Michigan Central Railroad
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| Michigan Central Railroad | |
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| Locale | Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ontario |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge) |
The Michigan Central Railroad was originally incorporated in 1837 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada. Starting in about 1867, the railroad was operated as part of the New York Central Railroad, which later became part of Penn Central and then Conrail. With the 1998 Conrail breakup, Norfolk Southern now owns much of the former Michigan Central trackage.
[edit] History
The line between Detroit and St. Joseph was originally planned in 1830 to provide freight service between Detroit and Chicago by train to St. Joseph and via boat service on to Chicago. 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 was then known. Note that this is not the location of Michigan Central Station, 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 Michigan Central Railroad.
By 1840 the railroad was again out of money and had only completed track between Detroit and Dexter, Michigan. 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.
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 corporation also changed the western terminus from St. Joseph to Chicago, and it completed the line to Chicago in 1852.
[edit] Passenger services
The Michigan Central Railroad operated passenger trains between Chicago and Detroit mostly. These trains ranged from locals to the crack Wolverine. Some trains were forwarded over the Canada Southern Railroad to Buffalo and New York City. While Michigan Central was an independent subsidiary of the New York Central System, passenger trains were staged from Illinois Central's Central Station as a tenant. When MC was formally merged into NYC in the 1950s, trains were re-deployed to NYC's LaSalle Street Station home, where other NYC trains such as the 20th Century Limited 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 to Porter, Indiana, is now mostly gone. The Kensington Interchange, shared with the South Shore Line, was cut out. These tracks now belong to Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, and are overgrown stub tracks ending short of the interchange. Amtrak 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 a EMD E-series locomotive and Pullman-Standard lightweight rolling stock. Because General Motors was a large customer of Michigan Central, use of Alco or General Electric locomotives was less common.
[edit] Freight services
Prior to the automobile, Michigan Central was mostly a carrier of natural resources. Michigan had extensive reserves of timber 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, as did virtually all other railroads operating in Michigan, such as the Pere Marquette, Pennsylvania, Grand Trunk, and Ann Arbor Railroads. Michigan Central was part owner of the ferry service operated to the Upper Peninsula as well as cross-river ferry service to Ontario, but these routes did not exist to circumvent Chicago.
[edit] Service to Canada
The Michigan Central and then parent New York Central owned the Canada Southern Railroad across Ontario from Windsor to Niagara Falls. The railroad operated a car-float service over the Detroit River, a tunnel below the Detroit River, and a bridge at Niagara Falls. The tunnel was originally electrified at 600vDC, similar to parent New York Central's Grand Central electrification. With the advent of diesels, the electrification was dropped. Control of Canada Southern passed from MC to NYC, then Penn Central, then Conrail. During the first decade of Conrail, both the Detroit River tunnels and Canada Southern were sold to Canadian Pacific. These tunnels have been enlarged to allow loads through that were previously floated over. The car float operation is no longer in service.
[edit] Railroad ferry and car float service
All major Michigan railroads operated a ferry service across Lake Michigan 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 Mackinaw Transportation Company, which operated the Chief Wawatam until 1984. The Chief Wawatam was a front-loading, coal-fired, hand-fed steamer. It was the last hand-fired steamer in the free world at its long-overdue retirement in 1984. The Chief Wawatam still exists, cut down to a barge. One Chief Wawatam engine was salvaged and restored by the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. Car floats also ran across the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario, for high and wide loads that could not fit through the tunnels.
[edit] Competitors
The major competitors of the Michigan Central were:
- Grand Trunk Western, controlled by Canadian National (formally merged with and now operated as CN)
- Pere Marquette, controlled by C&O (formally merged in 1947 and now owned by CSX)
- Ann Arbor (controlled by Wabash, then DT&I; now owned by various railroads)
- Pennsylvania Railroad (merged into Penn Central with MC/NYC, then into Conrail; owned by various railroads)
[edit] Significant stations and structures
Michigan Central was the owner of Michigan Central Station in Detroit. This grand old station still stands, abandoned and crumbling. There are virtually no windows intact of the thousands originally built.
The Michigan Central station at Niles, Michigan, is also famous. It has been in movies and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Michigan Central also built and operated a swing bridge over Trail Creek at Michigan City, Indiana. 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.
[edit] Joliet Line
The Joliet Line, diverging at Porter, Indiana from the main line and running through Dyer and Chicago Heights to Joliet, is now a little-used line owned by Norfolk Southern Railway. Its termination points are now west of Griffith, Indiana north of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway main tracks and at State Street in Chicago Heights, between the Union Pacific yard and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway main tracks.
The section between Western Avenue in Park Forest and Park Road in Joliet Township is now the Old Plank Trail (http://www.oprt.org/), and the section in Lake Station, Indiana between Fayette Street and Grand Boulevard is now the Fairview Walkway.
[edit] Historic equipment
No historic Michigan Central-specific equipment exists today. After the steam era, most equipment was lettered for New York Central. Any example of 1957-1968 New York Central equipment is likely representative of Michigan Central equipment after the birth of the diesel era and formal merger into NYC.
[edit] Modern operations
As mentioned above, the MC was merged formally into NYC in the 1950s. Today, Norfolk Southern owns most trackage not abandoned in the early 1980s. Amtrak owns the Detroit line from Porter, Indiana, to Kalamazoo, Michigan. This line is a projected "high speed" line; however, speeds do not top 100 miles per hour yet. Amtrak operates three Chicago-Detroit-Pontiac trains each way per day. The Port Huron train also uses this line as far as Battle Creek, Michigan. The Niles Amtrak Station at Niles, Michigan, is still in operation. This is a historic station that has been in movies in the past.
[edit] 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, and was officially endorsed by Amtrak in September 2007.[1][2] In December of 2007 the STB rejected the plan, citing concerns over the relationship between the Norfolk Southern and Watco. Labor unions had raised concerns over the transfer of operations to a substantially non-transportation company, under which different labor regulations would apply.[3]
[edit] See also
- Michigan Central Railway Tunnel connecting Detroit, Michigan to Windsor, Ontario
- Michigan Central Railway Bridge connecting Niagara Falls, New York to Niagara Falls, Ontario
[edit] References
- ^ Michigan Central Railway (reprinted by AllAmericanPatriots.com) (2007-09-18). "Amtrak and Michigan Central Railway Reach Agreement to Support Michigan Passenger Rail Service". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
- ^ Gerring, Nicole. "Amtrak lines to get new owner", Port Huron, Michigan: Times Herald, 2007-09-20. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
- ^ Boyd, John D.. "NS Venture Stops Short; STB rules against Norfolk Southern, Watco in plan for Michigan short line agreement", Traffic World, December 17, 2007, p. 26. Retrieved on 2008-02-11.
[edit] External links
- MCRR homepage at Michigan's Internet Railroad History Museum
- Historical Railroad Maps from The Library of Congress
- Railroad Wreck: MCRR at Botsford Yard, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1924
- Niles-South Bend Branch Photos
- Michigan Central Station, Detroit Michigan
- History of Detroit 1780-1850; financial and commercial. Burton. 114-122
- Tackabury's atlas of the State of Michigan Walling. 146-147
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