Detroit and Mackinac Railway

Detroit and Mackinac Railway
D&M 25011, now on display at the Great Overland Station in Topeka, Kansas
Reporting mark D&M, DM
Locale Michigan
Dates of operation 1894–1992
Successor Lake State Railway
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Detroit and Mackinac Railway (reporting marks D&M, DM), informally known as the "Turtle Line", was a railroad in the northeastern part of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The main line ran from Bay City north to Cheboygan; it operated from 1894 to 1992.

At the end of 1925 it incorporated 375 miles of road and 470 miles of track; that year the Turtle Line reported 81 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 7 million passenger-miles. In 1967 it reported 124 million ton-miles on 224 miles of road.

History

The Detroit, Bay City & Alpena Railroad, was a 3 ft 2 in (965 mm) narrow gauge[1] short line operated from Bay City northward to the Lake Huron port of Alpena. The line was converted to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge in 1886[2] and was reorganized into the Detroit and Mackinac (D&M) on December 17, 1894. During the late 1890s and the first decade of the Twentieth Century, the timber resources of northeastern Michigan were fully utilized and the D&M expanded its trackage northward from Alpena to Cheboygan. The Bay City-Cheboygan main line prospered, and a stone passenger depot was constructed in Harrisville.[3]

The main constituent of the freight service offered by the D&M and its predecessor railroads was timber from what was then the vast forests of northeastern Michigan; the D&M built spurs and branch lines to the forested areas.[4] Another branch line served the limestone quarries of Rogers City. In 1922, the railroad also had branch lines to Au Gres, Comins, Curran, Hillman, Lincoln, Prescott, and Rose City.[5]

The D&M mainline from Bay City to Alpena offered sleeping car and meal services between Detroit and Alpena in the 1930s. By the 1940s, meal services had disappeared, with sleeping cars and Detroit connections gone by the 1950s. Passenger service was eliminated by 1955.[4]

In the 1940s, D&M had enough revenue to be a Class I railroad and it was one of the first such to eliminate steam locomotives in 1948.

In March 1976, the Detroit & Mackinac acquired a combination of trackage and operating trackage rights from the remains of the bankrupt Penn Central that created an alternate main line from Bay City northward, through Gaylord and Cheboygan, to Mackinaw City. However, adverse economic conditions continued to affect railroad operations in the northeastern United States. The road was sold to the Lake State Railway in 1992, and ended its existence as an independent railroad.

The Detroit & Mackinac called itself the "Turtle Line" and its logo symbol was "Mackinac Mac".[6] The railroad bore the hostile backronym of "Defeated & Maltreated".

Legacy

The Lake State Railway continued as of 2012 to use traditional handheld technology (picks, shovels, hammers) to replace railroad ties and make other roadbed repairs on surviving trackage that had previously been part of the Detroit and Mackinac system.[7]

A collection of D&M artifacts, including a 1920s switching engine, are housed at the depot in Lincoln, Michigan. The stone depot in Standish, Michigan is also a museum, with rolling stock. The railroad's GE 44-ton locomotive, #10, has been preserved by the Southern Michigan Railroad Society. 0-6-0 Locomotive #8 (Baldwin Locomotive Works #41228) is preserved and awaiting restoration in storage at The Henry Ford (Greenfield Village) in Dearborn, Michigan.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Llanso, Steve. "Detroit, Bay City & Alpena 2-4-0 "Porter" Locomotives of the USA". Sweat House Media. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  2. ↑ Commission, Michigan Railroad (1 January 1896). "Annual Report" – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ "How Harrisville got a Stone Depot". Alpena Argus. September 24, 1902. p. Page 8. Retrieved December 20, 2016 – via Michigan's Internet Railroad History Museum.
  4. 1 2 "A Midwest Regional Railroad — 1930's - 1940's Detroit and Mackinac Railway". Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Detroit and Mackinac Railway Time Table". Michigan's Internet Railroad History Museum. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  6. ↑ Detroit and Mackinac Railway photographs. Archived January 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "The American Railroads: A Long And Storied History". American-Rails.com. Retrieved December 20, 2016.

Further reading

  • Wakeman, George L., My Story of the Detroit & Mackinac Railroad Library of Michigan, Lansing, 1940.
  • Detroit and Mackinac Railway Historical Society home page
  • "Detroit and Mackinac Railway photographs and history". Archived from the original on 2016-01-13 – via Internet Archive.
  • Detroit and Mackinac Railway System Map.
  • The American Railroads: A Long and Storied History.
  • Detroit and Mackinac Railway Time Table
  • Detroit and Mackinac Railway, Photographic roster
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