Grand Trunk Western Railroad
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The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company (reporting mark GTW) was an American subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, later 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 Michigan Division.[1] Its primary mainline between Chicago 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 and across southern Michigan has made it an essential link for the automotive industry as a hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants.
Early history

Grand Trunk Western grew out of a collection of 19th century Michigan rail lines[2] which included:
- Bay City Terminal Railway
- Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railroad
- Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway
- Chicago, Kalamazoo and Saginaw Railway
- Chicago and Kalamazoo Terminal Railroad
- Chicago and Lake Huron
- Chicago and Northeastern
- Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway
- Detroit and Huron Railway
- Grand Rapids Terminal Railroad
- Michigan Air Line Railway
- Muskegon Railway and Navigation Company
- Peninsular Railway of Michigan and Indiana
- Pontiac, Oxford and Northern Railroad
- Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway
Mainline
Grand Trunk Western began as a route for the Grand Trunk Railway (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 the southern part of the Province of Canada that would serve Toronto and Montreal.[3][4]
In 1859 the Grand Trunk completed its route to
More routes
Over the next two decades through either leases or purchases Grand Trunk acquired several other branch lines in Michigan. It took 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.[7] 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.[8] The DGH&M gave Grand trunk a route from Detroit through Pontiac, Durand and Grand Rapids to Grand Haven, Michigan, where it began its Lake Michigan railcar ferry operations in 1902.[6] The DGH&M connected with the Chicago and Grand Trunk at Durand and with the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction in Detroit. Durand became a major junction point for Grand Trunk when it continued to increase its mileage. It acquired the 96-mile (154 km) Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway from Ashley, Michigan, to Muskegon, Michigan, in 1888. GTR obtained trackage rights to reach the line at Ashley from Owosso, Michigan, with the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan Railway, the predecessor of the Ann Arbor Railroad.[4] 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.[4]
Western Division
By 1900 Grand Trunk united 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.[5] 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
Terminal railroads
Grand Trunk Western also owned or co-owned
Canadian National
By 1919, GTW's parent, Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, was suffering financial problems related to its ownership of the
River 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
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.[6] At the end of 1970, GTW operated 2,154 miles (3,467 km) of track on 946 miles (1,522 km) 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.[6]

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
Detroit, Toledo and Ironton merger
Part of the railroad's new strategy in the 1970s and 1980s was to seek new routes to expand and compete 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
Milwaukee Road
Grand Trunk Western sought to further expand its trackage by seeking to purchase one of the bankrupt
Improving efficiency and downsizing
During the 1970s and 1980s, 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
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.
Locomotives
Steam
Grand Trunk Western was one of the last U.S. railroads to employ steam locomotives. It ran the last scheduled steam passenger 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 U-3-b class 4-8-4 Northern-type locomotive 6319 led 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. Steam was used on some freight trains until 1961.[5][13][14]
GTW's predecessor lines primarily used 4-4-0 American-type locomotives before the turn of the 20th century.[5] 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 20th century, the railroad's largest steam power would be its Northern type 4-8-4 locomotives, called Confederations by CN. The locomotives, built by the American Locomotive Company in the 1930s and 1940s, had 73-inch (1.854 m) driving wheels with 60,000 pounds of tractive effort and would be used in mainline freight and passenger service. Six GTW U-4-b class 4-8-4s built by Lima Locomotive Works would have streamlined shrouding and 77-inch (1.956 m) driving wheels, to be used only in passenger service.[15]

Other steam locomotives in GTW's fleet at the time included the Mikado type
Surviving steam locomotives
Some of GTW's steam engines survive today as static park displays or in operation. Three are park displays in Michigan; they include two
Diesel

The first
GTW continued to dieselize its locomotive fleet in the 1940s and 1950s, primarily with models from EMD, which was owned by one of GTW's largest freight customers, General Motors. The exceptions were approximately 40 Alco
Second-generation diesel locomotives

The next new motive power to be acquired was the
In November 2020, as part of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of CN's privatization, the company repainted some of its locomotive units in the schemes of the company's predecessor and subsidiary railroads. EMD SD70-M2 No. 8952 was repainted in the blue and red livery of GTW, along with the logos of that company.[19]
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 these cities, GTW had engine terminals and facilities for locomotive maintenance, including roundhouses and turntables. Prior to 1900, the railroad constructed its major locomotive repair shops in Battle Creek, while railcar repair and maintenance was handled by GTW's Port Huron car shops.[5][6] The Battle Creek Shops were upgraded and modernized in 1907. The original Port Huron car shops were destroyed by fire in 1913 and rebuilt on a new 55-acre site at Griswold Road and 32nd Street. Its major freight yards were Durand Yard and Pontiac Yard, located in the two Michigan cities that were major GTW junction points. There is also Nichols Yard in Battle Creek,[13] Tunnel Yard in Port Huron, Torrey Yard near Flint 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.[6]
On Chicago's southwest side, GTW's Elsdon Yard served as its primary yard and locomotive facility there since the railroad laid tracks into the city in the 1880s. GTW also had a smaller transfer yard south of Chicago near rail junction Blue Island, Illinois. In 1975, GTW opened an
Passenger trains

Grand Trunk Western's primary passenger trains were the
The railroad also operated
Car ferries
Lake Michigan

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 decks, 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 from Grand Haven, Michigan.[20] 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 assumed 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.[17] 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.[20] The SS Milwaukee sank, loaded with rail cars, in a storm after departing Milwaukee in October, 1929, with everyone aboard lost. Three new ships, the Grand Rapids, Madisonand the City of Milwaukee, constructed between 1926 and 1931, replaced the Grand Haven and Milwaukee.[5] The ships required a crew of 34 and, with strengthened ice-breaking hulls, operated year-round.[6] At PRR's request, GTW moved its Michigan docks to Muskegon, Michigan, 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 short tons (710,000 long tons; 730,000 t) of freight a year across Lake Michigan. However, the ferry service began running deficits of over $1 million annually in the 1970s and, in 1975, GTW petitioned the ICC to end the service. Permission was eventually granted, and the last ferry sailed on October 31, 1978.[6]
River ferries
St. Clair River
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 onto 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
Detroit River
Grand Trunk's river ferry service on the Detroit River connecting Detroit and
Gallery
-
Grand Trunk WesternGP38-2Locomotive 4926 idles at a siding in Pavilion, Michigan on April 14, 2008.
-
GP38 #4934 in Iowa.
-
ThisGP38-2, GTW 4905 is sitting idle in Battle Creek, Michigan on July 7, 2008.
-
GTW 6228, aGP38-2 at Senatobia, Mississippion December 4, 2006, would just after this receive new paint in the CN colors.
-
A GTW GP9R in the Canadian National color scheme.
-
GTW Caboose 75017 on display in Imlay City, Michigan.
-
A restored GTW wood caboose on display at Lake Odessa, Michigan
-
GTW boxcar at Maréchal 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.
-
The former GTW depot at Saline, Michigan with a restored GTW wood caboose.
-
The whistle post sign style of GTW on a double whistle post at Battle Creek, Michigan
-
A 1976 map of the proposed routes to be turned over by Conrail on the GTW, DT&I and P&LE.
Notes
- ^ a b Canadian National CN-News
- ^ Galbraith's railway mail service maps, Michigan. Publ. Chicago 1897, c1898. Library of Congress. Accessed April 2020.
- ^ ISBN 0-07-082815-6
- ^ a b c d e f "reprinting of The History of the GTW Mainline from Port Huron to Chicago, Cleland B. Wyllie, The Inside Track, Sept. 1972". Michiganrailroads.com. 1961-05-18. Archived from the original on 2014-02-16. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Dorin (1977).
- ^ ISBN 18790-94703
- ^ "orchard-trail-news-2008-Smr-1.pdf Platz, Richard. Rail Trails. Macomb Orchard Trail News, July 2008". Orchardtrail.org. Archived from the original on 2009-07-06. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
- ^ "The Quebec History Encyclopedia, Grand Trunk Railway". Faculty.marianopolis.edu. 1923-01-30. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
- ^ "Oakland History, Means of Transportation". Avonhistory2008.com. Retrieved 2014-07-22.[permanent dead link ]
- Moody's Transportation Manual, 1992, p. 233, 237
- ^ "Enjoy a Slice of the Polly Ann Trail from Oxford to Leonard, Jonathan Schechter, The Oakland Press, June 11, 2011". Theoaklandpress.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
- ^ 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
- ^ "Grand Trunk Western / Canadian National 4-8-4 Northern Type Locomotive". Steamlocomotive.com. 1960-03-23. Archived from the original on 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
- ^ a b "Richard Leonard's Steam Locomotive Archive, Grand Trunk Western". Railarchive.net. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
- ^ "Our Equipment". Colebrookdale Railroad. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
- ^ a b "Don's Depot, Grand Trunk Western at Milwaukee". Donsdepot.donrossgroup.net. 2011-07-19. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
- ^ a b c "The Diesel Shop, Grand Trunk Western, All Time Diesel Roster (prior to 1982)". Thedieselshop.us. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
- ^ Schweitzer, Rene (November 17, 2020). "CN celebrates 25th anniversary of privatization, unveils heritage locomotives". Trains. Retrieved 2025-02-04.
- ^ a b Great Lakes Car Ferries–Grand Trunk, Suite101.com, September 18, 2010
- ^ a b c d e Great Lakes Car Ferries – The River Ferries, Suite101.com, June 18, 2010
References
- Dorin, Patrick C. (1977). The Grand Trunk Western Railroad : A Canadian National Railway (1st ed.). Seattle, WA.: Superior Publishing Co. OCLC 2837267.
- Hofsommer, Don L. (1995). Grand Trunk Corporation, Canadian National Railways in the United States, 1971-1992. ISBN 0-87013-406-X.
- Quastler, I. E. (2005). Where the Rails Cross, A History of Durand. ISBN 0-9769858-0-2.
- Quastler, I. E.; Whipp, C.P. (2010). Remembering The Grand Trunk Western. ISBN 978-0-9769858-3-9.
- Jerry A. Pinkepank (2004). Grand Trunk Western in Color Volume 1: Steam & Green 1941-1961. ISBN 1-58248-112-1.
- Jerry A. Pinkepank (2004). Grand Trunk Western in Color: Visual Redesign, 1962-1982 (Volume 2). ISBN 1-58248-123-7.
- Starr, Timothy (2022). The Back Shop Illustrated, Volume 2: Midwest Region.
- Quastler, I. E. (2009). Grand Trunk Western: An Illustrated History. ISBN 978-0-946985-82-1.
- Mika, Nick and Helma (1972). Railways of Canada. ISBN 0-07-082815-6.