This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Grand Trunk Western is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
| Grand Trunk Western Railroad | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 1887 map of GTW predecessor railroads |
|
| Reporting marks | GTW |
| Locale | Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio |
| Dates of operation | 1928–1995 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Headquarters | Detroit, Michigan |
The Grand Trunk Western Railroad (reporting mark GTW) is an important subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway (CN).
It currently operates in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, forming the CN mainline from Port Huron, Michigan to Chicago, Illinois, as well as serving Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio.
The GTW gained fame among railfans for being one of the last North American railroads to use steam locomotives in regular service, which lasted until 1960. Since a corporate restructuring by CN in 1971 the railroad has been placed under a subsidiary holding company known as the Grand Trunk Corporation.
Grand Trunk Western's mainline, known as its Chicago Division, runs between Chicago, Illinois and Port Huron, Michigan. It serves as a connection between the railroad interchanges in Chicago and the rail lines in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. The railroad also has extensive trackage in Detroit, Michigan, and northwestern Ohio. Its presence in Detroit has made the railroad an essential link for the automotive industry. GTW has become known as a major hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants around Detroit and across Michigan.
Contents |
History
In 1880 the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway was created by Canada's Grand Trunk Railway System, GTR, to build a line linking Canada to Chicago across lower Michigan. GTR, predecessor to the Canadian National Railway, CNR, wanted to avoid the expensive cost of using Cornelius Vanderbilt's Michigan Central Railroad as a way into Chicago. The route eventually became the Grand Trunk Western Railway which was amalgamated into the Canadian National Railway in 1923.
On November 1, 1928, CN created the Grand Trunk Western Railroad by consolidating most of its operating subsidiaries in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana, which had been operated under the trade names of Grand Trunk Western Lines or Grand Trunk Railway System:1
- Grand Trunk Western Railway
- Bay City Terminal Railway
- Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railroad
- Chicago and Kalamazoo Terminal Railroad
- Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway
- Detroit and Huron Railway
- Grand Rapids Terminal Railroad
- Michigan Air Line Railway
- Pontiac, Oxford and Northern Railroad
- Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway
The Cincinnati, Saginaw and Mackinaw Railroad was also part of the system, but only leased, not being consolidated until January 1, 1943. The GTW absorbed the Muskegon Railway and Navigation Company on August 23, 1955.1
The Grand Trunk Western and the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate) co-owned the Detroit and Toledo Shore Line Railroad. It was a small carrier that had a multi-track mainline bridging Detroit and Toledo and served major industries. GTW eventually took complete control of the line from the Norfolk and Western Railway, successor to the Nickel Plate, in April 1981, and consolidated it on October 1, 1981.1
In June 1980 GTW purchased the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad from the Penn Central Corporation, which increased its trackage around Detroit's industries and gave it routes into Ohio. The DT&I was fully merged into GTW in December 1983.1
It also attempted to buy the Milwaukee Road to create a connection with its corporate cousin the Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway. It would have given GTW trackage from Chicago to northern Minnesota but its bid was rejected.
GTW major terminals and rail yards are located in Detroit, Battle Creek, Durand, Flint, Port Huron and Pontiac, as well as Elsdon Yard on Chicago's west side. Elsdon Yard is now closed. The Chicago board, also known as the Elsdon board, operates out of Markham yard (CN/IC yard).
The St. Clair River Tunnel, completed in 1891 between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario, connected Grand Trunk with its parent CNR. On April 5, 1995, Canadian National opened a new, larger tunnel next to the original 1891 tunnel. The new tunnel can accommodate double stacked intermodal containers and tri-level auto carriers used in freight service. In 1975 GTW also obtained trackage rights with Penn Central to use its Detroit River Tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
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 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. The group also ended up creating the Belt Railway Company of Chicago that connected every rail line in Chicago.
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.
Car ferries
GTW also operated rail-barge service across the St. Clair River between Port Huron and Sarnia and a railcar ferry service across the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. It also ran car ferry vessels across Lake Michigan from Grand Haven, and Muskegon, Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The lake ferries were operated by GTW's subsidiary Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company. GTW's Lake Michigan car ferry fleet of steamers included the SS Grand Haven, SS Milwaukee (which was lost in a storm in October 1929), Grand Rapids, Madison and the City of Milwaukee. The Detroit River ferries ceased running in 1975. The Lake Michigan ferry operations were discontinued in October 1978. The St. Clair River ferries had initially been discontinued circa 1891 when the first St. Clair Tunnel opened, but were reinstated in 1971 due to clearance problems for some cars at the tunnel. In 1995 a larger St. Clair river tunnel opened that allowed double decker trains to cross into Sarnia and the ferries ceased operation on the river.
Grand Trunk Corporation
 Grand Trunk 6228, a GP38-2 seen here at Senatobia, Mississippi on December 4, 2006, is an example of GTW power. |
Grand Trunk Western has always shared equipment, color schemes and corporate logos with parent company Canadian National. It followed CN's herald styles with its own name on the previous "tilted shield" and "Maple Leaf" logos. In 1960, GTW had its own initials incorporated into the "wet noodle" logo. However, in 1971 GTW broke tradition and began receiving its new locomotives in its now famous bright blue, red/orange and grey scheme. At the same time the railroad would also adopt its company slogan; The Good Track Road.
In 1995, Canadian National began a corporate image 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. All GTW corporate identification and that of its new corporate cousins the Illinois Central Railroad, IC (acquired by CN in 1999) and Wisconsin Central Ltd., WC (acquired by CN in 2001) are referred to with CN’s corporate image. However, while each railroad’s locomotives would receive CN’s black, Grey #17 and Red-Orange #11 colors and logo they would still retain their respective reporting marks, GTW, IC or WC, on each of their locomotives.
CN’s subsidiary Grand Trunk Corporation now controls almost all of CN's U.S. operations which include Grand Trunk Western, Illinois Central, Wisconsin Central, Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific and Great Lakes Transportation, GLT, 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 Class I railroad since 2002.
References
- Dorin, Patrick C. (1976). Grand Trunk Western. ISBN 0-87564-716-2.
- Hofsommer, Don L.. Grand Trunk Corporation, Canadian National Railways in the United States, 1971-1992.
External links
- Grand Trunk Western Historical Society
- Photo of Grand Trunk Western EMD GP38-2
- Michigan Railroads.com
- Canadian National Railways
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 31 December 2008, at 21:46.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Grand Trunk Western".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.