The Michigan Air Line Railroad was a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

across southern

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 ...

, connecting the

Canada Southern Railway 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 ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Only part of the line was built before the company that first built it folded, and it was split between the

Michigan Central Railroad The Michigan Central Railroad (reporting mark MC) was originally incorporated in 1846 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in ...

(part of the

New York Central Railroad 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 Midw ...

, which also acquired the Canada Southern Railway) and the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rai ...

, which completed the line.

History

The Grand Trunk Railway was chartered in

and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, and the two companies merged in July and August 1868, just after the

was chartered, to form the Michigan Air Line Railroad. The Michigan Air Line and Canada Southern planned to form a continuous line from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

west to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

via a

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train f ...

across the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River (french: Rivière Sainte-Claire) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron int ...

. In 1871 the line was planned as part of a longer Portland, Rutland, Oswego and Chicago Railroad, but that fell through. On 11 October 1870 the St. Joseph Valley Railroad was merged into the company, providing a branch from Niles south to

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...

. That line had opened in

Spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

1870. The main line was completed in February 1871, and ran from Niles east to

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Q ...

and from

Romeo Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a priest ...

east to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, and was leased to the

(as part of a shorter route between

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 th ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

). The Michigan Midland and Canada Railway was chartered in 1872 to continue east from Richmond to the

, and opened in 1873 as part of the

. However, due to financial problems, the part between Jackson and Romeo was not built. The east part, from Romeo to Richmond, was split off on 2 October 1872 as the St. Clair and Chicago Air Line Railroad, which leased the unbuilt St. Clair River, Pontiac and Jackson Railroad. The company went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

in 1873, and on November 18, 1875 it was sold at

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mortg ...

, with those lines east of Pontiac sold to the Michigan Air Line Railway. That company made arrangements for operation by the

(which passed through Richmond). On 1 January 1881, the Grand Trunk leased the company, and the line was extended west to

on 1 September 1884. The line from

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

to South Lyon was built on the planned

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

of the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Eastern Railroad. In 1916 the Michigan Air Line Railroad merged with the Michigan Central and ceased to exist as an independent company; the Michigan Air Line Railway merged with the Grand Trunk Western in 1928. In 1984, Grand Trunk Western sold an 8-mile stretch of track between Wixom (

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. ...

line) and West Bloomfield in Oakland County to Coe Rail, Inc. It operated the Michigan Star Clipper Dinner Train and a small freight division. In 2006, Railmark Holdings acquired Coe Rail and in 2007, it renamed the line to the Michigan Air-Line Railway, essentially back to its original name. The Michigan Star Clipper Dinner Train made its last excursion on 31 December 2008 and was retired from service completely in January 2009. On 12 November 2009, Railmark sold the Michigan Air-Line Railway to the Nebraska-based Browner Turnout Company. In January 2011,

Michigan Air-Line Railway The Michigan Air–Line Railway was a short-line railroad in Oakland County, Michigan. It ran from West Bloomfield, Michigan to Wixom, Michigan, where it connected to CSX. The headquarters and station were in Walled Lake, Michigan. The name was ...

applied to abandon its route, resulting in freight operations ending in December 2011.''

Trains In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

'' magazine, May 2011, p. 11. The railroad saw its last trains on 25 March 2012, consisting of moving equipment from Walled Lake to Wixom. It was removed between Wixom and West Bloomfield beginning in May of 2012. This left the last original main-line segment of the original Michigan Air Line Railroad abandoned. In February 2015, the city of Walled Lake began drafting plans to convert the Wixom to West Bloomfield portion into a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

known as the

Michigan Air Line Trail The Michigan Air Line Trail was a working title for a non-motorized pathway running across the southern portion of Michigan's Lower Peninsula from Port Huron (Lake Huron) to South Haven (Lake Michigan). The trail is now known as the Great Lake t ...

. The pedestrian bridge over M-5 was completed in 2018, with the remainder of the trail finished in 2020. This completes the continuous trail from Wixom to Pontiac. As of May 2019, portions of the original railroad continue to serve many industries, but these lines are no longer mainline routes; they are only smaller spurs.

References

External links

History of the Michigan Air-Line Railroad CompanySouth Lyon Depot (Witch's Hat)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michigan Air Line Railroad Companies affiliated with the Michigan Central Railroad Grand Trunk Railway subsidiaries Defunct Michigan railroads Defunct Indiana railroads Defunct Illinois railroads Predecessors of the New York Central Railroad Predecessors of the Grand Trunk Railway Railway companies established in 1868 Railway companies disestablished in 1916 1868 establishments in Michigan

History

See also

References

External links