Time Line - 1924

Last Year | Next Year

• Spring: The Michigan Central builds an 8-stall roundhouse and cinder pits at Lansing at a cost of $125,000. [RA-12/1/1923]

• Spring: The Pere Marquette builds a 16-stall brick roundhouse and 100 foot turntable at Erie, Michigan. [RA-12/1/1923]

• June 28: The Adrian city street car system is abandoned. [EMR4]

• July: Fruit growers of Oceana County petition President Warren Harding to turn over operation of United States railroads to Henry Ford. [NYT-1921-0724]

• August: The DT&I asks employees to economize by shortening telegrams. [NYT-1924-0827:25]

• November: Ottawa Yard placed in service by Pere Marquette. [PMHS]

• It is noted that the MPSC in o1924  approved about 50 at-grade railroad crossings for 24" gauge railroads crossing major railroad lines or street railroads. Most of these 24" gauge roads were private companies but some were county road commissions. This was an era where new streets and highways were built by using 24" railroads, small steam locomotives and cars carrying rock and cement. In at least one case, the 24" track was temporarily laid on top of the steam railroad rail at the time the line was crossed, and then immediately removed by the contractor until the next occasion it was crossed. [MPSC-1924]

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• Detroit & Mackinac RR builds branch from Alpena to Kelly Island Quarry. [NK]

• Manistee & North Eastern abandons line from Kaleva to Grayling. [PMHS]

• Van Sweringen interests purchase Pere Marquette Railroad. [PMHS]

• Pere Marquette builds a 24 stall locomotive shop at Wyoming Yard in Grand Rapids. They also building a new freight car shop and water treatment facility. [PM45]

• Pere Marquette builds a 16-stall roundhouse at Ottawa Yard, just north of Toledo. It has a 100' long turntable. [PM45]

• PM purchases a fifth steel car ferry this year. [COHS-8/1997]

• New coach yard and engine terminal is built for Union Belt Ry. of Detroit (PM, PRR, Wab).  It extends from 15th Street to 21st Street. It contains eight tracks with a capacity of 90 cars. Two adjacent tracks south of the main tracks, so-called "Freight Main", capacity of 25 cars, are also used for coach yard purposes and were constructed in 1924. [PM45][PMHS]

• Pere Marquette builds their 21st Street Engine Terminal, which is used by the PM for freight, passenger and switch engines, as well as the Pennsylvania Railroad for passenger engines.  The terminal has 28 stalls, has a 100' electrically operated turntable, a 500 ton capacity electrically operated coal dock and an ash pit for 4 engines. [PM45]

• The Pere Marquette installs three fixed steel trusses on its Saginaw River drawbridge, increasing its load factor to Coopers E-50. The steel fix trusses replace two fixed spans built in 1893 and one segment of pile trestle. [PM45]

• DSS&A replaces their bridge over the LS&I at Munising Jct. The new bridge is made up of a timber decking on top of concrete wall supports. [1924 date in support concrete].

• Two C&NW ore docks burn in Escanaba.  During the fire, E&LS fire cars pumped water from Little Bay De Noc to keep the C. Reiss Coal Docks from catching fire as well. [EDP-12/27/1950]

• Pere Marquette abandons line from Buchanan to Benton Harbor, 22.5 miles. [PMHS/COHS-8/1997]

• Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co. abandons 60 miles of logging operations in Alger County. [MRRC]

• ALCO builds its first diesel electric locomotive in cooperation with General Electric. [SAM]

 Time line Key:

• Railroad event in Michigan
• Event relating to mining
• Event related to car ferries
• Event outside of Michigan
• Improvement in Technology
• Railroad built or extended
• Railroad abandoned and/or removed
• Economic panic or depression