At the end of 1925, MC operated 1,871 miles (3,011km) of road and 4,139 miles (6,661km) of track; that year it reported 4,304,000 net ton-miles of revenue freight and 600 million passenger-miles.
The line between Detroit and St. Joseph, Michigan, was originally planned in 1830 to provide freight service between Detroit and Chicago by train to St. Joseph and via boat service on to Chicago. The Detroit and St. Joseph Railroad was chartered in 1831 with a capital of $1,500,000.[4] The railroad actually began construction on May 18, 1836, starting at "King's Corner" in Detroit, which was the name by which the southeast corner of Jefferson and Woodward Avenue was then known. However, this is not the location of Michigan Central Station, which apparently replaced this building.
The small private organization quickly ran into problems securing cheap land in the private market, and abandonment of the project was discussed. The City of Detroit invested $50,000 in the project. The State of Michigan bailed out the railroad in 1837 by purchasing it and investing $5,000,000. The now state-owned company was renamed the Central Railroad of Michigan.
John Murray Forbes, President of Michigan Central Railroad from 1846 to 1855
By 1840 the railroad was again out of money and had completed track only between Detroit and Dexter, Michigan. In 1846, the state sold the railroad to the newly incorporated Michigan Central corporation for $2,000,000. By this time the railroad had reached Kalamazoo, Michigan, a distance of 143.16 miles (230.39km).[5]
The new private corporation had committed to complete the railroad with T-rail of not less than sixty pounds to the yard and also to replace the poorly built rails between Kalamazoo and Detroit with similar quality rail, as the state-built rail was of low quality. The new owners met this obligation by building the rest of the line some 74.84 miles (120.44km) to the shores of Lake Michigan by 1849. However, rather than go to St. Joseph, instead they went to New Buffalo. This was because they had decided to extend the road all the way to Chicago. With this, the first crossing of the state of Michigan (Lower Peninsula) was completed.[2]
Michigan Central train arriving in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1887
This involved passing through two other states and getting leave from two state legislatures to do so. To facilitate this process, they bought the Joliet and Northern Indiana Railroad in 1851. Thus they reached Michigan City, Indiana, by 1850 and finished the line to Kensington, Illinois, (now a south Chicago neighborhood) in 1852, using Illinois Central trackage rights to downtown Chicago. The completed railroad was 270 miles (430km) in length.[5] In the same year the first train ran from Detroit to Chicago.[2]
The first repair shops were built in 1851 and located on 20 acres of waterfront property in Detroit, Michigan. In 1873 they were moved to a larger plot of land on the west side of the city along Livernois Avenue, then consisting of two roundhouses and car repair shops.[6] In 1919 new freight and locomotive terminals were constructed in Niles, Michigan. However, the primary locomotive and car repair shops during the steam era were located in Jackson, Michigan, established in 1871. They closed in 1949 during a coal strike and never reopened due to the conversion of motive power to diesel engines.
Passenger services
The Michigan Central Railroad (MCR) operated mostly passenger trains between Chicago and Detroit. These trains ranged from locals to the Wolverine. In 1904, MCR began a long-term lease of Canada Southern Railway (CSR), which operated the most direct route between Detroit and New York. CSR's mainline cut through the heart of southwestern Ontario, between Windsor and Fort Erie.[7]
The new service, known as the Canada Division Passenger Service, saw a major surge beginning at the start of the 1920s. Between 1920 and 1922, the legendary Wolverine passenger train operated in two sections, five days per week along CSR's mainline.[8] Then, in the summer of 1923, the eastbound Wolverine began running from Detroit to Buffalo without any scheduled stops in Canada, making the trip in 4 hours and 50 minutes, an unprecedented achievement.[9] During the same summer, the Canada Division was moving 2,300 through passengers per day. By the end of the decade, a fleet of 205 J-1 class Hudsons – one of the most powerful locomotives for passenger service yet designed – was hauling passengers along the CSR mainline.[10] However, by the 1930s the Wolverine was making stops in the Canadian section of the route.[11] Also, by the late 1940s, the Empire State Express passed from Buffalo into Southwestern Ontario; however, it terminated at Detroit.[12]
While Michigan Central was an independent subsidiary of the New York Central System, passenger trains were staged from Illinois Central's Central Station (in Chicago) as a tenant. When MC operations were completely integrated into NYC in the 1950s, trains were re-deployed to NYC's LaSalle Street Station home, where other NYC trains such as the 20th Century Limited were staged. IC sued for breach of contract and won because the MC had a lease that ran for a few more years. The MC route from Chicago to Porter, Indiana, is mostly intact. The Kensington Interchange, shared with the South Shore Line, was cut out. These tracks now belong to Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, and are overgrown stub tracks ending short of the interchange. Some trackage around the Indiana Harbor Belt's Gibson Yard has also been removed. The MC's South Water Street freight trackage in downtown Chicago is also gone. Amtrak trains serving the Michigan Central Detroit line now use the former NYC to Porter, where they turn north on Michigan Central. Passenger equipment was mostly similar to that of parent New York Central System. Typically this meant an EMD E-series locomotive and Pullman-Standard lightweight rolling stock. Because General Motors (Electro-Motive Division) was a large customer of Michigan Central, use of Alco or General Electric locomotives was less common.
Freight services
Loading dock with a Michigan Central boxcar in 1920A Michigan Central caboose
Prior to the automobile, Michigan Central was mostly a carrier of natural resources. Michigan had extensive reserves of timber at the time, and the Michigan Central owned lines from east to west of the state and north to south, tapping all resources available. After the advent of the automobile as one of the most dominant forces of commerce, with Detroit at the epicenter, the Michigan Central became a carrier of autos and auto-related parts. The Michigan Central was one of the few Michigan railroads with a direct line into Chicago, meaning it did not have to operate cross-lake ferries, as did virtually all other railroads operating in Michigan, such as the Pere Marquette, Pennsylvania, Grand Trunk, and Ann Arbor Railroads. Michigan Central was part owner of the ferry service operated to the Upper Peninsula as well as cross-river ferry service to Ontario, but these routes did not exist to circumvent Chicago.
Service to Canada
Michigan Central Station in London, Ontario, ca. 1890
The Michigan Central Railroad (MCR) and then parent New York Central Railroad (NYC) owned the Canada Southern Railroad (CSR), which had lines throughout southwestern Ontario from Windsor to Niagara Falls. The railroad operated a car-float service over the Detroit River from 1883;[13] an immersed tube tunnel under the Detroit River between Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario; and the MCR cantilever bridge at Niagara Falls, which was later replaced with a steel arch bridge in 1925. The car-float operation ended when the Detroit River tunnel was completed.
Michigan Central steel gondolas seen in Port Stanley, Ontario in 1915The Niagara Cantilever Bridge (1892)
The Michigan Central Railway Bridge opened in February 1925 and remained in use until the early 21st century. It replaced the earlier Niagara Cantilever Bridge which had been commissioned in 1883 by Cornelius Vanderbilt; the older bridge was scrapped as the new MCR bridge went into service. The MCR cantilever bridge was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame in 2006, long after it had been scrapped. The Hall of Fame report discussed its significance to the railway industry in the category of "North America: Facilities & Structures."[14][15]
Railroad ferry and car float service
All major Michigan railroads except the Michigan Central operated a rail ferry service across Lake Michigan. The MC had the most direct route across Southern Michigan from Detroit to Chicago. The Michigan Central also had the best access to Chicago of any Michigan railroad. The Michigan Central did own part of the Mackinac Transportation Company, which operated the SS Chief Wawatam until 1984. The Chief Wawatam was a front-loading, hand-fired, coal-fed steamer. It was the last hand-fired steamer in the free world at its long-overdue retirement in 1984. The Chief Wawatam continued to operate until 2009, cut down to a barge. One Chief Wawatam engine was salvaged and restored by the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. Other artifacts from the ferry, including the whistle, wheel, telegraphs, and furniture, are preserved by the Mackinac Island State Park Commission in Mackinaw City. Car floats also ran across the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario, for high and wide loads that could not fit through the tunnels.
Competitors
The major competitors of the Michigan Central were:[citation needed]
Pennsylvania Railroad (merged into Penn Central with MC/NYC, then into Conrail; owned by various railroads)
Major accidents
On June 22, 1918, the engineer of a Michigan Central troop train fell asleep, causing the train to run into the rear of a Hagenbeck–Wallace Circus train that was stopped near Hammond, Indiana. The accident resulted in 86 deaths, with another 127 people injured.[16]
On February 27, 1921, the Michigan Central's 'Canadian' ran a red signal at Porter, Indiana, and entered a diamond crossing in front of the New York Central's 'Interstate Express'. The 'Canadian's locomotive hit the derailer, slid through the crossing on the ties, and was rerailed by the crossing's frog, the tender and first several cars of the train remained derailed as they rode the ties. The train stopped with the Michigan Central locomotive about 400 feet beyond the crossing and the first coach fouling the crossing. The 'Interstate Express' locomotive (NYC 4828) hit the wooden coach broadside, demolishing it, killing 35 passengers, and injuring 11. Locomotive 4828 derailed upon hitting the coach and went off the track to the right; its pilot dug into the dirt, and the locomotive whipped around and slammed over on its side, facing in the direction from which it came. Both the engineer and the fireman were killed in the wreck, making the death toll 37.[17]
Significant stations and structures
Jackson station
The MCR Jackson station in Jackson, Michigan, opened in 1873 and is the oldest continuously operated passenger station in North America.
Dexter station
Michigan Central Railroad Dexter Depot
The Dexter, Michigan, train depot was built to replace a former station that had burned down. It served passenger trains until the early 1950s. Today, the station is home to the Ann Arbor Model Railroad Club, which hosts open houses the first Wednesday of each month. It also has some railroad memorabilia such as an old crossing signal and baggage cart.
Last used by Amtrak in 1988, Michigan Central Station then become a victim of extensive vandalism. Over the next 30 years, several proposals and concepts for redevelopment were suggested, none coming to fruition. The estimated cost of renovations was $80 million, but the owners viewed finding the right use as a greater problem than financing.[19] Though listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Detroit City Council passed a resolution to demolish the station in April 2009.[20] The council was met with strong opposition from Detroit resident Stanley Christmas, who in turn, sued the city of Detroit to stop the demolition effort, citing the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.[21][22] The station shows up in the first part of the Godfrey Reggio movie Naqoyqatsi and is frequently used by Michael Bay in such films as The Island and Transformers. In May 2018, Ford Motor Company purchased the building for redevelopment into a mixed use facility and cornerstone of the company's new Corktown campus.
The Michigan Central station at Niles, Michigan, is also famous, having appeared in several Hollywood movies. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Battle Creek station
The Michigan Central Railroad Depot (Battle Creek, MI) opened on July 27, 1888. Rogers and MacFarlane of Detroit designed the depot, one of several Richardsonian Romanesque-style stations between Detroit and Chicago in the late nineteenth century. Thomas Edison as well as presidents William Howard Taft and Gerald Ford visited here. The depot was acquired by the New York Central Railroad in 1918, Penn Central in 1968 and Amtrak in 1970. The depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and is now Clara's on the River Restaurant.
Augusta coaling tower
Located between Augusta and Galesburg Michigan, the massive re-enforced concrete building stands over the Detroit to Chicago mainline. Built in 1923, it was used to refuel and water steam engines. It fell out of use post-World War II, as diesel engines came onto the scene.
Ann Arbor station
The former Michigan Central Station in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a granite stone block building built in 1886 and designed by Frederick Spier of Spier and Rohns, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now houses the Gandy Dancer Restaurant.[23]
Trail Creek swing bridge
The Michigan Central also built and operated a swing bridge over Trail Creek at Michigan City, Indiana. This swing bridge is similar to the moving span at Spuyten Duyvil owned by parent New York Central, but has no approach spans. It is still in operation and owned by Amtrak.
Historic equipment
No historic Michigan Central-specific equipment exists today. After the steam era, almost all equipment was lettered for New York Central. Many common New York Central locomotives and rolling stock are preserved in places like Illinois Railway Museum and the National New York Central Museum, in Elkhart, Indiana. The latter includes a sample passenger train in NYC livery, although the two coaches are actually of Illinois Central heritage. The E8 and observation car are original NYC equipment and very likely served on the Michigan Central after dieselization. The station in Dexter, Michigan, has some railroad memorabilia around it, such as an old level crossing signal and a baggage cart.
Modern operations
The Michigan Central, having been only a "paper" railroad for decades and not owning any track since the late 1970s, was merged into United Railroad Corp. (a subsidiary of Penn Central) on December 7, 1995. Today, Norfolk Southern owns most trackage not abandoned in the early 1980s. Lake State Railway now operates the remnants former Detroit-Mackinaw City line from Bay City to Gaylord, which is partially owned by the state of Michigan. What remained of CASO was mostly abandoned by Canadian National in 2011, after seeing little to no traffic for years. Amtrak owns the Detroit line from Porter, Indiana, to Kalamazoo, Michigan, while the state of Michigan owns the line from there to Dearborn, Michigan. This line is a projected "high speed" line; a portion of the line was converted to 110 MPH operation in early 2012 with further upgrades planned. Amtrak operates three Chicago-Detroit-Pontiac trains each way per day, under the old banner Wolverine. The Port Huron train (the Blue Water) also uses this line as far east as Battle Creek, Michigan. Both Kalamazoo and Niles have retained their old Michigan Central Stations; the Niles station is occasionally portrayed in film. Also the Dowagiac station is used by Amtrak which was built by M.C.R.R.
Proposed rebirth as an independent railroad
In July 2007, Norfolk Southern was in talks with Watco, a shortline holding company, to sell the Kalamazoo-Detroit portion of the Michigan Central main line. The proposal was set before the Surface Transportation Board, and was officially endorsed by Amtrak in September 2007.[24][25] In December 2007 the STB rejected the plan, citing concerns over the relationship between the Norfolk Southern and Watco. Labor unions had raised concerns over the transfer of operations to a substantially non-transportation company, under which different labor regulations would apply.[26]
The Maple Leaf is an international passenger train service operated by Amtrak and Via Rail between New York Penn Station in New York City and Union Station in Toronto via the Empire Corridor. Daily service is offered in both directions; the 544-mile (875 km) trip takes approximately 12 hours, including two hours for U.S. or Canadian customs and immigration inspection at either Niagara Falls, New York, or Niagara Falls, Ontario. Although the train uses Amtrak rolling stock exclusively, the train is operated by Via Rail crews while in Canada and by Amtrak crews in the United States. Service began in 1981.
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midwest, along with the intermediate cities of Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Rochester and Syracuse. New York Central was headquartered in New York City's New York Central Building, adjacent to its largest station, Grand Central Terminal.
The Lake Shore Limited is an overnight passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the Northeastern United States, with sections to New York City and Boston. The central segment of the route runs along the southern shore of Lake Erie. East of Chicago, the Lake Shore Limited follows the former main line of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway to South Bend, Toledo, Cleveland, and Buffalo. From here the train takes the Empire Corridor through Rochester and Syracuse to Albany–Rensselaer station in Rensselaer, New York. At that station, the train divides, with one section continuing to Springfield and Boston in Massachusetts, while the other continues along the Empire Corridor to New York City. The train is scheduled for 19+1⁄2–20+1⁄4 hours for the 959 miles (1,543 km) between Chicago and New York, and 21+1⁄2–22 hours for the 1,018 miles (1,638 km) between Chicago and Boston.
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 Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833, and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the south shore of Lake Erie and across northern Indiana. The line's trackage remains a major rail transportation corridor used by Amtrak passenger trains and several freight lines; in 1998, its ownership was split at Cleveland, Ohio, between CSX Transportation to the east and Norfolk Southern Railway in the west.
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.
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.
Central Station was an intercity passenger terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois, at the southern end of Grant Park near Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue. Owned by the Illinois Central Railroad, it also served other companies via trackage rights. It opened in 1893, replacing Great Central Station, and closed in 1972 when Amtrak rerouted services to Union Station. The station building was demolished in 1974. It is now the site of a redevelopment called Central Station, Chicago.
The Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad was a part of the New York Central Railroad system, connecting Buffalo, New York to Niagara Falls. It is still used by CSX for freight and Amtrak for passenger service.
The Canada Southern Railway, also known as CSR, was a railway in southwestern Ontario, Canada, founded on February 28, 1868 as the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway. Its name was changed to Canada Southern Railway on December 24, 1869. The 1868 Act specified that it was to be constructed at a broad gauge of 5 ft 6 in, but that requirement was repealed in the 1869 Act, thus allowing construction at the standard gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in.
The Porter Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the Chicago, Illinois, area. Formerly a part of the main line of the Michigan Central Railroad, it now connects CSX's former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line and the Chicago Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad from the east with the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad towards Blue Island, Illinois.
The Michigan Central Railway Bridge is an out-of-service steel Deck arch bridge spanning the Niagara Gorge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The bridge is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, which purchased the single track structure in 1990. The Canadian corridor and bridge are owned by the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario. The bridge is located just upstream from the older arch-style Whirlpool Rapids Bridge used by Maple Leaf Amtrak passenger trains.
The Kalamazoo Transportation Center is an intermodal complex in downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan. Both Amtrak and Greyhound provide regular service, and the center is also the major downtown transfer hub for Kalamazoo's Metro Transit bus system. It is the second-busiest Amtrak station in Michigan.
The Wolverine is a higher-speed passenger train service operated by Amtrak as part of its Michigan Services. The 304-mile (489 km) line provides three daily round-trips between Chicago and Pontiac, Michigan, via Ann Arbor and Detroit. It carries a heritage train name descended from the New York Central.
The Blue Water is a higher-speed passenger train service operated by Amtrak as part of its Michigan Services. The 319-mile (513 km) route runs from Chicago, Illinois, to Port Huron in Michigan's Blue Water Area, for which the train is named. Major stops are in Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, East Lansing, and Flint.
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 Niagara Rainbow, known as the Empire State Express before 1976, was an American passenger train service operated by Amtrak between New York City and Detroit via Buffalo and Southwestern Ontario in Canada. The service ran between October 31, 1974, and January 31, 1979.
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.
Windsor was a train station in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The station was built by the Michigan Central Railroad in 1911 and subsequently controlled by the Canada Southern Railway. The station served Canada Southern Railway and New York Central trains. Windsor also has another railroad station in town.
The Canadian and later, Canadian-Niagara, was the longest running named international train from Chicago to Upper Canada via Detroit, for its first two decades running to Montreal. This overnight train was operated by the Michigan Central Railroad from Chicago to Detroit, and in a pool arrangement, it operated over Canadian Pacific Railway tracks and used the same train number from Detroit eastward. The train would carry a second section, bound, variously for Buffalo or New York City via Buffalo.
↑ Railroads in North America; Some Historical Facts and An Introduction to an Electronic Database of North American Railroads and Their Evolution by M. C. Hallberg (April 24, 2006) Personal.psu.eduArchived 2008-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Boyd, John D. (December 17, 2007). "NS Venture Stops Short; STB rules against Norfolk Southern, Watco in plan for Michigan short line agreement". Traffic World. p.26.
Railroads in italics meet the revenue specifications for Class I status, but are not technically Class I railroads due to being passenger-only railroads with no freight component.
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