Michigan Northern Railway - Ceased Operations

Ceased Operations

The severe economic recession of the early 1980s forced the state of Michigan to reduce its subsidies to northern Michigan railroads and their customers. Michigan Northern service ended in fall 1984 from Reed City to Grand Rapids (Comstock Park). A section of the former MN trackage stretching from Cadillac to Petoskey continued in service under another contractual operator, the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway, (now the Great Lakes Central Railroad); while most of the MN's former trackage from Grand Rapids north to Cadillac was redeveloped as the White Pine Trail State Park. The Line from Petoskey to Charlevoix (former Chessie line operated by MN) closed due to severe erosion of the land and thus making the track unusable. MN cut back to the 33-mile stretch from Bay View to Pellston, which had not been purchased by the State of Michigan. MN set up a purchase agreement with Penn Central (which still owned the track), and established a truck-to-rail transfer facility at Pellston. Canadian steel trucked to Pellston was put on the MN there, and MN hauled it south to the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay interchange near Petoskey. This ended circa Jan. 1986. In summer 1986, MN ran some excursion trains. However, MN ran short on track payments to Penn Central, and MN's last train (cleaning out remaining equipment, although a few things were left behind in Alanson and Conway) left Pellston in April 1987. The line once again survived another 5 years (from Alanson to Petoskey) with the Little Traverse Scenic Railway, which even used a MN GP-7 Locomotive in their first year of operation.