The Saginaw Subdivision is a railroad line in the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. The line runs 105 miles from

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, to

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greate ...

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

owns the line although since 2006, the section from Mt. Morris to Saginaw has been leased to the

Lake State Railway Lake State Railway is a railroad operating in the Saginaw Valley and northeastern quadrant of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The railroad moves large quantities of aggregate and limestone, as well as coal, grain, and chemical products. Some o ...

but is still occasionally used by CSX. The Plymouth to Mt. Morris line was also leased to LSRC starting in March 2019.

History

Before

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

operated trains on the Saginaw Subdivision, it was originally owned by the

Pere Marquette Railway The Pere Marquette Railway 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 connec ...

. In the year 1947, the PM was acquired by the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond ...

. It continued under the control of the C&O until 1973 upon which the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated under ...

assumed operations of the line. In 1980, when the Chessie System merged with the

Seaboard System Railroad The Seaboard System Railroad, Inc. was a US Class I railroad that operated from 1982 to 1986. Since the late 1960s, Seaboard Coast Line Industries had operated the Seaboard Coast Line and its sister railroads—notably the Louisville & Nashville ...

, the line became owned by its current owner, CSX. Over the years the line has lost a lot of traffic and many of the

industrial spur A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

s have since been abandoned. The Flint and Holly Railroad was built by businessman, and later Michigan Governor, Henry H. Crapo in the 1860s to serve his lumber mill. A park near the junction of

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

's Holly Subdivision (a branch line of the old

Grand Trunk Western Railroad The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company is an American subsidiary 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 ...

), is named for him and a Michigan Historical Marker about him and the railroad's section stands there.

Toledo to Plymouth

The line begins in

, where it connects with the Toledo Terminal Division. Heading north, the line comes into the village of Carleton, Michigan. In Carleton, the Conrail Lincoln Secondary branches off and the

's Flat Rock Subdivision crosses. Continuing onto

Wayne, Michigan Wayne is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 17,593 at the 2010 census. Wayne has a long history of automotive and transportation related manufacturing. Ford Motor Company currently has two plants in Way ...

, the line crosses the Michigan Line, operated by Amtrak. CSX trains can interchange with NS here. There is a

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

automobile plant, which requires

autorack An autorack, also known as an auto carrier (also car transporter outside the US), is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks. Autoracks are used to transport new vehicles from factories to ...

cars for loading. North of Wayne, it enters

Plymouth, Michigan Plymouth is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, United States. The population was 9,370 at the 2020 census. The city of Plymouth is surrounded by Plymouth Township, but the two are administered autonomously. Plymouth is a western suburb of Metr ...

. At Plymouth Diamond (MP CH82), the Saginaw Subdivision meets the east-west CSX Plymouth Subdivision-Detroit Subdivision line.Michigan Department of Transportation
Michigan's Rail System
/ref>

Plymouth to Mount Morris

Beyond Plymouth the line crosses the now abandoned Michigan Air Line Railroad in

Wixom Wixom is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 13,498 at the 2010 census. As a western suburb of Metro Detroit, Wixom is about northwest of the city of Detroit. The city was home to the now-demolished Wixo ...

. Then the line continues north. North of Plymouth is the village of

Holly ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

, where the line crosses CN's Holly Subdivision near a historic abandoned depot. In

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fire ...

, it interchanges with

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

's Flint Subdivision at the Atwood Wye. Also in Flint is the McGrew Yard and engine facilities for CSX equipment. In Genesee County, it closely parallels M-54 (Dort Highway) for several miles.

began leasing the line from Plymouth to Mount Morris starting in early March 2019.Lake State Railway to lease 53 miles of CSX track in Michigan
''Trains'', February 26, 2019

Mount Morris to Saginaw

On October 29, 2005, Saginaw Bay Southern Railway (now

) began leasing over 67 miles of

trackage, part of which includes the Saginaw Subdivision from Mount Morris to Saginaw.

Traffic

As with most lines in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, metropolitan area, automobiles are the main source of revenue on the Saginaw Subdivision, although other freight is important for the businesses too. Once a month, a

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, tr ...

contracted

Powder River Basin The Powder River Basin is a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its extensive coal reserves. The former hunting grounds of the Oglala Lakota, the area is very ...

coal train works its way up the line. Plus, local freights diverging onto or off the Lincoln Secondary use the Saginaw Sub to head to or from Toledo.

Passenger service

As of 2019, there is no passenger service on the Saginaw Subdivision.

Pop culture

In the computer game series

Trainz ''Trainz'' is a series of 3D train simulator video games. The Australian studio Auran (since 2007 N3V Games) released the first game in 2001. The simulators consist of route and session editors called ''Surveyor'', and the ''Driver'' module, ...

, the Saginaw Subdivision is available as a user-created route on the Trainz Download Station. In Trainz 2010, it is available as a built-in route.

References

{{Reflist

External links

* CSX Chicago Division Timetable (2005

CSX Transportation lines Rail infrastructure in Michigan Rail infrastructure in Ohio Pere Marquette Railway