![Michigan Central RR 1907](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Michigan_Central_RR_1907.jpg)
The Michigan Central Railroad (
reporting mark
A reporting mark is a code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain rail transport networks. The code typically reflects the name or identifying number of the owner, lessee, or operator of the equip ...
MC) was originally incorporated in 1846 to establish rail service between
Detroit, Michigan
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 ...
, and
St. Joseph, Michigan
St. Joseph, colloquially known as St. Joe, is a city and the county seat of Berrien County, Michigan. It was incorporated as a village in 1834 and as a city in 1891. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,365. It lies on the shore o ...
. The railroad later operated in the states 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 ...
,
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
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and the province of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. After about 1867 the railroad was controlled by 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 later became part of
Penn Central
The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...
and then
Conrail
Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...
. After the 1998 Conrail breakup,
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...
now owns much of the former Michigan Central trackage.
At the end of 1925, MC operated of road and of track; that year it reported 4,304,000 net ton-miles of revenue freight and 600 million passenger-miles.
Genealogy
*Michigan Central Railroad
**Battle Creek and Bay City Railroad 1889
**Buchanan and St. Joseph River Railroad 1897
**Central Railroad of Michigan 1837–1846
***Detroit and St. Joseph Railroad 1831–1837
**Detroit and Bay City Railroad 1881
**Detroit and Charlevoix Railroad 1916
***Frederick and Charlevoix Railroad 1901
**Detroit River Tunnel Company Railroad 1918
**Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad 1871
***
Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad
The Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Michigan during the 1850s and 1860s. Initially planned as an ambitious land grant railroad which would run the length of the Lower Peninsula of Michig ...
1866
***Grand River Valley Railroad 1870
**Joliet and Northern Indiana Railroad 1851
**Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad 1870
**Michigan Air Line Railway 1870
**Michigan Midland and Canada Railroad 1878
**Saginaw Bay and Northwestern Railroad 1884
***Pinconning Railroad 1879
****Glencoe, Pinconning and Lake Shore Railroad 1878
**St. Louis, Sturgis and Battle Creek Railroad 1889
History
The line 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
St. Joseph, Michigan
St. Joseph, colloquially known as St. Joe, is a city and the county seat of Berrien County, Michigan. It was incorporated as a village in 1834 and as a city in 1891. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,365. It lies on the shore o ...
, was originally planned in 1830 to provide
freight
Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transp ...
service between Detroit and
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
by train to St. Joseph and via boat service on to Chicago. The Detroit & St. Joseph Railroad was chartered in 1831 with a capital of $1,500,000. 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
A woodward is a Game warden, warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to:
Places
;United States
* Woodward, Iowa
* Woodward, Oklahoma
* Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place
* Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which b ...
was then known. Note that this is not the location of
Michigan Central Station
Michigan Central Station (also known as Michigan Central Depot or MCS) is the historic former main intercity passenger rail station in Detroit, Michigan. Built for the Michigan Central Railroad, it replaced the original depot in downtown Detroit ...
, which apparently replaced this building.
The small private organization, known then as the Detroit and St. Joseph Railroad, 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 (1813–1898), age 68](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/John_Murray_Forbes_%281813%E2%80%931898%29%2C_age_68.png)
By 1840 the railroad was again out of money and had completed track only between Detroit and
Dexter, Michigan
Dexter is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,067 at the 2010 census.
Dexter Township is located to the northwest and does not border the city, and the two are administered autonomously. The townshi ...
. 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
Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...
, a distance of 143.16 miles.
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 to the shores of
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
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.
![Mich Central Kalamazoo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Mich_Central_Kalamazoo.jpg)
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
Michigan City is a city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City-La Porte, Indiana Metropolitan statistical area, which is included in the Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City Combined sta ...
, 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 in length.
Passenger services
The Michigan Central Railroad (MCR) operated mostly
passenger train
A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...
s between
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
and
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 ...
. These trains ranged from locals to the ''Wolverine''. In 1904, MCR began a long-term lease o
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
Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...
, between Windsor and Fort Erie.
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
The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...
'' passenger train operated in two sections, five days per week along CSR's mainline. 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. 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. However, by the 1930s the ''Wolverine'' was making stops in the Canadian section of the route. Also, by the late 1940s, the ''
Empire State Express
The ''Empire State Express'' was one of the named passenger trains and onetime flagship of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad (a predecessor of the later New York Central Railroad). On September 14, 1891, it covered the 436 miles ...
'' passed from Buffalo into Southwestern Ontario; however, it terminated at Detroit.
While Michigan Central was an independent subsidiary of the
New York Central
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 ...
System, passenger trains were staged from
Illinois Central
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...
's
Central Station
Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
(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
LaSalle Street Station is a commuter rail terminal at 414 South LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago. First used as a rail terminal in 1852, it was a major intercity rail terminal for the New York Central Railroad until 1968, and for the Chicago, R ...
home, where other NYC trains such as the ''
20th Century Limited
The ''20th Century Limited'' was an express passenger train on the New York Central Railroad (NYC) from 1902 to 1967. The train traveled between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago, Illinois, along th ...
'' 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
Porter is a town in Westchester Township, Porter County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 4,858 at the 2010 census. Porter is in the Indiana Dunes ecosystem, which played a role in the creation of The Nature Conservancy, and insp ...
, is mostly intact. The Kensington Interchange, shared with the
South Shore Line
The South Shore Line is an electrically powered interurban commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago and the South Bend International Airport in ...
, was cut out. These tracks now belong to
Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad
The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad is a Class III railroadSurface Transportation BoardThe Belt Railway Company of Chicago -- Trackage Rights Exemption -- Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Company January 9, 2002 in the United States.
Ownership
The IHB ...
, 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
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
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
The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century ...
lightweight rolling stock. Because
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
(
Electro-Motive Division
Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its sub ...
) was a large customer of Michigan Central, use of
Alco
The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...
or
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
locomotives was less common.
Freight services
![Michigan Central Railroad caboose](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Michigan_Central_Railroad_caboose.jpg)
Prior to the automobile, Michigan Central was mostly a carrier of natural resources. Michigan had extensive reserves of
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
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 ever seen by the world, 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
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...
, as did virtually all other railroads operating in Michigan, such as the
Pere Marquette
Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Sainte Marie, and later founded Saint Igna ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
,
Grand Trunk, and
Ann Arbor Railroads. Michigan Central was part owner of the ferry service operated to the
Upper Peninsula
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...
as well as cross-river ferry service to
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, but these routes did not exist to circumvent Chicago.
Service to Canada
![Michigan Central Railway Station London ON LonPL069832f](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Michigan_Central_Railway_Station_London_ON_LonPL069832f.jpg)
The Michigan Central Railroad (MCR) and then parent New York Central Railroad (NYC) owned the
Canada Southern Railroad
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 ...
(CSR), which had lines throughout southwestern Ontario from
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
to
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...
. The railroad operated a car-float service over the
Detroit River
The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively refe ...
; an
immersed tube
An immersed tube (or immersed tunnel) is a kind of undersea tunnel composed of segments, constructed elsewhere and floated to the tunnel site to be sunk into place and then linked together. They are commonly used for road and rail crossings of r ...
tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
below 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.
![Niagara Cantilever Bridge (1892)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Niagara_Cantilever_Bridge_%281892%29.jpg)
Control of Canada Southern passed from MCR to NYC, then Penn Central, then
Conrail
Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...
. In 1985 the Canada Southern was sold to two companies, the
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 ...
and the
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
.
The
Michigan Central Railway Bridge
The Michigan Central Railway Bridge is an out-of-service steel arch bridge spanning the Niagara Gorge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The bridge is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, which purchased the single track str ...
opened in February 1925 and remained in use until the early 21st century. It replaced the earlier
Niagara Cantilever Bridge
The Niagara Cantilever Bridge or Michigan Central Railway Cantilever Bridge was a cantilever bridge across the Niagara Gorge. An international railway-only bridge between Canada and the United States, it connected Niagara Falls, New York, and Nia ...
which had been commissioned in 1883 by
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...
; 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
North America Railway Hall of Fame (NARHF) is a not-for-profit organization housed in the recently restored Canada Southern Railway Station in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. It was founded to maintain, preserve and honor railway history with the in ...
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."
Railroad ferry and car float service
All major Michigan railroads operated a
rail 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 ...
service across
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
except the Michigan Central. This can be attributed to MC's 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 The Mackinac Transportation Company was a train ferry service that shuttled railroad cars across the Straits of Mackinac from 1881 until 1984. It was best known as the owner and operator, from 1911 until 1984, of the SS ''Chief Wawatam'', an icebr ...
, which operated the ''
SS Chief Wawatam
''Chief Wawatam'' (nicknamed ''the Chief'') was a coal-fired steel ship that was based, for most of its 1911–1984 working life, in St. Ignace, Michigan. The vessel was named after a distinguished Ojibwa chief of the 1760s. In initial revenue ...
'' 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
Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
. One ''Chief Wawatam'' engine was salvaged and restored by the
Wisconsin Maritime Museum
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum is a maritime museum in the Lake Michigan port and shipbuilding city of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, U.S.. It preserves and teaches about the maritime history of the Great Lakes and Wisconsin.
History
The museum was foun ...
. 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:
*
Grand Trunk Western
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 holdi ...
, controlled by
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 ...
(operations integrated with and now operated as CN)
*
Pere Marquette
Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Sainte Marie, and later founded Saint Igna ...
, controlled by
C&O (formally merged in 1947 and now owned by
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. ...
)
*
Ann Arbor
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...
(controlled by
Wabash, then
DT&I
The Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad operated from 1905 to 1983 between its namesake cities of Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio, via Toledo. At the end of 1970, it operated 478 miles of road on 762 miles of track; that year it carried 1, ...
; now owned by
Great Lakes Central Railroad
The Great Lakes Central Railroad is an American Class II regional 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 Cen ...
and the new
Ann Arbor Railroad (1988)
The Ann Arbor Railroad is a Class III Railroad that operates fifty miles of track from Toledo, Ohio, to Osmer, Michigan. The railroad is operated by Watco and is based out of Toledo. Prior to Watco, the railroad was operated by the Ann Arbor Acq ...
*
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
(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
The Hagenbeck–Wallace Circus was a circus that traveled across America in the early part of the 20th century. At its peak, it was the second-largest circus in America next to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. It was based in Per ...
train that was stopped near Hammond, Indiana.
The accident resulted in 86 deaths, with another 127 people injured.
Significant stations and structures
Michigan Central Station: Jackson
The MCR passenger station located in Jackson is the oldest continuously operated passenger station in North America, opened in 1873. See
Jackson station (Michigan) for details and photo.
Michigan Central Station: Dexter
![Michigan Central Railroad Dexter Michigan Depot](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Michigan_Central_Railroad_Dexter_Michigan_Depot.JPG)
This 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.
Michigan Central Station: Detroit
![Michigan Central Train Station Exterior 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Michigan_Central_Train_Station_Exterior_2010.jpg)
Michigan Central was the owner of
Michigan Central Station
Michigan Central Station (also known as Michigan Central Depot or MCS) is the historic former main intercity passenger rail station in Detroit, Michigan. Built for the Michigan Central Railroad, it replaced the original depot in downtown Detroit ...
in Detroit. Opened in 1913, the building is of the
Beaux-Arts Classical style of architecture, designed by the
Warren and Wetmore
Warren and Wetmore was an architecture firm in New York City which was a partnership between Whitney Warren (1864–1943) and Charles Delevan Wetmore (June 10, 1866 – May 8, 1941), that had one of the most extensive practices of its time and w ...
and
Reed and Stem
Reed and Stem (present-day WASA Studio) is an American architectural and engineering firm. The firm was founded in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1891 as a partnership between Charles A. Reed (1858–1911) and Allen H. Stem (1856–1931), the success ...
firms who also designed
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
's
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...
. As such, Michigan Central Station bears more than a passing resemblance to New York's famed rail station.
Last used by
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
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.
[Aguilar, Louis (4-8-2008]
Michigan Central Depot owners say 'Roll 'em!'
''The Detroit News''. Retrieved on July 29, 2008. Though listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, the Detroit City Council passed a resolution to demolish the station in April 2009. The council was then 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
The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA; Public Law 89-665; 54 U.S.C. 300101 ''et seq.'') is legislation intended to preserve historic and archaeological sites in the United States of America. The act created the National Register of Historic ...
.
[Associated Pres]
Detroit man sues to block demolition of rail depot
14 April 2009. Accessed online 16 April 2009. The station shows up in the first part of the
Godfrey Reggio
Godfrey Reggio (born March 29, 1940) is an American director of experimental documentary films.
Life
Reggio was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to an old and distinguished Louisiana family descended from Francesco M. de Reggio, an Italian noblem ...
movie ''
Naqoyqatsi
''Naqoyqatsi'', also known as ''Naqoyqatsi: Life as War'', is a 2002 American non-narrative film directed by Godfrey Reggio and edited by Jon Kane, with music composed by Philip Glass. It is the third and final installment in the Qatsi trilogy.
...
'' and is frequently used by
Michael Bay
Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget, high-concept action films characterized by fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of ...
in such films as ''
The Island'' and ''
Transformers
''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...
''. In May 2018,
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
purchased the building for redevelopment into a mixed use facility and cornerstone of the company's new Corktown campus.
Michigan Central Station: Niles
![Picture_of_old_Ann_Arbor_train_station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Picture_of_old_Ann_Arbor_train_station.jpeg)
The
Michigan Central station
Michigan Central Station (also known as Michigan Central Depot or MCS) is the historic former main intercity passenger rail station in Detroit, Michigan. Built for the Michigan Central Railroad, it replaced the original depot in downtown Detroit ...
at
Niles, Michigan
Niles is a city in Berrien and Cass counties in the U.S. state of Michigan, near the Indiana border city of South Bend. In 2010, the population was 11,600 according to the 2010 census. It is the larger, by population, of the two principal cities ...
, is also famous, having appeared in several Hollywood movies. Like its sister station in Detroit, the station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Michigan Central Station: Battle Creek
The
Michigan Central Railroad Depot (Battle Creek, MI)
Battle Creek station, listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Penn Central Railway Station, is a disused train station in Battle Creek, Michigan. It opened on July 27, 1888. Rogers and MacFarlane of Detroit designed the depot, ...
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
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...
as well as presidents
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
and
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
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.
The 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.
Michigan Central Station: Ann Arbor
The former Michigan Central Station in
Ann Arbor
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...
, a granite stone block building built in 1886 and designed by Frederick Spier of
Spier and Rohns
Spier, Rohns & Gehrke was a noted Detroit, Michigan architectural firm operated by Frederick H. Spier and William C. Rohns, best remembered for designs of churches and railroad stations. These were frequently executed in the Richardson Romanesque s ...
, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now houses the
Gandy Dancer
Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers in the United States, more formally referred to as "section hands", who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines.
The British equivalents o ...
Restaurant.
Trail Creek swing bridge
The Michigan Central also built and operated a
swing bridge
A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...
over Trail Creek at
Michigan City, Indiana
Michigan City is a city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City-La Porte, Indiana Metropolitan statistical area, which is included in the Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City Combined sta ...
. 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
A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...
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
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 of ...
now operates the remnants former Detroit-Mackinaw City line from
Bay City to
Gaylord
Gaylord is a name of Norman French origin, from the Old French ''gaillard'' meaning "joyful" or "high-spirited". It may refer to:
People
*Gaylord (given name)
Surname
*Bill Gaylord (born 1967), British former alpine skier
*Charles Gaylord (1936 ...
, which is partially owned by the state of Michigan. What remained of CASO was mostly abandoned by
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 ...
in 2011, after seeing little to no traffic for years.
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
owns the Detroit line from
Porter, Indiana
Porter is a town in Westchester Township, Porter County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 4,858 at the 2010 census. Porter is in the Indiana Dunes ecosystem, which played a role in the creation of The Nature Conservancy, and insp ...
, to
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...
, while the state of Michigan owns the line from there to
Dearborn, Michigan
Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...
. 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 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 ...
trains each way per day, under the old banner ''
Wolverine
The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...
''. The Port Huron train (the ''
Blue Water
Maritime geography is a collection of terms used by naval military units to loosely define three maritime regions: brown water, green water, and blue water.
Definitions
The elements of maritime geography are loosely defined and their meanings hav ...
'') also uses this line as far east as
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, Michigan, Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle C ...
. Both
Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...
and
Niles have retained their old Michigan Central Stations; the Niles station is occasionally portrayed in film.
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
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Intersta ...
, and was officially endorsed by
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
in September 2007. In December 2007 the STB rejected the plan, citing concerns over the relationship between the Norfolk Southern and Watco.
Labor union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
s had raised concerns over the transfer of operations to a substantially non-transportation company, under which different labor regulations would apply.
See also
*
Michigan Central Railway Bridge
The Michigan Central Railway Bridge is an out-of-service steel arch bridge spanning the Niagara Gorge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The bridge is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, which purchased the single track str ...
connecting
Niagara Falls, New York
Niagara Falls is a City (New York), city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 48,671. It is adjacent to the Niagara River, across from the city of Niagara ...
to
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...
*
Michigan Central Railway Tunnel
The Michigan Central Railway Tunnel is a railroad tunnel under the Detroit River connecting Detroit, Michigan, in the United States with Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. The U.S. entrance is south of Porter and Vermont streets near Rosa Parks Bouleva ...
connecting
Detroit, Michigan
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 ...
to
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...
References
External links
MCRR homepage at Michigan's Internet Railroad History Museum*
Inductees , August, 2013br>
Railroad Wreck: MCRR at Botsford Yard, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1924History of Detroit 1780-1850; financial and commercial. Burton. 114-122Tackabury's atlas of the State of Michigan Walling. 146-147
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michigan Central Railroad
Predecessors of the New York Central Railroad
Railroads transferred to Conrail
Defunct Illinois railroads
Defunct Indiana railroads
Defunct Michigan railroads
Defunct Ontario railways
Defunct New York (state) railroads
Defunct Ohio railroads
Railroads in the Chicago metropolitan area
West Michigan
Former Class I railroads in the United States
Railway companies established in 1846
Railway companies disestablished in 1976
Spier & Rohns buildings
Standard gauge railways in the United States
1846 establishments in Michigan
Railroads controlled by the Vanderbilt family
American companies established in 1846