informally as the "Cuss, Kick & Swear" is a defunct railroad which operated in southwest Michigan in the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries. Despite the name, the line ran entirely within the state of Michigan, with the majority in Kalamazoo County. It eventually became part of the New York Central. As of 2010, most of the former CK&S tracks have since been abandoned.
The Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad (F&PM) is a defunct railroad which operated in the U.S. state of Michigan between 1857 and 1899. It was one of the three companies which merged to become the Pere Marquette Railway.
The Flint River Railroad is a defunct railroad. It was established on December 6, 1871, to construct a 14.4-mile (23.2 km) branch from Horton to Otter Lake to support the logging industry in the Flint River area. This line was opened on October 8, 1872, and the company was consolidated with the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad (F&PM). In 1881 the F&PM extended this line 5.2 miles (8.4 km) to Fostoria.
The Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad (DL&N) is a defunct railroad which was formed on December 27, 1876 as a reorganization of the foreclosed Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Rail Road. The segment of its main line from Detroit to Lansing became an important component of the Pere Marquette Railroad, organized in 1900, and is still in use by CSX.
The Chicago and West Michigan Railway (C&WM) is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Michigan between 1881 and 1899. It was one of the three companies which merged to become the Pere Marquette Railway.
The Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad (C&MLS) is a defunct railroad which operated in Michigan between 1869 and 1878, and as the Chicago and West Michigan Railroad until 1881.
The Grand Rapids, Newaygo and Lake Shore Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Michigan between 1872 and 1881. The GRN&LS was chartered on September 11, 1869, under the leadership of David P. Clay. The company operated a 46-mile (74 km) line between Grand Rapids and White Cloud. The initial segment, from Grand Rapids to Sparta, was completed on May 19, 1872. The line reached Newaygo on September 11, 1872; the first passenger train between the two towns ran the same day, to much fanfare from the local populace. On September 24, 1875, the line was extended over the Muskegon River to White Cloud. On September 30, 1881, it consolidated with other companies to form the Chicago & West Michigan. During its twelve years of independent existence the company sustained a net loss of $36,554.28.
The Paw Paw Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in Van Buren County, Michigan, between 1857 and 1887. At a length of 4 miles (6.4 km), it was the shortest operating common carrier railroad in the state. Later, the Ludington & Northern Railway Company, at 2.79 miles (4.49 km), stripped the Paw Paw of its title as "shortest Michigan Railroad".
The White River Railroad was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chicago and West Michigan Railroad incorporated on November 13, 1879, for the purpose of constructing a rail link north from the C&WM's line at White Cloud to the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad's main line (Ludington–Monroe) at Baldwin, and to exploit the ample timber resources of the White River area. On April 1, 1880, the White River opened a 13-mile (21 km) line from White Cloud north to Merrill Township, in Newaygo County. In 1881 the line was extended a further 4 miles (6.4 km) to what would become Bitely in 1889. In either late 1883 or no later than February 7, 1884, the White River completed the line all the way to Baldwin, for a total length of 29.86 miles (48.06 km).
The Patterson Railroad is a defunct railroad that existed in Michigan during the early 1870s. The company incorporated on September 21, 1870 and filed articles on October 3 to construct a line between Patterson Mills and Kiddville. The Patterson completed a 1.67-mile (2.69 km) in July 1872, at which point the property became part of the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad, whose line it met at Kiddville. The DL&M would later become part of the Pere Marquette Railroad, which also built a line south from Belding.
The Ionia and Lansing Rail Road is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Michigan in the 1860s and 1870s. The company incorporated on November 13, 1865; the investors hailed primarily from Lansing, Ionia and Portland. The original charter called for a 34-mile (55 km) line from Ionia to Lansing; on January 13, 1869 this was amended with a much grander vision: a 125-mile (201 km) line from Lansing to the mouth of the Pentwater River at Pentwater, on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The Detroit and Howell Railroad (D&H) is a defunct railroad organized in 1864 to build a line connecting Howell and Detroit in southeast Michigan.
The Howell and Lansing Railroad is a defunct railroad which proposed to construct a railway line between Howell and Lansing in central Michigan. The company incorporated on June 23, 1868 and began grading along the 33-mile (53 km) length of the line. The H&L had some difficulty obtaining financing; by the time it merged with the Detroit and Howell on March 29, 1870, no track had been laid. The two companies merged formed the Detroit, Howell and Lansing, and the H&L ceased to exist as an independent company.
The St. Joseph Valley Railway (1889-1897), earlier known as the St. Joseph Valley Railroad (1880-1889), is a defunct railroad which operated in southern Michigan during the late 19th century. Intended to connect the Berrien County, Michigan communities of Buchanan and Berrien Springs with northern Indiana, the railroad never expanded beyond an initial connection between those two communities and sank under a weight of debt which poor traffic could not offset.
The Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Michigan at the turn of the 20th century.
The Grand Rapids, Lansing and Detroit Railroad is a defunct, nineteenth century railroad, formerly operating in Michigan. Incorporated May 17, 1887, it built a 53-mile line from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Grand Ledge, as well as the Ramona Branch, both of which it leased to the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. The former still exists as part of the Canadian National Railway line into Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Grand Rapids Subdivision is a railroad line in Western Michigan and Northern Indiana. It runs 136 miles (219 km) from Porter, Indiana to Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was built between 1870–1903 by the Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad and its successor the Pere Marquette Railroad. CSX Transportation owns the line today. In addition to freight traffic, the line hosts Amtrak's daily Pere Marquette.
