Time Line - 1928

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• January 21: The GTW car ferry Madison hits a sand bar, grounding the vessel and causing $49,200 in damages. The incident occurred during heavy wind, high seas and drifting ice. [GTWHS-5/1997]

• May 1: Grosse Pointe Village refuses to allow DUR cars to operate into the village, ending service on the Shore Line. [EMR4]

• June 9: Detroit & Mackinac Ry abandons the Lincoln Branch from Lincoln to Lincoln Jct. [MDY33]  Note: [GW] shows this abandonment as June 3.

• June 10: The Pere Marquette puts into operation centralized traffic control (CTC) between Bridgeport, MI and Mount Morris, MI.

• August 14: Interurban passenger service between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids and Battle Creek via Gull Lake ends. The track is abandoned. [MT/IT-12/79]/span>

• August 18: The Detroit to Wyandotte rail line is abandoned (DSR operates part to the Penn "Y" until January 1, 1931). [EMR4]

• Summer: Soo Line discontinues dedicated passenger trains on its Gogebic Branch between Bessemer, Ironwood and Wisconsin. A freight train was made into a mixed train to handle passenger traffic. [WC-Sp/1996].

• November 1: The Grand Trunk Western RR consolidated 10 subsidiary or component companies to form a single system in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. [MDOT]

• November 30: Interurban service between Jackson and Kalamazoo ends. [MT]

• December 2: The last interurban car leaves Marshall at 12:15 a.m. [MT]

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• Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village founded. Ford begins moving historic buildings to the site from elsewhere. [BOM/DWS]

• SNAPSHOT: The Michigan Central reports that they have installed 41 flashing road crossing signals this year on their line, as well as 14 "wig-wag" signals. They anticipate installing 12 more flashing light crossings and 19 more "wig-wag" signals in 1929. [RSC-1929]

• Soo Line closes its agency at Upson, on the Gogebic Range. [SOO-Sp/1996]

• The first General Railway Signal Co. centralized traffic control system was installed on the New York Central railroad between Stanley and Berwick, Ohio. The first dual-control electric switch machines, which provided for either hand or electric operation, were introduced on this installation. [AAR]

• The GTW builds a new brick depot at Imlay City. The depot continues to exist in 1999 as a historical museum. [MRP-I]

• The Plymouth Motor Corporation builds their Lynch Road Assembly Plant at 6334 Lynch Road. [BOM]

• The E&LS removes lumber branches at Ralph. [EDP-12/27/1950]

• The Michigan United/MCRR diamond in Kalamazoo, just west of Gull Street, is removed. [GM]

• The first Sperry Rail Detector Car (#102) is put into service on the Wabash. [SAM]

• Rail cars with wooden main sills are banned from interchange.  Cars with truss rod underframes built new or retrofitted remain legal. [SAM]

• Union Switch & Signal conducts tests of Inductive Train Communications (I.T.C.). [SAM]

• The National Car Company is formed as a subsidiary of Fruit Growers Express. [SAM]

• The Detroit Terminal Railroad and the Pere Marquette complete their grade separation project in Fordson (Michigan Avenue) at a cost of $1.109 million. 

• The Michigan Central Railroad completes grade separation projects in Hamtramck, Waterman Avenue in Detroit, Fort Street in Detroit, Dearborn, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids. [RA-1/5/1929]

• The Pere Marquette completes grade separation projects at Warren Avenue in Detroit. [RA-1/5/1929]

• The Pere Marquette adds a second main track between McGrew and the GTW crossing in Flint, a distance of 3.36 miles. [RA-1/5/1929]

• The Wabash Railway installs new track and a new icing facility at Oakwood, Michigan. [RA-1/5/1929]

• The Detroit & Toledo Shore Line adds a second main track between Vienna and Kipf, a distance of 6.28 miles. [RA-1/5/1929]

• The Michigan Central Railroad installs two new automatic block semaphore signals from the General Railway Signal Co. at Orion, Michigan on the Bay City Branch over a distance of 1.7 miles. [RA-1/5/1929]

• The Pere Marquette installs a "centralized control system" and 55 semaphore US&S signals on 30 miles of track between Flint and Saginaw.  This includes 10 miles of double track and 20 miles of single track. [RA-1/5/1929]

• The first extensive installation of centralized traffic control employing coded transmission of controls and indications, as developed by Union Switch & Signal Co., was placed in service on the Pere Marquette Ry. extending from Mt. Morris to Bridgeport, Mich., a distance of 19.8 miles of single track. Automatic indication of the passage of trains was provided at 10 points. The code line consisted of two line wires of open construction, and functions were controlled by means of selectors. [AAR]

• The Grand Trunk Western installs 73 color-light signals over 65 miles of track between Granger, Indiana and Battle Creek, Michigan.  The equipment was delivered by US&S.  The GTW also installs 3 color-light signals over 4 miles at Lansing, 2 color-light signals on 1.6 miles of track at Ionia, 4 color-light signals on 2.2 miles of track at Pontiac, and 2 color-light signals on 1.6 miles of track at Corunna. [RA-1/5/1929]

 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