 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Muskegon, Michigan |
| Reporting mark | MMRR |
| Locale | Michigan |
| Dates of operation | 1987 [1] – |
| Predecessor | CSX Transportation |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 39.8 miles |
The Mid-Michigan Railroad( reporting mark MMRR) is a railroad owned by Genesee & Wyoming. [2] It operates 39.8 miles of track in Michigan. [2]
The company incorporated in 1987, [2] for the purpose of acquiring railway lines from the CSX Corporation. The company was owned at inception by RailTex, a Texas-based holding company which owned many short line railroads. The Mid-Michigan bought two lines from CSX:Elmdale – Greenville and Paines – Elwell. [3] In 1999 it sold the southernmost 5.6 miles (9.0 km) of Elmdale line, Elmdale– Malta, back to CSX. [4]
The only remaining line on the Mid-Michigan is the line from Alma to Paines. The line from Lowell to Greenville was sold back to Grand Rapids Eastern Railroad and soon after removed for a bike trail in 2009. Corn and soybeans are the main commodities hauled. The railroad interchanges with the Great Lakes Central Railroad at Alma and the Lake State Railway at Paines. [5]
The railroad's traffic comes mainly from grain products, such as corn and soybeans. The MMRR hauled around 5,100 carloads in 2008. [2]
The Harbor Springs Railway was a 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge railway built at Harbor Springs, Michigan on Little Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan. It was nicknamed the Hemlock Central because of the great numbers of hemlock trees growing in the area. The railway was chartered by Ephraim Shay, the inventor of the Shay locomotive, on February 2, 1902, but may have started construction as early as December 10, 1900.
The Indiana Southern Railroad is a Class III, short line railroad operating in the United States state of Indiana. It began operations in 1992 as a RailTex property and was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. RailAmerica was itself acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in December 2012.
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 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 Saginaw and Mount Pleasant Railroad was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad (F&PM). It was established to construct a 14.7-mile (23.7 km) railway line from a junction with the F&PM main line at Coleman, Michigan, to Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The line opened on December 15, 1879, as a 3 ft narrow gauge line. In mid-1884 the line was converted to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge. On January 31, 1889 the company was formally merged into the F&PM along with the East Saginaw and St. Clair Railroad, the Saginaw and Clare County Railroad, and the Manistee Railroad.
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 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 Alpena and Northern Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated briefly in northern Michigan during the 1890s.
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.
Michigan United Railways (MUR) was an interurban which owned and leased numerous lines in the state of Michigan during the early twentieth century.
The Lansing, St. Johns and St. Louis Railway was an electric interurban railway which briefly operated independently in central Michigan during the early 20th century. It was the site of a failed attempt to introduce alternating current to the interurban scene.
The St. Joseph Valley Rail Road is a defunct railroad which operated in southern Michigan during the mid-19th 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 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.
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 Rogers City Branch was a railway line in Presque Isle County, Michigan. It ran north from a junction with the Detroit and Mackinac Railway main line near Posen, Michigan, to Rogers City, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Huron. The Detroit and Mackinac opened the line in 1911, and it was abandoned by the Lake State Railway in 2000. A major customer on the branch was the limestone quarry in Calcite, east of Rogers City.
