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Grand Trunk Western Railroad

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Grand Trunk Western Railroad
Overview
HeadquartersDetroit, Michigan
Reporting markGTW
LocaleMichigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio
Dates of operation1928–

The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company (reporting mark GTW) is an important American subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway (reporting mark CN) operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971 the railroad has been under CN’s subsidiary holding company the Grand Trunk Corporation. Grand Trunk Western’s routes are part of CN’s Midwest Division.[1] Its primary mainline between Chicago, Illinois and Port Huron, Michigan serves as a connection between railroad interchanges in Chicago and rail lines in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. The railroad’s extensive trackage in Detroit, Michigan and across southern lower Michigan has made it an essential link for the automotive industry as a hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants.

Early History

A 1912 postcard of the Grand Trunk Depot at Charlotte, Michigan built in 1885 by GTW predecessor Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway

Grand Trunk Western grew out of a collection of rail lines which included:

Mainline

Grand Trunk Western began as a route for the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada (GTR) to link its line to Chicago through lower Michigan. GTR’s objective was to have a mainline from shipping ports in Portland, Maine to rail connections in Chicago through southern Ontario and Quebec that would serve Toronto and Montreal.[2] [3]
In 1859 the Grand Trunk completed its route to Sarnia, Ontario and began a ferry service across the St. Clair River to Port Huron. GTR would lease the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railroad to reach Detroit and from there would then run over the Michigan Central Railroad’s line from Detroit into Chicago.[3] It was on the line from Port Huron to Detroit that a 12-year-old Thomas Edison held his first job as a newsboy and candy butcher onboard passenger trains.[4] Grand Trunk would establish its own route to Chicago across Michigan when the New York Central Railroad’s William Vanderbilt took over control of the Michigan Central in 1878. [4] GTR sought to put together a route by acquiring three railroads it had already been sending some of its Chicago bound trains on since 1877. [3] The Chicago and Lake Huron Railroad, the Chicago and Northeastern Railroad (C&NE) and the Peninsular Railway of Michigan and Indiana together formed a direct route from Port Huron through Flint and Lansing, Michigan to Valparaiso, Indiana where it connected into Chicago on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. However, Vanderbilt owned the Chicago and Northeastern section of the route from Flint to Lansing and would charge Grand Trunk higher rates to move its freight over the line. Vanderbilt would soon sell the C&NE to Grand Trunk when GTR bought the other two lines in 1879 and proposed building its own route between Flint and Lansing just north of Vanderbilt’s line. [3] Grand Trunk completed its own route into Chicago from Valparaiso in 1880 and incorporated the entire line from Port Huron to Chicago as the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway.[5]

More Routes

Over the next two decades through either leases or purchases Grand Trunk would acquire several other branch lines in Michigan. It would take control of the Michigan Air-Line Railway through a lease in 1881. The line connected with the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction at Richmond, Michigan and ran to Jackson, Michigan through Romeo and Pontiac.[6] When Grand Trunk purchased the Great Western Railway in 1882 it also acquired the Detroit Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway (DGH&M) which Great Western had owned since 1877. [7] The DGH&M gave Grand trunk a route from Detroit through Pontiac, Durand and Grand Rapids to Grand Haven, Michigan where it would begin its Lake Michigan railcar ferry operations in 1902.[5] The DGH&M would connect with the Chicago and Grand Trunk at Durand and with the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction in Detroit. Durand would become a major junction point for Grand Trunk when it continued to increase its mileage. It acquired the 96 mile Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway from Ashley, Michigan to Muskegon, Michigan in 1888. GTR would obtain trackage rights to reach the line at Ashley from Durand with the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan Railway, the predecessor of the Ann Arbor Railroad.[3] Grand Trunk acquired a route into Saginaw, Michigan in 1890 with the lease of the Cincinnati, Saginaw & Mackinaw Railroad from Durand to Bay City, Michigan. The line was the last to be held as a leased property until January 1943 when it was fully merged into Grand Trunk Western.[3]

Western Division

By 1900 Grand Trunk would unite the operations of the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway and all of its lines in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana under a subsidiary company called the Grand Trunk Western Railway Company. The name derived from the fact that GTR’s rail lines west of the St. Clair and Detroit rivers were referred to as its Western Division. The lines had also operated under the name Grand Trunk Railway System.[4] Pontiac also continued to become another important junction point when the Pontiac Oxford and Northern Railroad was acquired in 1909. It ran north from Pontiac to Caseville in Michigan’s thumb region.[8] By 1910 GTW would have a network of trackage connecting all of lower Michigan’s major manufacturing cities when it acquired a lease on a short branch of the Chicago, Kalamazoo and Saginaw Railroad giving it access to Kalamazoo, Michigan. A few years before in 1902 GTW had gained access into Ohio with its shared ownership of the Detroit and Toledo Shore Line Railroad. The line was a small carrier that had a multi-track mainline bridging Detroit and Toledo, Ohio and was purchased equally by GTW and the Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad, a predecessor of the Nickel Plate Road.[4] GTW eventually took complete control of the line when it bought Nickel Plate’s half interest from its successor Norfolk and Western Railway in 1981. [9]

Terminal Railroads

Grand Trunk Western also owned or co-owned terminal switching railroad companies in some of the cities it operated in. Beginning in 1905 it co-owned equal shares of the Detroit Terminal Railroad with New York Central (NYC). By the 1970s Detroit Terminal was suffering financial losses and GTW negotiated to sell its share to NYC’s successors Penn Central and Conrail until it dropped its ownership in 1981. [5] In Grand Rapids, Michigan it acquired the Grand Rapids Terminal Railroad in 1906. In Bay City, Michigan it owned the Bay City Terminal Railway and in Kalamazoo it took over the nearly three mile long Chicago and Kalamazoo Terminal Railroad by 1910. Prior to moving its ferry operations to Muskegon GTW also acquired the railway belt-line Muskegon Railway and Navigation Company in 1924. The company would exist as a GTW subsidiary until 1955.[10] For its entry into Chicago GTW, along with the Erie, Wabash, Chicago and Eastern Illinois and Monon railroads, was a co-owner of the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad (C&WI) beginning in 1883. It performed passenger and express car switching duties at Chicago’s Dearborn Station. GTW was also part of a group that created and shared ownership in the Belt Railway Company of Chicago that connects every rail line in the Chicago area. [4]

Canadian National

By 1919 GTW’s parent Grand Trunk Railway of Canada was suffering financial problems related to its ownership of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The Canadian Government nationalized Grand Trunk and other financially troubled Canadian rail companies by 1923 and amalgamated them into the new government owned entity, the Canadian National Railway. [2] GTW would become a subsidiary of the new entity and was reincorporated as the Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company on November 1, 1928 when nearly all of its lines were formerly merged together under the company. [5][2]

River Tunnel

{main| St. Clair Tunnel} GTW’s predecessor Grand Trunk Railway also sought to expedite its rail service between Port Huron and Sarnia by constructing the world’s first international submarine rail tunnel under the St. Clair River. The St. Clair Tunnel, completed in 1891, approximately 6,000 feet (m) long and hand dug allowed Grand Trunk to discontinue its ferry service across the river. The tunnel was the last link in GTR’s complete mainline from Chicago through southern Canada.[5] In 1992 Canadian National began construction of a new larger tunnel next to the original tunnel to accommodate double stacked intermodal containers and tri-level auto carriers used in freight train service. The new tunnel was completed in 1994 and dedicated on May 5, 1995. GTW also gained trackage rights in 1975 to use Penn Central’s Detroit River Tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Penn Central’s successor Conrail sold the tunnel to CN and Canadian Pacific Railway in 1985. Eventually CN sold its share of the Detroit tunnel in 2000 after the new St. Clair tunnel was completed. [5]

The railroad’s first major line abandonment came in 1951 when it abandoned about half of the former Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway line from Muskegon to Greenville, Michigan. That same year Grand Trunk Western bought its headquarters building at 131 West Lafayette Avenue in downtown Detroit. [5] At the end of 1970 GTW operated 2,154 miles (km) of track on 946 (km) miles of road and that year it reported 2,732 million net revenue ton-miles of freight and 49 million passenger-miles.

Grand Trunk Corporation

After several years of Canadian National subsidizing the financial losses of Grand Trunk Western a new holding company would be established by CN in 1971 to manage GTW. The Grand Trunk Corporation was created to shift full control of GTW operations to Detroit and begin a strategy to make the railroad profitable. CN’s other American properties, the Central Vermont Railway and the Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway (DW&P) would also be placed under the new corporation initially for tax purposes. [5]

With the new corporation came a new autonomy for GTW from its parent CN. Grand Trunk Western had always shared equipment, color schemes and corporate logos with Canadian National. It shared CN's herald styles with its own name on the previous "tilted herald" and "Maple Leaf" logos. In 1960 when CN launched its new image GTW had its own initials incorporated into the "wet noodle" logo and followed with CN’s black red/orange and gray locomotive color scheme. However, to show its new autonomy from CN in 1971 GTW began receiving its new locomotives in its famous bright blue, red/orange and white scheme. [5] Most of GTW’s freight cars also received the blue and white color scheme. With new management the railroad implemented a new strategy to market shippers and improve its performance. In 1975 the railroad adopted its company slogan: The Good Track Road. This slogan promoted GTW's track maintenance efforts, at a time when many Eastern railroads suffered from deferred maintenance. The company also encouraged better safety practices which earned it the E.H. Herriman Award for safety five times in the 1980’s.[4][5]

DT&I Merger

Part of the railroad’s new strategy in the 1970’a and 1980’s was to seek new routes to expand it mileage and make itself more competitive in the long haul railroad market. After Conrail took over the railroad operations of Penn Central in 1976 the Penn Central Corporation sought to divest itself of its subsidiary the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad (DT&I) which was not taken over by Conrail. After seeking approval by the Interstate Commerce Commission GTW won approval over a joint bid from Norfolk and Western and Chessie System to acquire the DT&I in June 1980. The acquisition increased GTW’s trackage around Detroit's industries including Ford Motor Company’s large River Rouge Complex, DT&I’s classification hump yard in Flat Rock, Michigan and routes south into Ohio with access to rail interchanges in Cincinnati, Ohio. As part of the ICC’s approval GTW was obligated to divest its half or buy Norfolk and Western’s share in the Detroit and Toledo Shore Line. It purchased N&W’s share in April 1981 for $1.9 million and completely merged the line into GTW later that same year. [5]

The Milwaukee Road

Grand Trunk Western sought to further expand its trackage by seeking to purchase one of the bankrupt Midwest railroads, the Milwaukee Road or the Rock Island, of the 1970s. After inspecting the Rock Island’s property and finding its trackage in need of costly repairs GTW turned its attention in 1981 to acquiring the Milwaukee Road. GTW saw the acquisition of the Milwaukee Road as an opportunity to expanded its route further south and west to rail interchanges in Kansas City, Missouri, Louisville, Kentucky and transform GTW into a long haul carrier. It would also afford GTW the opportunity to connect directly with its corporate cousin the DW&P at Duluth, Minnesota. Instead of initially placing a bid for the Milwaukee Road and seeking immediate ICC approval GTW embarked on a strategy to improve the line’s revenue and track maintenance. GTW and Milwaukee Road would enter into a ‘’voluntary coordination agreement’’ where GTW would direct more of its shipments over the Milwaukee Road’s route. It would also launch a marketing effort promoting the merger. However, as the Milwaukee Road became more successful two other potential bidders the Soo Line Railroad and the Chicago and NorthWestern Railway petitioned the ICC to purchase the railroad. Despite GTW’s efforts the ICC rejected its bid and approved of the Soo Line’s acquisition of the Milwaukee Road and the two roads were merged in January 1986.[5]

Improving Efficiency and Downsizing

During the 1970’s and 1980’s Grand Trunk Western would continue to improve its efficiency and embark on efforts to improve its operating ratio. It had consolidated some of its operations including dispatching in Pontiac, locomotive maintenance in Battle Creek and railcar maintenance in Port Huron. Its intercity passenger train operations would be handed over to Amtrak in 1971. Responsibility for GTW’s commuter rail operation in Detroit was turned over in 1974 to the regional transportation authority SEMTA. [4] GTW moved into the intermodal freight business by creating intermodal transfer yards in Chicago in 1975 and suburban Detroit, in 1978. [5] The railroad’s president at the time, John H. Burdakin, was also a proponent of the Automatic Car Identification (ACI) system. It was a means to identify the location of shipments and equipment with bar code labels on the sides of freight cars and locomotives. The labels were read by automatic scanners at various rail yards. When Conrail was formed in 1976 GTW sought to acquire some of its routes in Michigan. It gained 151 miles (km) of trackage between Saginaw and Bay City as well as near Durand, Muskegon and Midland, Michigan.[5] Several of GTW’s cuts in its expenditures came from reductions in its workforce through changes it negotiated in union work rules.[5] In 1978 it discontinued its Lake Michigan railcar ferry operations after consecutive years of financial losses over $1 million. By 1987 the company sold its headquarters building on Lafayette Avenue in Detroit and moved to the new office park complex Brewery Park. The complex was developed on the site of the former Stroh’s Brewery near downtown Detroit. Locomotive performance was also enhanced with a rebuilding program of its EMD GP9s.[5] By the 1990’s several miles of routes and facilities were abandoned or sold to regional rail companies. GTW would eliminate all of the former Pontiac Oxford and Northern line north of General Motor’s Lake Orion manufacturing plant by 1984.[11] In 1987 the former Cincinnati Saginaw and Mackinaw and the form Detroit Grand Haven and Milwaukee routes north of Durand were sold to the Central Michigan Railway. Elsdon Yard, GTW’s primary terminal and rail yard in Chicago had been downsized and closed by 1990. It had also sold almost the entire route of the Detroit Toledo and Ironton in 1997 to the shortline rail operator Railtex. By 1998 it had abandoned the entire former Michigan Air Line route except for a portion in Oakland County, Michigan it sold to the Coe Railroad. With the end of SEMTA commuter rail service to Downtown Detroit in 1983 GTW abandoned and sold its trackage from the Milwaukee Junction area to downtown Detroit. That line was the former route to Brush Street Station and its railcar ferry dock on the Detroit River. It is known as the Dequindre Cut which has been transformed into an urban greenway rail trail. By the year 2000 engine terminals and maintenance facilities had also been eliminated or downsized in Chicago, Detroit, Durand, Pontiac, Port Huron and Battle Creek.

CN North America

In December 1991, Canadian National announced a corporate image and restructuring program to consolidate all of its U.S. railroads under the CN North America brand. Grand Trunk Western along with other CN owned subsidiaries would see their images replaced with the CN logo and name. [5] All GTW corporate identification and that of its new corporate cousins the Illinois Central Railroad (acquired by CN in 1999) and Wisconsin Central Ltd. (acquired by CN in 2001) are referred to with CN’s name and corporate image. However, while each railroad’s locomotives would eventually receive CN’s logo and black, red-orange and white paint scheme they would still retain their respective reporting marks. Despite the corporate re-branding GTW's blue color scheme and its logo would persist on rolling stock and locomotives for several years while they are slowly either repainted or retired. CN also reintegrated managerial and some operational control of GTW as it would gradually shift out of Detroit and into CN headquarters in Montreal. [5] GTW would continue to maintain some office and dispatching functions from offices in suburban Troy, Michigan. All the routes that make up GTW are part of CN’s Chicago Division in its Southern Region. Grand Trunk Corporation, now formerly headquartered at CN in Montreal, is the holding company for almost all of CN's U.S. properties which include Grand Trunk Western, Illinois Central, Wisconsin Central, Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific and Great Lakes Transportation which includes the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad (B&LE) and the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway (DMIR.) The Association of American Railroads has considered the Grand Trunk Corporation as a single non-operating Class 1 Railroad since 2002. Grand Trunk Western still exists as a corporate entity but is now considered a company on paper. CN refers to GTW’s routes and operations in its corporate communications as ‘’the former Grand Trunk Western territory.’’[1]

Locomotives

Steam

Grand Trunk Western was one of the last U.S. railroads to employ steam locomotives. It ran the last scheduled steam train in the United States on March 27, 1960 on its train #21 from Detroit’s Brush Street Station north to Durand Union Station. The run drew thousands of rail enthusiasts. With 3,600 passengers holding tickets train #21 had to be run in two sections (as two separate trains) to accommodate the excess of passengers. GTW 4-8-4 Northern-type locomotive 6319 lead the first section of train #21 with 15 passenger cars and GTW 4-8-4 Northern 6322 pulled the second section with 22 passenger cars. [4][12][13]

GTW’s predecessor lines primarily used 4-4-0 American-type locomotives before the turn of the twentieth century. [4] Throughout its history GTW has shared the same type and class designations of its locomotives with parents Grand Trunk Railway and Canadian National. Its locomotive road numbers would also be integrated into CN’s roster sequence. By the first half of the twentieth century the railroad’s largest steam power would be its Northern 4-8-4 locomotives, called Confederations by CN. The locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company in the 1930’s and 1940’s had 73 inch (cm) driving wheels with 60,000 pounds of tractive effort and would be used in mainline freight and passenger service. Six GTW 4-8-4s built by Lima Locomotive Works would have streamlined shrouding and 77 inch (cm) driving wheels to be used only in passenger service. [14] Other steam locomotives used at the time included the Mikado 2-8-2s built by Baldwin Locomotive Works and Alco primarily used in mainline freight service. 4-6-2 Pacific locomotives also built by Baldwin and Alco in the 1920’s and 4-6-0 Ten-Wheelers built around 1900 began in mainline service but later were eventually both found mostly on branch lines and mixed train service. GTW also had a variety of other models of steam engines including several 0-8-0 and 0-6-0 switching locomotives used to move rolling stock around rail yards. [4] [14]

Diesel

The first diesel powered locomotive to operate in regular service in Michigan arrived in 1938. It was Grand Trunk Western 7800 an EMC SC switching locomotive to work in Detroit. Previously in 1925 GTW acquired from EMC an early motorized gas-electric railcar known as a Doodlebug. The cars were self-propelled units resembling a passenger car with a baggage compartment and a coach section for passengers that GTW used on its Detroit to Port Huron and Richmond to Jackson routes until 1953. GTW also had another gas-electric locomotive referred to as a box-cab built by Brill in 1926. Originally built for the Long Island Railroad, GTW purchased it in 1934 and numbered it 7730. It was relegated to loading and unloading freight cars from GTW ferries in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The unit was eventually converted to diesel power in 1939 and served in Milwaukee until 1960. [15] GTW continued to dieselize its locomotive fleet in the 1940’s and 1950’s primarily with models from EMD which was owned by one of GTW’s largest freight customers, General Motors. The exceptions were approximately 40 Alco S2 and S4 switching locomotives. Other diesel locomotives from EMD included several NW2s, SW900s and SW1200s purchased for switching duties in rail yards and on rail spurs. Grand Trunk Western’s first mainline road diesel locomotives were almost two dozen EMD F3As acquired in 1948. They would be followed in the 1950’s by EMD GP9s and GP18s for freight and passenger service. The GP9s would be rebuilt by GTW’s Battle Creek locomotive shops into GP9Rs with improved internal components and modern low-nose cabs. The next new motive power to be acquired would be the EMD SD40 in 1969. These would be GTW’s first six-axel locomotives and most would last on GTW for at least four decades. [16] GTW’s most dominate diesel locomotive in its fleet would be the 2,000 horsepower EMD GP38. The first GP38s were delivered in 1971 and were also the first locomotives to wear GTW’s blue, red/orange and white scheme. [4] It proved to be a versatile locomotive for GTW used in switching and mainline service. The GP38AC was the first version to be purchased by GTW which had an alternating current generator instead of the typical direct current type. That followed with the acquisition of several GP38-2s into the 1980’s. GTW would also purchase its new locomotives without dynamic breaks since the company did not have any significant grades on its routes. GTW also inherited several locomotives including its first 3,000 horsepower GP40-2s from its acquisition of Detroit Toledo and Ironton. It would also roster its first EMD GP7s when it obtained full ownership of the Detroit and Toledo Shore Line in 1981.[16] GTW management found it cost effective to lease or purchase second-hand diesel locomotives. It purchased several former Rock Island GP38-2s after that railroad closed in 1980. Union Pacific sold GTW several surplus former Missouri Pacific SD40-2s after it had acquired that railroad.[16] It was also common for GTW and CN to share steam and diesel locomotives when either of them was in need of extra motive power. [4] GTW also sent diesel locomotives for use to its fellow GTC subsidiary railways Central Vermont and Duluth Winnipeg and Pacific. As of 2012 many GTW GP38s still wear their original blue, red/orange and white paint scheme and have been found operating throughout CN’s other US subsidiaries. However, since 1991 CN has gradually retired, sold or applied its own paint scheme to GTW locomotives. Some of GTW’s steam engines survive today as static park displays or in operation. Three are park displays in Michigan, they include Baldwin built Pacific 4-6-2s at Durand and Jackson and an 0-6-0 at Sidney Montcalm Community College Heritage Village. Steamtown National Historic Site has GTW #6039 a 4-8-2 Mountain type. The Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois has 4-8-4 #6323 and 0-8-0 #8380 as part of its collection. Locomotive #4070 a 2-8-2 Mikado appeared in the 1984 film The Natural and is now stored in Cleveland, Ohio. As of 2012 the only operating former GTW 4-8-4 locomotive is the 6325 on the Ohio Central System.

Facilities

Over its history Grand Trunk Western has had rail yards and engine terminals located in Detroit, Battle Creek, Durand, Flat Rock, Flint, Grand Rapids, Pontiac, Port Huron, Blue Island, Illinois and Chicago. In each of the cities GTW had engine terminals and facilities for locomotive maintenance including roundhouses and turntables. Prior to 1910 the railroad constructed its major locomotive repair shops in Battle Creek and rail car repair and maintenance was handled by GTW’s Port Huron car shops.[5][4] Its major freight yards were Durand Yard and Pontiac Yard in the two Michigan cities that were major GTW junction pointes. There is also Nelson Yard in Battle Creek[12], Tunnel Yard in Port Huron and East Yard near the Milwaukee Junction area in the Detroit enclave of Hamtramck. City Yard was the railroad’s rail yard on the Detroit riverfront adjacent to Brush Street Station and its ferry slip dock. The yard, dock and station were eventually all removed and redeveloped by 1975 for construction of the Renaissance Center. It also obtained the former Penn Central Winona Yard in Bay City when it acquired that trackage from Conrail in 1976.[5] On Chicago’s south side GTW’s Elsdon Yard served as its primary yard and locomotive facility there since the railroad laid tracks into the city in the 1880’s. GTW also had a smaller transfer yard south of Chicago in near a junction in Blue Island, Illinois. In 1975 GTW opened an intermodal freight terminal yard in Chicago known as Railport. The facility is in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood and was formerly the Pennsylvania Railroad's Levitt Street Yard. GTW also increased intermodal operations in Detroit In 1976 when it expanded its Ferndale, Michigan railyard into an intermodal facility it called GT MoTerm.[5] The Elsdon Yard was closed and abandoned by 1990 and has been redeveloped. Detroit, Toledo and Ironton’s former hump classification yard in Flat Rock, which GTW acquired from its 1983 merger with DT&I still serves as an important freight hub for Canadian National. Several interlocking and crossing gate towers were also maintained by GTW through its history.

Passenger trains

Grand Trunk Western's primary passenger trains were The Maple Leaf, the International Limited, the Inter-City Limited and The LaSalle, which provided service between Chicago’s Dearborn Station and Toronto Union Station. In 1967, GTW introduced The Mohawk as a fast through train between Chicago and Brush Street Station in Detroit. Passenger operations were handed over to Amtrak in 1971. Amtrak's Chicago to Port Huron trains, known as its Blue Water Service, operates over GTW's route between Battle Creek and Port Huron.

GTW along with the Erie Railroad, Wabash Railroad, Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad and Monon Railroad was a co-owner of the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad, C&WI, which performed passenger and express car switching at Dearborn Station in Chicago. GTW was also part of a group that created and shared ownership in the Belt Railway Company of Chicago that connects every rail line in Chicago.

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The railroad also operated suburban commuter trains between downtown Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan from August 1931 until January 1974 when the now defunct SEMTA (Southeast Michigan Transportation Authority) took over operating the commuter trains. Amtrak’s Detroit–Chicago trains now originate or terminate over this former commuter line making stops in the northern Detroit suburbs of Pontiac, Birmingham and Royal Oak, Michigan. Part of GTW's former route in Detroit to Brush Street Station and its railcar ferry dock known as the Dequindre Cut has been transformed into an urban greenway rail trail.

Car Ferries

Lake Michigan

The Grand Trunk Western was one of three Michigan railroads, along with the Ann Arbor Railroad and Pere Marquette Railway, that operated separate railcar ferry service across Lake Michigan between Michigan and Wisconsin. Loading rail cars onto ships, that had rails mounted to their deck’s, and ferrying the cars east and west across Lake Michigan allowed railroads to bypass the congested rail interchanges in Chicago and move time sensitive freight more quickly. GTW’s ferry service was originally operated by the former Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway (DGH&M) which Grand Trunk Railway acquired in 1882. DGH&M initially had agreements with ferry companies operating on Lake Michigan to transfer its passengers and freight onto ships bound for Milwaukee form Grand Haven, Michigan.[17] GTW’s rail car ferry service began in 1902 with an operating agreement with the steamship company, Crosby Transportation Company. The railway constructed ferry slip docks at Grand Haven and Milwaukee and had two steamships built, the SS Grand Haven and SS Milwaukee, capable of carrying 26 freight railcars. In 1905 Grand Trunk bought out Crosby’s interest and incorporated the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company to operate the ships. In Milwaukee GTW interchanged rail cars with The Milwaukee Road, Chicago and North Western and the Soo Line.[15] The ownership of the ferry company was shared with the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) from 1927 until 1954 and sailed as the Grand Trunk-Pennsylvania Route.[17] In 1929 The SS Milwaukee sank loaded with rail cars in a storm after departing Milwaukee in October of 1929 with everyone aboard lost. Three new ships, the Grand Rapids, Madison, and the City of Milwaukee constructed between 1926 and 1931, replaced the Grand Haven and Milwaukee.[4] The ships required a crew of 34 and with strengthen ice breaking hauls operated year round.[5] On PRR’s request GTW moved its Michigan docks to Muskegon in 1937 where its subsidiary the Muskegon Railway and Navigation Company initially operated ferry loading and switching operations. GTW had also changed its route into Muskegon with trackage rights over PRR’s line from Grand Rapids. By 1968 GTW was shipping over 800,000 tons (kg) of freight a year across Lake Michigan. However, the ferry service began running deficits of over $1 million annually in the 1970’s and in 1975 GTW petitioned the ICC to end the service. Permission was eventually granted and the last ferry sailed on October 31, 1978.[5]

River Ferries

The first river ferry service began in 1860 when the Grand Trunk Railway’s tracks reached Sarnia, Ontario and it had to transfer its passengers and freight across the St. Clair River to Port Huron and on to the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railroad to Detroit or its Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway route to Chicago. GTR started its St. Clair River ferry service with a type of swing ferry-barge. The barge would be anchored by 1,000 feet of chain. When it was loaded the barge, would be released into the current to dock on the opposite side of the river. When this proved unreliable Grand Trunk replaced it with the wood-burning steamer International II in 1872.[18] It would soon be joined in service by the steamer Huron. The ferries continued until 1891 when Grand Trunk completed its rail tunnel connecting Sarnia and Port Huron under the river. However, GTW and CN reinstated the ferry service 80 years later in 1971 with its Rail-Barge service to accommodate the larger freight railcars that were higher than the 1891 tunnel’s height clearance. The St Clair river barges discontinued service again in 1995 after the new larger St Clair Tunnel was completed.[18] Grand Trunk’s other river ferry service on the Detroit River connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario]] was also inherited from its 1882 purchase of the Great Western Railway. Great Western’s ferry service began after its rails reached Windsor in 1853. Because Great Western’s track gauge of 5ft 6in was different from the standard American gauge of 4ft. 8½in. it had to transfer its cargo off railcars and onto the ships. By the 1860’s Great Western made its railway duel gauge by adding a third rail to it tracks to accommodate rail cars of both gauges. Its first side-wheel steam ferry the Great Western arrived in 1866 and when it was launched was the largest steal vessel on the Great Lakes.[18] The Wabash Railroad contracted with Grand Trunk in 1897 to use its ferry service to connect Wabash’s own route from Detroit through Southwest Ontario to Buffalo, New York. Wabash started its own service after 1910 when it acquired the Michigan’s Centrals ferries after it opened it Detroit River Tunnel.[18] Eventually GTW’s parent CN took over sole responsibility for ferry operations on the Detroit and St. Clair rivers.[4] The Detroit River ferry operation ceased running in 1975 when GTW was granted trackage rights to use Penn Central’s Detroit River Tunnel to connect with CN in Windsor. The start of construction of the Renaissance Center in Detroit in 1973 necessitated the removal of GTW's Detroit ferry slip docks.[5] During the more than 130 years of rail car ferry operations on the Detroit and St. Clair rivers all of the major railroads, including Michigan Central, Pere Marquette, Wabash and Canadian Pacific, all had ferry operations on the Detroit River. The GTW/CN rail car ferry service was the last to operate in the Great Lakes when it ended operations on the St Clair River in 1995.[18]

  • Grand Trunk Western GP38-2 Locomotive 4926 idels at siding in Pavilion, Michigan on April 14, 2008.
    Grand Trunk Western GP38-2 Locomotive 4926 idels at siding in Pavilion, Michigan on April 14, 2008.
  • GTW #4619 an GP9 heading south on the Kalamazoo spur track near Battle Creek, Michigan.
    GTW #4619 an GP9 heading south on the Kalamazoo spur track near Battle Creek, Michigan.
  • This GP38-2 GTW Locomotive #4905 is sitting idle in Battle Creek, Michigan on July 7, 2008.
    This GP38-2 GTW Locomotive #4905 is sitting idle in Battle Creek, Michigan on July 7, 2008.
  • GTW 6228, a GP38-2 seen here at Senatobia, Mississippi on December 4, 2006, is an example of GTW power.
    GTW 6228, a GP38-2 seen here at Senatobia, Mississippi on December 4, 2006, is an example of GTW power.
  • GTW Locomotive 5801, an EMD GP38AC built in 1971.
    GTW Locomotive 5801, an EMD GP38AC built in 1971.
  • GTW boxcar at Marichal Joffre carload centre in Charny, Quebec. date taken January 26, 2011
    GTW boxcar at Marichal Joffre carload centre in Charny, Quebec. date taken January 26, 2011
  • A GTW caboose, on permanent display at a tourist information center in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec.
    A GTW caboose, on permanent display at a tourist information center in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Canadian National CN-News
  2. ^ a b c Mika, Nick and Helma. Railways of Canada, A Pictoral History. 1972. McGraw Hill Ryerson Ltd. ISBN#0-07-082815-6
  3. ^ a b c d e f Michiganrailroads.com reprinting of The History of the GTW Mainline from Port Huron to Chicago, Cleland B. Wyllie, The Inside Track, Sept. 1972
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Dorin, Patrick. Grand Trunk Western. 1977. Superior Publishing. ISBN#0-87564-716-2
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Hofsomer, Don. Grand Trunk Corporation, The Canadian National Railways in the United States 1971-1992. 1995. Michigan State University Press. ISBN#18790-94703
  6. ^ [www.orchardtrail.org orchard-trail-news-2008-Smr-1.pdf Platz, Richard. Rail Trails. Macomb Orchard Trail News, July 2008]
  7. ^ The Quebec History Encyclopedia, Grand Trunk Railway
  8. ^ [ http://www.avonhistory2008.com/history_books/History_oakland_co_seeley/chapter15.htm Oakland History, Means of Transportation]
  9. ^ Moody's Transportation Manual, 1992, p. 233, 237
  10. ^ Labelle Models Muskegon Railway and Navigation
  11. ^ Enjoy a Slice of the Polly Ann Trail from Oxford to Leonard, Jonathan Schechter, The Oakland Press, June 11, 2011
  12. ^ a b Wells, Charles Chauncey. Ride of a Lifetime, When Grand Trunk Western honored a cab-ride request for a 12-year-old. Classic Trains Magazine, Kalambach Publishing, Spring 2010
  13. ^ Stemalocomotive.com Grand Trunk Western / Canadian National 4-8-4 Northern Type Locomotive
  14. ^ a b Richard Leonard’s Steam Locomotive Archive, Grand Trunk Western
  15. ^ a b Don’s Depot, Grand Trunk Western at Milwaukee
  16. ^ a b c The Diesel Shop, Grand Trunk Western, All Time Diesel Roster (prior to 1982)
  17. ^ a b Great Lakes Car Ferries–Grand Trunk, Suite101.com, Sept. 18, 2010
  18. ^ a b c d e Great Lakes Car Ferries – The River Ferries, Suite101.com, June 18, 2010

References

  • Dorin, Patrick C. (1976). Grand Trunk Western. ISBN 0-87564-716-2.
  • Hofsommer, Don L. (1995). Grand Trunk Corporation, Canadian National Railways in the United States, 1971-1992. ISBN 0-87013-406-x. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Quastler, I. E. (2005). Where the Rails Cross, A History of Durand. ISBN 0976985802.
  • Quastler , I. E. and Whipp, C.P. (2010). Remembering The Grand Trunk Western. ISBN 0976985837.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Jerry A. Pinkepank (2004). Grand Trunk Western in Color Volume 1: Steam & Green 1941-1961. ISBN 1582481128. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
  • Jerry A. Pinkepank (2004). Grand Trunk Western in Color: Visual Redesign, 1962-1982 (Volume 2). ISBN 1582481237.
  • Quastler, I. E. (2009). Grand Trunk Western: An Illustrated History. ISBN 0946985820.
  • Mika, Nick and Helma (1972). Railways of Canada. ISBN 0-07-082815-6.
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