Rogers City Branch
The Rogers City Branch was a railway line in Presque Isle County, Michigan. It ran north from a junction with the Detroit and Mackinac Railway main line near Posen, Michigan, to Rogers City, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Huron. The Detroit and Mackinac opened the line in 1911, and it was abandoned by the Lake State Railway in 2000. A major customer on the branch was the limestone quarry in Calcite, east of Rogers City.
| Rogers City Branch | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The main line of the Rogers City Branch. Not shown: spurs and industrial track within the limestone quarry. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Abandoned | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner |
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| Locale | Presque Isle County, Michigan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | June 18, 1911 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | 2000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 13.6 mi (21.9 km) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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History
The organizers of the Central Michigan Railroad, incorporated in 1888, proposed to build a line from Rogers City, Michigan, on the northern coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, due south to the Indiana state line. This ambitious 330-mile (530 km) project was never built.[1]
In 1893, the Alpena and Northern Railroad opened a line between Alpena, Michigan, where it connected with the Detroit, Bay City and Alpena Railroad, and LaRocque (now Hawks), in Presque Isle County.[2] The line passed 9 miles (14 km) south of Rogers City; the A&N established a stop west of Posen at "Hoffman's" to serve Rogers City, and a stagecoach service linked the two locations.[3]
Rogers City had to wait until 1911 for a direct railroad connection. The Detroit and Mackinac Railway, successor to the Alpena and Northern Railroad and the Detroit, Bay City and Alpena Railroad, constructed a 13.6-mile (21.9 km) from the former A&N main line near Posen to Rogers City. The line opened on June 18, 1911.[4] A major source of traffic for the branch was the limestone quarry east of Rogers City in Calcite, once the world's largest.[5]
The Lake State Railway acquired the Detroit and Mackinac Railway on February 17, 1992. At the time, service on the Rogers City Branch had declined to a single weekly trip, and three customers remained between Rogers City and Alpena.[6] The Lake State Railway abandoned the branch, and the remainder of the old Alpena and Northern main line, in 2000.[7] As of 2022, there are plans to convert the right-of-way into a rail trail, linking the North Eastern State Trail with the Huron Sunrise Trail.[8]
Notes
- Meints (1992), p. 47.
- Meints (1992), p. 36.
- "Untitled". Alpena Argus. November 22, 1893. p. 3. Retrieved April 22, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Meints (2005), p. 149.
- Dunbar (1969), p. 177.
- Cady (1992), p. 28.
- "Lake State Railway Company--Abandonment Exemption--in Alpena and Presque Isle Counties, MI" (PDF). Surface Transportation Board. February 22, 2000. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
- "Presque Isle Recreation Plan 2023–2027" (PDF). Presque Isle County. 2022. p. 3-51.
References
- Cady, Ron (July 1992). "Detroit & Mackinac adieu". Trains. Vol. 52, no. 7. p. 28. ISSN 0041-0934.
- Dunbar, Willis F. (1969). All Aboard! A History of Railroads in Michigan. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans. OCLC 54650.
- Meints, Graydon M. (1992). Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87013-318-3.
- Meints, Graydon M. (2005). Michigan Railroad Lines. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87013-693-1.