Description of Railroad
The Michigan Northern's trackage consisted of the northern half of the main line built between 1867 and 1882 by a predecessor railroad, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad. During the 1900s, the spread of paved roads and altrernate means of transportation reduced the profitability of this line. Although the GR & I main line was consolidated into the Pennsylvania Railroad and then the Penn Central, usage continued to decline. The bankrupt Penn Central won permission from the federal government to abandon lengthy sections of trackage in northern Michigan.
An intervention by the Michigan Department of Transportation prolonged the working life of the old GR & I main line. The state acquired most of the trackage and contracted with the Michigan Northern (MN) to operate it. The MN also offered service on branch lines to Charlevoix and Traverse City during their period of service. At the railroad's northern terminus, the MN turned freight cars over to the Detroit & Mackinac Ry., which switched them onto the SS Chief Wawatam, a railroad ferry that crossed the Straits of Mackinac. This allowed the MN to offer through freight service to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. A controversial rate "flag-out" starting in 1978 resulted in a rush of overhead traffic from the ferry onto the Michigan Northern. This soon went away after nationwide railroad deregulation in 1980.
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