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5 RARE WABASH RAILROAD COMPANY/ ANN ARBOR RAILROAD COMPANY LOG BOOKS
VERY HEAVY
THE ANN ARBOR RAILROAD COMPANY – ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE OF TRAINS AND WATCH REGISTERJACKSONVILLE
EACH HAS 100’S PAGES WRITTEN FRONT AND BACK AND ARE HARDBOUND/WORN MEASURING APPROXMIMATELY 8 1/2 X 13 3/4 INCHES
BOOKS CONTAIN DATES:
1. 10-4-46 THRU 8-12-472. 8-13-47 THRU 6-2-483. 4-6-49 THRU 2-1-504. 2-2-50 THRU 11-27-505. 7-20-53 THRU 5-17-53
The Wabash Railroad (reporting mark WAB) was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary connections included Chicago, Illinois; Kansas City, Missouri; Detroit, Michigan; Buffalo, New York; St. Louis, Missouri; and Toledo, Ohio.
The Wabash’s major freight traffic advantage was the direct line from Kansas City to Detroit, without going through St. Louis or Chicago. Despite being merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) in 1964, the Wabash company continued to exist on paper until the N&W merged into the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) in 1982.
At the end of 1960 Wabash operated 2,423 miles of road on 4,311 miles of track, not including Ann Arbor and NJI&I; that year it reported 6,407 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 164 million passenger-miles.[citation needed]
Contents1Origin of name2Corporate history2.1Merger tree2.2Pre-Civil War2.3Post-Civil War2.4Early 20th century2.5Late 20th century3Major routes3.1ToledoHannibal3.2DetroitChicago3.3ChicagoSt. Louis3.4Council Bluffs, Iowa Brunswick, Missouri3.5Iowa3.6Missouri3.7MoberlyDes Moines4Major Freight Customers 19605Passenger trains5.1Wabash Cannonball6Heritage Unit7Rail to Trail8See also9References10Notes11Bibliography12External linksOrigin of name
1886 system mapThe source of the Wabash name was the Wabash River, a 475-mile (764 km)-long river in the eastern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery, Ohio across northern Indiana to Illinois where it forms the southern portion of the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary. The name “Wabash” is an anglicization of the French name for the river, “Ouabache.” French traders named the river after the native Miami tribe’s word for the river.
Corporate historyMerger treeThe Wabash Railroad resulted from numerous mergers or acquisitions as shown by this table:[1]
Norfolk Southern Railway (1982)Norfolk and Western Railway (1964)Wabash Railroad (1941)Wabash Railway (1931)Wabash Railroad (1889)Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway (19041908) later Pittsburgh and West Virginia RailwayPittsburgh and Lake Erie RailroadWabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway (1879)Council Bluffs and St. Louis Railway (1877)Toledo, Wabash and Western RailwayGreat Western Railway of Illinois 1865Sangamon and Morgan Railroad 1853Northern Cross Railway 1847Illinois and Southern Iowa Railroad 1865Quincy and Toledo Railroad 1865Toledo and Wabash Railway 1865Wabash and Western Railroad 1958Toledo and Wabash Railroad 1858Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad 1858Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Railroad 1856Toledo and Illinois Railroad 1856Warsaw and Peoria Railroad 1865Pre-Civil War
System timetable, 1887The name Wabash Railroad or Wabash Railway may refer to various corporate entities formed over the years using one or the other of these two names. The first railroad to use only Wabash and no other city in its name was the Wabash Railway in January 1877 which was a rename of the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway formed on July 1, 1865. The earliest predecessor of the Wabash System was the Northern Cross Railroad, which was the first railroad built in Illinois.[2][page needed]
The Toledo and Illinois Railroad was chartered April 20, 1853 in Ohio to build from Toledo on Lake Erie west to the Indiana state line. The Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Railroad was chartered in Indiana on August 19 to continue the line west through Wabash into Illinois towards St. Louis, Missouri, and the two companies merged August 4, 1856 to form the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad with a total length of 243 miles.[3]
The company soon went bankrupt and was sold at foreclosure. The Toledo and Wabash Railroad was chartered October 7, 1858 and acquired the Ohio portion October 8. The Wabash and Western Railroad was chartered on September 27 and acquired the Indiana portion on October 5. On December 15, the two companies merged as the Toledo and Wabash Railway. That company merged with the Great Western Railway of Illinois, the Illinois and Southern Iowa Railroad, the Quincy and Toledo Railroad and the Warsaw and Peoria Railroad to form the final Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway.[citation needed]
Post-Civil WarIt was this group of railroads that formed the beginning of the Wabash System with the rename in 1877.
Later mergers and reorganizations formed the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway on November 7, 1879, and Wabash Railroad on August 1, 1889. Financier John Whitfield Bunn was one of several capitalists who were instrumental in the consolidation of the Wabash System.
Early 20th century
1887 system mapIn 1904, the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway was formed and acquired control of the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad, giving the Wabash access to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the final step in an attempt to break the near-monopoly of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and New York Central Railroad for traffic to the east. However, the Wabash had overextended itself, and the WPT went bankrupt in 1908; it would later become part of the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway. The Wabash Railroad itself was sold at foreclosure July 21, 1915 and reorganized October 22 as the Wabash Railway.
This wooden box car, owned by the Wabash Railroad, was built in the 1920s and assigned to the Studebaker plant in South Bend, Indiana.The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired loose control of the Wabash in 1927 by buying stock through its Pennsylvania Company. In 1929 the Interstate Commerce Commission charged the PRR with violating the Clayton Antitrust Act. The ruling was appealed, and in 1933 the Circuit Court ruled that the control was for investment only and did not violate the act.
The Wabash Railway again entered receivership on December 1, 1931. The Wabash Railroad, controlled by the PRR, was organized in July 1941 and bought the Wabash Railway on December 1.
Late 20th century
The Wabash Cannonball at the Danville, IL station on October 28, 1962In fall of 1960, the PRR agreed to a lease of the Wabash by the Norfolk and Western Railway.[citation needed]
The PRR’s Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad assumed control of the Wabash’s[citation needed] Ann Arbor on December 31, 1962. On October 16, 1964 the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway, and the N&W leased the Wabash and Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway.
On March 31, 1970 the Pennsylvania Company exchanged its last Wabash shares for N&W common stock; that stock was later divested as a condition of the 1968 merger into Penn Central Transportation. Because it was only leased, as opposed to merged outright, the Wabash Railroad continued to trade its stock on the New York Stock Exchange.
The N&W and the Southern Railway merged in 1982, although the Wabash continued to exist on paper. NS formally merged the Wabash into the N&W in November 1991.[4]:9394
Major routes
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: “Wabash Railroad” news newspapers books scholar JSTOR (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)ToledoHannibalThe Toledo to Hannibal Line was constructed in 1855. The line out of the Illinois River valley from Griggsville to Baylis had the steepest ruling grade on the Wabash, almost 2%, which required helpers in steam era. After World War II, the line was relocated to ease the grade. In 1955, passenger service was discontinued, and by 1989, the line from Maumee to Liberty Center, Ohio was abandoned. The portion from Liberty Center to the western border of Ohio is operated by a shortline railroad. The abandoned section was converted for use as the south fork of the Wabash Cannonball Trail.[5]
The Maumee-Montpelier, Ohio section was abandoned by NS in 1990, and makes up the North fork of the Wabash Cannonball Trail. It is the longest rail trail in Ohio.
After the breakup of Conrail in 1998, NS connected the small remaining segment from Maumee to its Chicago Main, allowing it to access Maumee via a shorter route. This caused the abandonment of the west side of the Toledo Terminal Railroad.
DetroitChicagoThis line covers the 3rd (Montpelier-Detroit) and 4th (Montpelier-Clarke Jct.B&OCT+SC&SState LineC&WI) Districts of the Wabash.
The Wabash was part of the Union Belt of Detroit, a joint switching operation started with the Pere Marquette and later the PRR joined.
Detroit-Saint Louis passenger trains:
Detroit Limited (Pullman)St. Louis Limited (Pullman) (westbound counterpart to the Detroit Limited)Cannon BallDetroit-Chicago passenger Trains:
Detroit Arrow (joint with PRR)Chicago Arrow (joint with PRR) (westbound counterpart to the Detroit Arrow)The Montpelier-Chicago line was started in the early 1890s, allowing the Wabash to give up trackage rights over the Erie (Chicago and Atlantic).
ChicagoSt. Louis
The Blue Bird’s “Vista-Dome” dome parlor-observation car in the 1950s.Completed in 1880 from Bement to Chicago, using the Chicago & Western Indiana as a terminal line. The Wabash became a joint owner of the C&WI along with founder Chicago & Eastern Illinois and other railroads. It comprises the 6th, 7th and 8th Districts of the Decatur Division. Trackage between Manhattan and Gibson City was abandoned by NS, for rights on CN (IC).
Passenger trains:
Blue BirdBanner BlueWabash Banner LimitedCouncil Bluffs, Iowa Brunswick, MissouriThis line has the highest point on the Wabash at Dumfries, Iowa (1242′ above sea level). Most of the line was abandoned by N&W in 1984.[6] The Wabash trackage between Brunswick & Council Bluffs comprised the 18th and 19th Districts, with the dividing point being Stanberry, Missouri.
IowaThe Iowa Southern Railroad (ISR) took over 61.5 miles of the Wabash in Iowa to the Missouri state line between Council Bluffs and Blanchard, Iowa. On August 22, 1988 the line was cut back to serve only Council Bluffs. In August 1990 the remaining Iowa Southern line in Council Bluffs was sold to the Council Bluffs & Ottumwa Railroad. In May 1991 the CBOA was sold to the Council Bluffs Railway, an OmniTrax subsidiary. Iowa Interstate purchased CBR on July 1, 2006.[7] The 66-mile route is abandoned between Council Bluffs and Blanchard and was converted for use as the Wabash Trace Trail.[8]
MissouriA 93-mile portion of the Council BluffsSt. Louis line in Missouri between Blanchard, Iowa and Lock Springs was sold to the Northern Missouri Railroad and began operations on February 13, 1984. Operations on that line were discontinued in June 1986.
The Wabash Railroad ran their passenger trains that came into St. Louis on a 7-mile stretch of track that ran from Grand Ave (through a rail yard near Vandeventer Avenue), through University City (at Delmar Station) to a junction at Redmond Ave. in Ferguson, where the Ferguson station (now an ice cream parlor) was at North Florissant and Carson Ave., and where it met up with the current Norfolk Southern mainline. After passenger service was discontinued, trains on this stretch were reduced to one westbound symbol freight and one local per day. Norfolk Southern, who took over the line after the merger, abandoned the stretch in 1988. The Bi-State Development Agency purchased the line, which is now operated by MetroLink. MetroLink light rail trains run on the portion from north of the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL) to Grand Ave, while the north portion is now the Ted Jones Trail, which runs from Florissant Road at UMSL up to Redmond Ave., where the old junction was located.[9]
Norfolk & Western abandoned the track between Lock Springs and Chillicothe in 1983, and salvaged this portion of the line in 1985.
Thirty-seven miles of track between Chillicothe and Brunswick was sold to the Green Hills Rural Development, Inc., a Missouri economic development group organized as a non-profit corporation, in 1985. The line was leased, by order of the ICC, to the Chillicothe-Brunswick Rail Maintenance Authority (CBRM) on July 24, 1987. On April 1, 1990 the line was leased to the Wabash and Grand River Railway (WGR). The WGR’s lease was terminated on December 1, 1993 due to severe flood damage on the line, and the line reverted to CBRM.
In 2003, during a dispute caused by inter-community rivalries and jealousies over industrial development along the line, the owner, Green Hills Rural Development, Inc. “sold” the railroad to the City of Chillicothe, MO, (all real estate, rails, tools, rolling stock and locomotives) for $32,500. Thereafter, the line was immediately appraised for $1.53 million, not including rolling stock or other tools or equipment and inventory of the short line railroad.
On December 8, 2006, the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune reported that the city of Chillicothe sold the majority, about 30 miles (48 km), of the railroad to Seattle-based Montoff Transportation, LLC for $976,000. The part of the railroad that was sold had been embargoed since 2004. The city still owns the railroad to the city’s industrial park and to a location just east of Chillicothe, where future development is planned. Today, the part of the railroad south of Norville has been abandoned and dismantled, and the city has pocketed a large sum of cash. On January 29, 2008, The Chillicothe City Press reported that the city council had voted to buy back the right of way previously sold to Montoff Transportation, paying $10 to acquire the 100′ wide by 29-mile long corridor. The stated intention was to gradually develop a trail. The report further stated that, though Montoff had the right as part of salvaging the rails to remove the bridges along the right of way, the cost to do so had been excessive. Instead, the deteriorated decks, which were sufficient for light duty use such as a trail, were being left.
MoberlyDes MoinesThe Moberly to Des Moines line consisted of the 15th & 16th Districts of the Moberly Division, with the dividing point between the two districts being Moulton, Iowa. The line had a good traffic base up until the early 1970s, when traffic began to fall off precipitously. Freight traffic included coal mined in Iowa (prior to 1960), agricultural goods, farm machinery, and paper products. A change of personnel in customer service at Des Moines brought about a resurgence in business in the late 1970s and into the 1980s so much so that NS largely re-built the line with newer, heavier steel and continuous welded rail in the mid-1980s. The Moberly to Des Moines line had few local industries shipping on it in the 1980s in either northern Missouri or southern Iowa, however, and served primarily as a “bridge” to get the NS to the Des Moines market.
During the early 1990s, NS began to look for ways to save on track outlays and maintenance, and a deal was hammered out with the Burlington Northern (BN) to share access to Des Moines over the old Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CBQ) “K Line” which paralleled the Mississippi River from Hannibal, Mo. north to Burlington, Iowa. From there, haulage rights were secured to Des Moines over the BN mainline to Albia, then northward to Des Moines on the old Albia joint trackage. A portion of the line north of Moulton was saved in order to provide access to the national rail system by the Appanoose County Community Railroad (APNC).
The last carded NS train on the Moberly-Des Moines line ran in 1994. The Moberly to Moulton segment in Iowa was used extensively in 1993 during the Midwestern Floods of that year, as many observers noted that it was one of the few north-south through routes that were “above sea level” during the flooding. Unfortunately, this was not a factor that could have been used to save the line. Today the line’s right-of-way has not been preserved, and as of 1997 the line was completely dismantled and is quickly being consumed by other land uses.
Major Freight Customers 1960
Wabash box car assigned to the Studebaker plant in South Bend, Indiana.Ford – Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Toledo, Kansas City, BuffaloPillsbury Company – Springfield, IllinoisA. E. Staley – Decatur, IllinoisA. P. Green Firebrick – Mexico, MissouriArcher Daniel Midland Company – Decatur, IllinoisDetroit Union Produce TerminalLauhoff Grain Company – Danville, IllinoisInternational Salt – Detroit, MichiganCentral Stone – Huntington, MissouriGranite City Steel – Granite City, IllinoisAcme Fast Freight – Detroit, Kansas City[10][failed verification]Passenger trains
Observation car of the St. Louis-Colorado Limited.The Wabash had a fleet of passenger trains, including several streamliners & domeliners:
Blue Bird (train), inaugurated in 1938Banner BlueCannon BallCity of Kansas City, built by ACFCity of St. Louis (in partnership with UP)City of DecaturDes Moines LimitedDetroit Arrow (in partnership with PRR)Detroit LimitedKansas City ExpressMidnight LimitedOmaha LimitedPacific Coast SpecialRed BirdSt. Louis-Colorado Limited (in partnership with UP)St. Louis LimitedSt. Louis SpecialSouthland (in partnership with PRR and L&N)Wabash Cannon BallThe first passenger trains to be dieselised used EMD E7 locomotives, and later ALCO PAs and EMD E8s.
Wabash CannonballThe name of this legendary train became famous with the 1904 revision of an 1882 song about the “Great Rock Island Route.” Yet the name was never borne by a real train until the Wabash Railroad christened its Detroit-St. Louis day train as the Wabash Cannon Ball in 1949.[11] The train survived until the creation of Amtrak in 1971, when it was discontinued. On October 26 and 27, 2013, Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s Nickel Plate Road 765, in conjunction with the Norfolk Southern Railway’s “21st Century Steam” program, pulled a 225-mile round-trip excursion, retracing the Cannon Ball’s former route between Fort Wayne and Lafayette, Indiana.
Heritage UnitAs a part of Norfolk Southern’s 30th anniversary in 2012, the company painted 20 new locomotives into predecessor schemes. NS #1070, an EMD SD70ACe locomotive, was painted into the Wabash “Blue Bird” paint scheme.
Rail to TrailSeveral portions of the old Wabash Railroad right-of-way have been converted to recreational use, including the Wabash Cannonball Trail in northwest Ohio, the Wabash Trail and Wauponsee Glacial Trail in Illinois and the Wabash Trace Nature Trail in Iowa.
While it was only a Midwestern bridge line the Wabash Railroad carried a fascinating heritage. It earned pop culture status thanks to the folk song “The Wabash Cannonball” (which eventually led to a train of the same name) and flew a legendary logo with the slogan, “Follow The Flag
While it was only a Midwestern bridge line the Wabash Railroad carried a fascinating heritage. It earned pop culture status thanks to the folk song “The Wabash Cannonball” (which eventually led to a train of the same name) and flew a legendary logo with the slogan, “Follow The Flag.” Its corporate history was a roller-coaster affair of prosperity and struggle. During its formative years the company did relatively well until Jay Gould gained control in the late 1870’s. This ruthless speculator tried to incorporate it into his planned transcontinental system but the scheme failed when overextended financing led to bankruptcy. Gould retained ownership and his son later inherited the empire in 1896. When George also ran into monetary trouble, just over a decade later, the family’s involvement forever ended. The Wabash prospered after this time thanks to its many key corridors which handled a diversified traffic base. Its modern network was slightly over 2,000 route miles reaching Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, and even Buffalo thanks to a trackage rights agreement. The mighty Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) acquired stock ownership during the depression era whereupon the Wabash remained a subsidiary until Norfolk & Western’s takeover in 1964. Today, many of its principal routes remain in use.
The Wabash RailroadThe Wabash Railroad (reporting mark WAB) was a Class I railroad that served the Heart of America, operating in six states; Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, plus, the Canadian province of Ontario. A freight advantage for the Wabash was the main line from Kansas City to Buffalo, which avoided St. Louis and Chicago. Even though the Wabash was gone by the 1960s, the company still existed on paper until 1997 and the merger with the Norfolk Southern Railway.By the end of 1950 Wabash was operating 2,393 miles of road. This figure does not include subsidiaries Ann Arbor (AA) and New Jersey, Indiana and Illinois (NJI&I). In the same year, passenger revenue was $4,787,369, compared to $4,972,234 in 1949.
History
The Northern Cross Railway was the first railroad ever constructed in Illinois and is the earliest predecessor to the Wabash. Chartered in Ohio in April of 1853, the Toledo and Illinois Railroad planned to build from Toledo on west to the Indiana border. The Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Railroad was then chartered in Indiana in August of 1853 to extend the line west through Wabash and into Illinois in the direction of St. Louis, Missouri. Both lines merged in August of 1856 to create the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad. The total length of the two lines together was 243 miles. The new company soon bankrupted and was sold at foreclosure. In October of 1858, the Toledo and Wabash Railroad was chartered, acquiring the Ohio portion the same month. The Wabash and Western Railroad was chartered in September of 1858, and by October of 1858 it had acquired the Indiana portion as well. By December of 1858 the two companies merged and became the Toledo and Wabash Railway. This railroad quickly merged with the, the Illinois and Southern Iowa Railroad, the Quincy and Toledo Railroad, the Great Western Railway of Illinois, and the Warsaw and Peoria Railroad to become the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway. These were the lines that formed the Wabash System in 1877.Other reorganizations and mergers created the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway in November of 1879, and then the Wabash Railroad in August of 1889. Playing an important role in the formation of the Wabash System was financier John Whitfield Bunn. The Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway (WPT) was formed in 1904, acquiring the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad, which gave the Wabash a connection to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, challenging the domination of giants New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). Unfortunately, in 1908 the Wabash saw the WPT go bankrupt. The WPT later became part of the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway, and the Wabash Railroad was itself sold at foreclosure sale in July of 1915. It was then reorganized in October and became the Wabash Railway. By buying Wabash stock through its Pennsylvania Company in 1927, the Pennsylvania Railroad was able to acquire some control of the Wabash. The ICC charged the PRR with violating the Antitrust Act in 1929. However, the ruling was appealed, and in 1933 the Circuit Court ruled that it was for investment only and therefore no violation occurred.
In December of 1931, the Wabash Railway again entered into receivership. A new company, the Wabash Railroad, was organized in July of 1941 by the PRR, which bought the Wabash Railway in December of 1941. The PRR then leased the Wabash to the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) in 1960. Control of the Wabash’s Ann Arbor subsidiary by PRR’s Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad (DT&I) came in December of 1962. In October of 1964, the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) was merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway. The N&W then leased the Wabash and Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway. In March of 1970, the Pennsylvania Company exchanged its remaining Wabash shares for N&W common stock; as a condition of the 1968 merger into Penn Central Transportation that stock was later divested. In November of 1991 the N&W purchased the Wabash outright and the Wabash became a wholly owned subsidiary of the N&W. The Norfolk & Western itself was then merged into the Southern Railway in 1997 and forming the Norfolk Southern Railway, ending 120 years of the Wabash.
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See also:
Ann Arbor
Norfolk & Western
Railroads of the U.S.A.
Join the Wabash Railroad Historical Society: www.wabashrhs.org/
Check out the Monticello Railway Museum: www.mrym.org/
Passenger Trains:The Wabash had a fleet of passenger trains and several were streamliners. The named passenger trains were led by the six-car streamlined Blue Bird, which began in 1950 and had five dome cars in the consist, operating between Chicago and St. Louis. The City of Kansas City was built by ACF and provided streamline service between St. Louis and Kansas City. The Wabash Canon Ball began in 1949 and was a fast daylight train between St. Louis and Detroit. The Wabash also participated in the ownership and operation of equipment in cooperation with the Union Pacific for the City of St. Louis, a St. Louis to Kansas City to the West Coast streamliner. Other named passenger trains included the Banner Blue, the Banner Limited, the Chicago Arrow (with the PRR), the Des Moines Limited, the Detroit Arrow (with the PRR), the Detroit Limited, the Kansas City Express, the Midnight Limited, the Omaha Limited, the Pacific Coast Special, the Red Bird, the St. Louis-Colorado Limited (with the UP), The St. Louis Limited, and the St. Louis Special. The first diesel locomotives utilized on passenger trains were the EMD E7, and lathe the Alco PA, followed by the EMD E8.
Banner Blue City of Kansas City City of St. Louis (in partnership with UP) Des Moines Limited Detroit Arrow (in partnership with PRR) Detroit Limited Kansas City Express Midnight Limited Omaha Limited Pacific Coast Special Red Bird St. Louis-Colorado Limited (in partnership with UP) St. Louis Limited St. Louis Special
St. Louis – Chicago Passenger Trains: Blue Bird (started 1950) St. Louis Chicago Wabash Banner Limited St. Louis Chicago
Detroit-Saint Louis Passenger Trains: Detroit Limited (Pullman) St. Louis Limited (Pullman) (westbound counterpart to the Detroit Limited) Cannon Ball
Detroit-Chicago Passenger Trains: Detroit Arrow (joint with PRR) Chicago Arrow (joint with PRR) (westbound counterpart to the Detroit Arrow)
The Wabash CannonballThe name of this legendary train became famous with the 1904 revision of an 1882 song about the “Great Rock Island Route.” Yet the name was never borne by a real train until the Wabash Railroad christened its Detroit-St. Louis day train as the Wabash Cannon Ball in 1949. The train survived until the creation of Amtrak in 1971, when it was discontinued.
The Ann Arbor Railroad (reporting mark AA) was an American railroad that operated between Toledo, Ohio and Elberta and Frankfort, Michigan (about 294 route miles) with train ferry operations across Lake Michigan. In 1967 it reported 572 million net ton-miles of revenue freight, including 107 million in “lake transfer service”; that total does not include the 39-mile subsidiary Manistique and Lake Superior Railroad.
Contents1History2Train ferries2.1Fleet3See also4References5Further reading6External linksHistoryThe railroad company was chartered September 21, 1895, as successor to the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan Railway.[1] In 1905 it was acquired by the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railway (DTI), which went bankrupt three years later and had to sell off the Ann Arbor.
For many years the Ann Arbor was owned by the Wabash Railroad, but Wabash gave up control in 1963 as part of its absorption into the Norfolk and Western. The DT&I, by then itself owned by the giant Pennsylvania Railroad, again gained control in 1963. The combined DT&I and AA were operated as independent subsidiaries of the PRR but suffered from the parent company’s ill-fated 1968 merger with the New York Central. Upon the resulting Penn Central’s 1970 bankruptcy, the DT&I and its Ann Arbor subsidiary were sold off to private investors.
The Ann Arbor Railroad owned a subsidiary, the Manistique and Lake Superior Railroad (M&LS), from somewhere shortly after that line’s origin in 1909 until it was abandoned in 1968.
After itself going bankrupt in 1973 the Ann Arbor ceased operations as a railroad on April 1, 1976, when the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) temporarily took over. Since Conrail only wished to operate the south end of the AA, the state of Michigan acquired the entire line, and operations were transferred to the Michigan Interstate Railway, a division of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), on October 1, 1977. The state eventually privatized this entity, selling it off in pieces to several different short-line railroad companies.
On October 7, 1988, a new Ann Arbor Railroad began operating the portion south of Ann Arbor; the Great Lakes Central Railroad now serves the remaining portions of the line. Some sections have been abandoned: from Yuma to Elberta and Frankfort (approximately 45 miles), about 10 miles in Shiawassee County, Michigan (in three discontinuous sections), and the trackage around the now-demolished Cherry Street Station in Toledo.
Train ferriesThe Ann Arbor’s Lake Michigan train ferry fleet started in November 1892 when the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern Michigan Railway acquired its first two boats, Ann Arbor 1 and Ann Arbor 2. At its height, the AA served four ports on the west of Lake Michigan:[2]
Kewaunee, Wisconsin from 1892 connecting with Kewaunee, Green Bay and Western Railroad,Menominee, Michigan from 1894 connecting with Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, Chicago and North Western Railway, and Wisconsin and Michigan RailroadGladstone, Michigan from 1895 connecting with the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad. Later moved to Manistique, Michigan connecting with Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway via AA subsidiary Manistique and Lake Superior RailroadManitowoc, Wisconsin from 1896 connecting with Chicago and North Western Railway, and Wisconsin Central RailwayFleetAltogether, eight boats were built for service with the AA and one was leased from the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company.[2]
SS Ann Arbor No. 1 designed by Frank E. Kirby and built by Craig Ship Building, Toledo, Ohio in 1892. Capacity 24 cars on four tracks.SS Ann Arbor No. 2 designed by Frank E. Kirby and built by Craig Ship Building, Toledo, Ohio in 1892. Capacity 24 cars on four tracks.SS Ann Arbor No. 3 built by Globe Iron Works, Cleveland, Ohio in 1898.SS Ann Arbor No. 4 built by Globe Iron Works, Cleveland, Ohio in 1906.SS Ann Arbor No. 5 designed by Frank E. Kirby and built by Toledo Shipbuilding Company in 1910.SS Ann Arbor No. 6 built by Great Lakes Engineering Works, Ecorse, Michigan in 1917 and rebuilt in 1959 as the MV Arthur K. Atkinson.SS Ann Arbor No. 7 built by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in 1925 and rebuilt in 1965 as the MV Viking.SS Wabash built by Toledo Shipbuilding Company in 1927, and rebuilt in 1962 as the SS City of Green Bay.SS City of Milwaukee, a Grand Trunk Western vessel was leased in 1978.
The Ann Arbor Railroad (AA) today is not the original company started in the late 19th century although it continues to bear the familiar orange paint that the Ann Arbor was so famous for. Much like the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway which was officially dissolved and whose name was later resurrected, so is the case with the Ann Arbor. The “Annie,” as the road came to be affectionately known, was the vision of a man who believed a profitable railroad could be operated between Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. For many years this held true until traffic dried up after World War II. Following a handful of ownerships over the years by different railroads the Annie was acquired by the state of Michigan in the late 1970s to preserve rail service throughout the region. Most of the original main line is still in use and what is today known as the Ann Arbor Railroad, owned by Watco Companies, LLC, continues to operate the original AA main line between Toledo, Ohio and Ann Arbor.
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Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan