Michigan Central Railroad Maple Leaf Logo Heavy Steel Sign 14" Round New DL

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Michigan Central Railroad Maple Leaf Logo Heavy Steel Sign 14" Round New DL From Wiki: 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 the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada. After about 1867 the railroad was controlled by the New York Central Railroad, which later became part of Penn Central and then Conrail. After the 1998 Conrail breakup Norfolk Southern now owns much of the former Michigan Central trackage. At the end of 1925 MC operated 1871 miles of road and 4139 miles of track; that year it reported 4304 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 600 million passenger-miles. Genealogy •Michigan Central Railroad[1] ◦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 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 and St. Joseph, Michigan 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 Detroit & St. Joseph Railroad was chartered in 1831 with a capital of $1,500,000.[2] 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. Michigan Central train arriving in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1887. 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. 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, a distance 143.16 miles.[3] 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 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. 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 by 1850 and finished the line to Chicago in 1852. The completed railroad was 270 miles in length.[3] Passenger services The Michigan Central Railroad (MCR) operated mostly passenger trains between Chicago and Detroit. These trains ranged from locals to the Wolverine. In 1904, MCR began a long-term lease of 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, between Windsor and Fort Erie.[4] 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 passenger train operated in two sections, five days per week along CSR's mainline.[5] 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.[6] 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 Hudson – one of the most powerful locomotives for passenger service yet designed – was hauling passengers along the CSR mainline.[7] 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 operations were completely integrated 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 an 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. Freight services Loading dock with a Michigan Central boxcar in 1920 A Michigan Central caboose. 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. Service to Canada Michigan Central Station in London, ON, ca. 1890 Michigan Central steel gondolas seen in Port Stanley, ON in 1915. The Michigan Central Railroad (MCR) and then parent New York Central Railroad (NYC) owned the Canada Southern Railroad (CSR), which had lines throughout southwestern Ontario from Windsor to Niagara Falls. The railroad operated a car-float service over the Detroit River; an immersed tube tunnel 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. Control of Canada Southern passed from MCR to NYC, then Penn Central, then Conrail. In 1985 the Canada Southern was sold to Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. It should be noted that the MCR Cantilever Bridge at Niagara Falls was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame in 2006. The structure was inducted as having significance to the railway industry in category of "North America: Facilities & Structures."[8] Railroad ferry and car float service All major Michigan railroads operated a rail 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 the Mackinac Transportation Company, which operated the SS 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 continued to operate until 2009, cut down to a barge. One Chief Wawatam engine was salvaged and restored by the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. 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. Chicago Mackinaw mackinac st ignace Houghton Grand Rapids Warren Sterling Heights Lansing Ann Arbor Flint Dearborn Livonia Westland Troy Westland Farmington Hills Kalamazoo Southfield St. Clair Shores Novi Battle Creek Saginaw Roseville Mackinaw mackinac st ignace Houghton Grand Rapids Warren Sterling Heights Lansing Ann Arbor Flint Dearborn Livonia Westland Troy Westland Farmington Hills Kalamazoo Southfield St. Clair Shores Novi Battle Creek Saginaw Roseville Ypsilanti Howell Durand Owasso frankfurt
Michigan Central Railroad Maple Leaf Logo Heavy Steel Sign 14" Round New DL From Wiki: 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 the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada. After about 1867 the railroad was controlled by the New York Central Railroad, which later became part of Penn Central and then Conrail. After the 1998 Conrail breakup Norfolk Southern now owns much of the former Michigan Central trackage. At the end of 1925 MC operated 1871 miles of road and 4139 miles of track; that year it reported 4304 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 600 million passenger-miles. Genealogy •Michigan Central Railroad[1] ◦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 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 and St. Joseph, Michigan 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 Detroit & St. Joseph Railroad was chartered in 1831 with a capital of $1,500,000.[2] 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. Michigan Central train arriving in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1887. 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. 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, a distance 143.16 miles.[3] 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 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. 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 by 1850 and finished the line to Chicago in 1852. The completed railroad was 270 miles in length.[3] Passenger services The Michigan Central Railroad (MCR) operated mostly passenger trains between Chicago and Detroit. These trains ranged from locals to the Wolverine. In 1904, MCR began a long-term lease of 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, between Windsor and Fort Erie.[4] 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 passenger train operated in two sections, five days per week along CSR's mainline.[5] 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.[6] 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 Hudson – one of the most powerful locomotives for passenger service yet designed – was hauling passengers along the CSR mainline.[7] 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 operations were completely integrated 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 an 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. Freight services Loading dock with a Michigan Central boxcar in 1920 A Michigan Central caboose. 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. Service to Canada Michigan Central Station in London, ON, ca. 1890 Michigan Central steel gondolas seen in Port Stanley, ON in 1915. The Michigan Central Railroad (MCR) and then parent New York Central Railroad (NYC) owned the Canada Southern Railroad (CSR), which had lines throughout southwestern Ontario from Windsor to Niagara Falls. The railroad operated a car-float service over the Detroit River; an immersed tube tunnel 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. Control of Canada Southern passed from MCR to NYC, then Penn Central, then Conrail. In 1985 the Canada Southern was sold to Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. It should be noted that the MCR Cantilever Bridge at Niagara Falls was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame in 2006. The structure was inducted as having significance to the railway industry in category of "North America: Facilities & Structures."[8] Railroad ferry and car float service All major Michigan railroads operated a rail 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 the Mackinac Transportation Company, which operated the SS 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 continued to operate until 2009, cut down to a barge. One Chief Wawatam engine was salvaged and restored by the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. 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. Chicago Mackinaw mackinac st ignace Houghton Grand Rapids Warren Sterling Heights Lansing Ann Arbor Flint Dearborn Livonia Westland Troy Westland Farmington Hills Kalamazoo Southfield St. Clair Shores Novi Battle Creek Saginaw Roseville Mackinaw mackinac st ignace Houghton Grand Rapids Warren Sterling Heights Lansing Ann Arbor Flint Dearborn Livonia Westland Troy Westland Farmington Hills Kalamazoo Southfield St. Clair Shores Novi Battle Creek Saginaw Roseville Ypsilanti Howell Durand Owasso frankfurt
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