Michigan Railroad Lines

In this thoroughly researched history, Graydon Meints tells the fascinating story of the railroad's arrival and development in Michigan. The railroad would come to play a role in almost every critical event in Michigan's nineteenth- and early twentieth-century history, before beginning to wane following the arrival of the automobile. Looking ahead to the future of the railroad in the Great Lakes region, Meints assesses the strengths and shortcomings of this revolutionary invention.

Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies is an invaluable reference manual for everyone interested in regional transportation history, the history of railroading, and Michigan history in general. It contains complete, cross-referenced listings for every company formed to operate a railroad in the state of Michigan. In addition to the comprehensive entries for major lines, Graydon Meints has included details about the many small, common-carrier steam and electric companies, logging roads, and numerous other primitive and contemporary rail systems. This encyclopedic reference guide also contains information on the so-called "paper railroads," companies that were projected but which never laid a foot of track. Michigan Railroads is divided into three parts. One includes alphabetical entries for the actual and intended railroad companies themselves, the date and purpose for their organization, and a brief history from their origins to their dispositions. Included in this portion of the work are a number of railroad "family trees" showing the corporate antecedents of the largest of the rail lines operating in the state today. Another contains a chronology of significant corporate events; it works as a useful finding aid for accessing source data contained in the first section. A third contains a statewide county-by-county listing of railroads, both paper and real.

The Pere Marquette Railroad has not one but two histories--one for the twentieth century and one for the nineteenth. While the twentieth-century record of the Pere Marquette Railroad has been well studied and preserved, the nineteenth century has not been so well served. This volume aims to correct that oversight by focusing on the nineteenth-century part of the company's past, including the men who formed and directed these early roads, and the development of the system. The Pere Marquette Railroad was formed in 1900 by a merger of three Michigan railroad companies and lasted forty-seven years, disappearing in June 1947 by merger into the maw of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. Prior to the 1900 merger, the Pere Marquette Railroad's predecessors made up a motley collection of disconnected and unaffiliated short, local rail lines. After the financial panic of 1893, and with some commonality of ownership, the companies worked together more closely. Before the end of the decade, the three main railroads--the Flint & Pere Marquette; the Detroit, Lansing & Northern; and the Chicago & West Michigan--had decided that the only way to maintain solvency was to merge. Using a plethora of primary sources including railway timetables and maps, this work lends insight into the little-known corporate business history of the Pere Marquette Railroad.

In pioneer America, the Michigan Central Railroad (MCRR) became the major route between east and west, linking older states and their restless populations to young cities like Detroit and Chicago, and to the wide open spaces beyond. Now, for the first time in book form, historian Nick Marsh systematically relates the colourful story of this legendary enterprise, drawing on numerous archival records, photographs, and artefacts. The MCRR story is a story of toil, triumph, and tragedy. Marsh includes chapters on the railroad's construction, its conversion from a state-owned to a private enterprise, the sad ending to a Michigan farmers' rebellion, the involvement of William H. Vanderbilt, and the empire building of the visionary James F. Joy. Eagerly anticipated by many, the appearance of Marsh's comprehensive account will bring joy to legions of rail fans, history buffs, and connoisseurs of Americana.

The Lomax years, 1849-1866 -- The Edgerton years, 1866-1873 -- The completion to Petoskey, 1869-73 -- The Continental Improvement Company -- The Hughart years, part 1, 1874-1883 -- The Hughart years, part 2, 1884-1895 -- The Pennsylvania years, 1896-1920 -- Epilogue