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Dates of operation | 1868–1916 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Predecessor |
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Successor | Michigan Central Railroad | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Length | 115.25 miles (185.48 km) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Michigan Air Line Railroad was a railroad company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1868 and constructed a line between Jackson, Michigan, and South Bend, Indiana. The Michigan Central Railroad leased the company in 1871 and merged it in 1916. The New York Central Railroad leased the Michigan Central in 1930. The Michigan Air Line Railroad also built a short line between Romeo, Michigan, and Richmond, Michigan, which became part of the Michigan Air Line Railway, a predecessor of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad.
The Grand Trunk Railway of Michigan and Grand Trunk Railway of Northern Indiana were chartered in their respective states in 1867 and 1868, as part of a scheme to build a new railway line between Richmond, Michigan, and Chicago. [2] The two companies were consolidated on July 2, 1868, to form the Michigan Air Line Railroad. [3] The new company constructed a 14.2-mile (22.9 km) line between Romeo, Michigan, and Richmond, Michigan, (then called Ridgeway) in 1869. [4] Afterward, possibly with the encouragement of the Michigan Central Railroad, the company began building a line between Jackson, Michigan, and South Bend, Indiana. [5] At the same time, the backers of the Michigan Air Line Railroad founded another company with the same name in Illinois. This company was consolidated with the Chicago and Canada Southern Railway in 1871. [6]
The company completed the first 24 miles (39 km) between Jackson and Homer, Michigan, in the summer of 1870. In the fall of 1870 the line reached Three Rivers, Michigan. In February of 1871 it was completed to Niles, Michigan, at which point the Michigan Central Railroad leased the company. [7] The branch to South Bend opened in 1872, using the route and franchise of the St. Joseph Valley Railroad, merged in 1870. [8] [3]
The Michigan Air Line leased the Romeo–Richmond line to the St. Clair River, Pontiac and Jackson Railroad in 1872; this line subsequently became the basis of the Michigan Air Line Railway, a predecessor of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad. [3] [4] In 1916 the Michigan Air Line Railroad merged with the Michigan Central and ceased to exist as an independent company. [3]
Under the Michigan Central/New York Central ownership the line between Jackson and Niles was known as the Air Line branch, while the line from Niles to South Bend was known as the South Bend branch. Both lines have been abandoned. [9]
The Great Lakes Central Railroad is an American shortline railroad, operating in the state of Michigan. It was originally called the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway, which was formed on August 26, 1977, to operate over former Penn Central lines from Millington to Munger, and from Vassar to Colling. TSBY's name was derived from the three counties it operated in: Tuscola, Saginaw and Bay.
The Chicago and Canada Southern Railway was a planned extension of the Canada Southern Railway west from Grosse Ile, Michigan to Chicago, Illinois. The line was only built to Fayette, Ohio, and was later split between the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railway and Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway.
The Michigan Air Line Railway was a railroad company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1875 and constructed a line between Richmond, Michigan, and Jackson, Michigan, between 1877 and 1884. It was under the control of the Grand Trunk Railway for most of its existence and merged into the Grand Trunk Western Railroad in 1928. Its line was abandoned in stages between 1975 and 2011.
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 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 Grand Rapids, Kalkaska and Southeastern Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in Northern Michigan toward the end of the 19th century. The company was founded on August 30, 1897 by William Alden Smith, a Republican politician and former general counsel of both the Chicago and West Michigan Railway and the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. The GRK&S constructed a 40.73-mile (65.55 km) line from Stratford in northern Missaukee County through Kalkaska to Rapid City, where it met the C&WM's main line. The C&WM undertook to supply rolling stock and oversee construction in exchange for a 10-year lease of the line.
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 Alpena and Northern Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated briefly in northern Michigan during the 1890s.
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 Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway is a defunct railroad incorporated in January, 1886. The railroad offered service between Ashley, Michigan and Muskegon, Michigan starting on August 1, 1888. The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada took control the same day, but the company did not merge with the Grand Trunk Western Railway until 1928.
The Mansfield, Coldwater and Lake Michigan Railroad (MCW&LM) is a defunct railroad which operated in southern Michigan and Ohio during the 1870s. By the time it went into foreclosure in the late 1870s it owned two non-contiguous track segments, each of which was leased by a different company.
The Michigan and Ohio Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in southern Michigan in the mid-1880s. Originally intended to forge a new line from Lake Erie to Lake Michigan, it came close to its goal, completing a line between Allegan and Dundee before financial embarrassment landed it in receivership.
Michigan United Railways (MUR) was an interurban which owned and leased numerous lines in the state of Michigan during the early twentieth century.
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 Fort Wayne and Jackson Railroad was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1879 to reorganize the Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad, which owned a railway line between Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Jackson, Michigan. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway leased the company in 1882. Most of the company's line has been abandoned.
The Bay View, Little Traverse and Mackinaw Railroad was a railroad company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1879 to construct a line from the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad north of Petoskey, Michigan, to Harbor Springs, Michigan, on Little Traverse Bay. The line opened in 1882. The company was sold to the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad and eventually became part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. The line was abandoned in 1962. The former station in Harbor Springs has been preserved.
The Grand Rapids, Indiana and Mackinaw Railroad was a railroad company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1881 to extend the main line of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad north from Little Traverse Bay to the Straits of Mackinac. The line opened in 1882. The company was consolidated with the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad in 1884. The line passed through the Pennsylvania Railroad to Penn Central and was subsequently abandoned in 1992.
The Morenci branch or Fayette branch was a railway line in the states of Michigan and Ohio. It ran 25.21 miles (40.57 km) from Grosvenor, near Blissfield, Michigan, to Fayette, Ohio. It was built by the Chicago and Canada Southern Railway in 1872 as part of abortive attempt to construct a new through route between Southern Ontario and Chicago. The branch became part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway system, and from there passed on to the New York Central Railroad and Penn Central. Following the Penn Central's bankruptcy, the state of Michigan acquired the line and abandoned it in 1991.