Eastern Railroad Discussion > Romeo, Michigan Whats the History?

My friend from Romeo, Michigan.
Lives in a house that was built on a spot of an old railroad station or depot.
She hears the ghost trains once in awhile.

She wanted to know of anyone knew the names of any of the trains that used to run through that area, or any railroad history in general, from Romeo.

I didn't know. So I thought I'd ask if anyone here knew anything?

Thanks,
D. C. L.
"DNatureofDTrain_CaseyJones"

The railline use to be CN's Grand Trunk Western Railroad, it was recently abandoned about 2 or 3 years ago. The line was orginally built by the Michigan Air Line Railway. MAL's line when from St Clair, Michigan to Niles, Michigan. St Clair to Richmond, Michigan and Jackson to Niles Michigan portions were financed by the New York Central, and when MAL went belly up, the Richmond to Jackson part of the line went to the Grand Trunk, while the other portions went to the NYC. The only remainly segment of the MAL still operated is run by Coe Rail from Walled Lake to Wixom Mich.

GTSD40 wrote:

> The railline use to be CN\\'s Grand Trunk Western Railroad, it
> was recently abandoned about 2 or 3 years ago. The line was
> orginally built by the Michigan Air Line Railway. MAL\\'s line
> when from St Clair, Michigan to Niles, Michigan. St Clair to
> Richmond, Michigan and Jackson to Niles Michigan portions were
> financed by the New York Central, and when MAL went belly up,
> the Richmond to Jackson part of the line went to the Grand
> Trunk, while the other portions went to the NYC. The only
> remainly segment of the MAL still operated is run by Coe Rail
> from Walled Lake to Wixom Mich.


Although, I beleive you are generally correct, my research shows that the MAL seciton east of Jackson was never built or used by the NYC or a predecessor but the right-of-way was later acquired by a GTW predecessor and operated.

The portion of the MAL west of Jackson (to Niles) was built in the 1860's and acquired by the Michigan Central shortly after completion on default of bonds. As a short cut btw Jackson and Niles, it was acquired by the Michigan Central to twart competition but until the 1950's never amounted to much. In the 50's the New York Central rebuilt a portion the line as a part of a high speed freight line btw Elkhart, Indiana and Detroit.