Time Line - 1961

Last Year | Next Year

• February 27: Ann Arbor RR comes under the control of the DT&I. [IT-2/80]

• May 20: Grand Trunk Western's steam locomotive #5632 donated to the City of Durand. [MDOT]

• July 1: The Hobo's of America opened their international convention in Kalamazoo, many of them making the trip by rail. [MT]

• August 12: East Jordan & Southern Railroad abandons line from East Jordan to Bellaire. [MRRC][MT]

• September 4: "The Northern Arrow" of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Michigan's last summer-only passenger train service, makes final trip from Mackinaw City. [MDOT/R&LHS-Summer2000]

• December 22. Old '999' is now parked in the New York Central's Airline Junction yard (in Toledo), guarded from the clutches of the scrap heap, which is the usual fate of outmoded locomotives. Railroaders look with respect at the ending which has been the pride of the railroad for nearly 60 years since she pulled the Empire Express from New York City to Albany at an averagge speed of 112.5 miles per hour. The record, which was set May 10, 1893, stood for only 12 years, but regard for the engine and memory of the men who worked on her, demands that she be preserved. [TCRE-1961-1222]

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  Soo Line abandons former DSS&A line from Sault Ste. Marie to Raco Jct. where the Department of Defence had a Bomarc base. [IT-5/81]

• Oxford Interlocking Tower closed, at the intersection of the NYC Bay City Branch and the GTW Cass City sub.  The tower's call sign was "XN".  [CW]

• The Vassar Interlocking Tower closed, at the intersection of the NYC Bay City Branch and the Chesapeake & Ohio. [CW]

• SNAPSHOT: Menominee Range ore is mined in the Stambaugh (near Iron River), Crystal Falls and Iron Mountain areas.  Through an ore pooling agreement, the C&NW and the Milwaukee Road service the mines together, with ore trains being made up at all three locations. From these three yards, approximately four trains per day are dispatched to Escanaba. Typical trains are about 115 cars long and handled by two or three diesel units (usually 1,600 h.p. FM Baby Trainmaster diesel road switchers. Both roads use the same type of motive power. Before dieselization, C&NW J-4 class 2-8-4's and MILW "Mikes" were used over the road, with C&NW Z class 2-8-0 steam power used for switching and road operations. Ore trains usually traveled over the Ore Line subdivision to Escanaba, arriving in No. 6 Ore yard where they were stored until movement to the dock.  [LSIOR]

• Chesapeake & Ohio Railway car ferries transported 132,000 railroad cars, 54,000 automobiles and 153,000 passengers cross-lake between Ludington and Milwaukee, Manitowoc and Kewaunee, WI this year. [MDOT]

• LS&I constructs tracks to serve the Empire Mine, which is situated on the old Volunteer Mine property at Palmer, Michigan.  [MRC-10/1987]

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 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