Railroad: Detroit, Delray & Dearborn Railroad Company, The

This was a short 4.8 mile line which was a "cut off" bypassing Detroit, running south from west Dearborn to Oakwood (now River Rouge).

Built by MCRR → Detroit, Delray & Dearborn Railroad → Michigan Central

Operating for 21 years by Michigan Central railroad.

Chartered: 1895

Built: 1895 from Delray to (west) Dearborn.

Became: MCRR in 1916.

Reference: [MRRC]

This railroad was controlled at incorporation by the Michigan Central, which operated it from the beginning. The line was truncated when the D&I (DT&I) built their line from the Rouge works to D&I Junction near Flat Rock. The part of the line from the DT&I to west Dearborn was removed. It was later truncated farther south to the Michigan Consolidated Gas company and the Darling Company in Melvindale.

When the DT&I was built cutting the line, the traffic was routed by a replacement of the Junction Yard branch (of the MC) which extended from Town Line and Miller Road south to signal station YD at Pleasant Street (River Rouge) via Shaffer Tower.

Notes

Time Line

1894. October 27. The MC railroad has a plan well under way for constructing a line of track from Dearborn on the south side of the Rouge river to a point on the Rouge where Barron avenue crosses the river, and there connecting over a bridge with its present southern line to Toledo. The road sometime ago purchased the right of way 100 feet wide from its present tracks to the Rouge river. On the south side of the Rouge most of the right of way has recently been deeded. This line, besides saving a distance of six to eight miles in freight bound from the north over the F&PM line to points beyond Detroit, will be used as a suburban road for passenger travel between Detroit and Dearborn and at specified points along the line, thus taking the place of a contemplated electric line. It will also derive a share of its patronage from the large manufacturing district that has grown up in the vicinity of the new Wabash yards, and at the same time contribute to the further development of the district in that direction. [DFP-1894-1027]

1906. The DD&D railroad, as it is called, but which is really a Michigan Central branch, was built a few years ago starting in at Oakwood subdivision at Fort street and connecting with the Michigan Central main line in Dearborn. Up to the present the MC (DD&D) has been crossing the River Rouge over the Wabash bridge. [DFP-1906-0817]