The Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad (DL&LM) is a defunct railroad which built and operated the first rail line between

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and the state capital

Lansing Lansing () is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. It is the sixth-most populous city in Michigan with a popul ...

. Though the corporation was short-lived, much of the route it placed in service is still in use by

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

History

Corporate

The DL&LM was formed April 11, 1871 by a merger of the

Detroit, Howell and Lansing Railroad The Detroit, Howell and Lansing Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in central and southeast Michigan during the early 1870s. The company formed on March 29, 1870 through the consolidation of the Detroit and Howell and the Howell and L ...

, the Ionia and Lansing Railroad, and the Ionia, Stanton and Northern Railroad. The DL&LM was sold under foreclosure on December 14, 1876 and reorganized under the name of

Detroit, Lansing and Northern 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 ...

. At the end of April, 1873, the railroad was mortgaged for over $6 million, though the DH&LM placed its own value at that time as just short of $4.2 million. But with a profit of more than $400,000 on revenues of $940,000, the firm's future must have seemed bright to president J. F. Joy, who had taken over from H.H. Smith at the end of 1872. Notwithstanding the 1876 reorganization, the corporation was not legally dissolved until July 15, 1998.

Operational

At the time of the merger, all three railroads existed mostly on paper, but on June 30, 1871, DL&LM opened the segment between

and

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, with the segment from Plymouth to

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

following on July 1. The Brighton- Williamston-

segment became operational on August 31, 1871, completing the first rail link between Detroit and Lansing. By the end of 1872, the DL&LM reported 189 miles of track, including a 164-mile mainline, all built with iron rail. All 156 grade crossings were uncontrolled. The longest bridge was a 1650-ft wooden truss and trestle at Ionia. System-wide speed limits were 21 mph for passenger trains, and 10 mph for freights. Total annual traffic miles for 1872 were 674,505, with just 23% due to passenger traffic.1872 Annual Report After passing in short order through several other hands, the Detroit-Lansing route built by the DL&LM became part of the mainline of the Pere Marquette Railroad on January 1, 1900. Subsequent owners were 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 Potter Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Rich ...

and the Chessie System. It is currently owned by

and operated as the Plymouth Subdivision of the CSX Chicago Division.

Notes

References

* Defunct Michigan railroads Railway companies established in 1871 Railway companies disestablished in 1876 1871 establishments in Michigan {{Michigan-transport-stub