The Michigan Central Railroad was formed in 1846 to link Detroit Michigan to and St. Joseph Michigan. In 1867 The New York Central took control of the MC, and controlled the RR for about 100 years. In 1950 the MC became independent again. In 1925 the MC operated upwards of 1800 miles of track, the system map from that year looked like this, the MC can be seen in red:
Through the start of the 20th century the Michigan Central operated as a subsidiary to the New York Central all they way into the 1950's, but at that time the MC decided to become independent again. At this time they sold their Canadian Track to New York Central, and established an interchange with NYC right across the river in Detroit. The headquarters of the MC was moved into the Michigan Central Station in Detroit, where all of the MC's passenger trains now orientated. MC gave trackage rights to select NYC trains (this included hot shots from New York to Chiciago) so they could make the fastest possible trip from the big apple to the windy city, however the NYC trains only made stops on the MC at Detroit, and Kalamazoo. MC Mainly operates trains from Detroit to Chicago, with 2-4 trains a day running on trackage rights over NYC all the way from Chicago to New York. MC operated passenger Trains from Detroit to Chicago up until 1971 when Amtrak took over.
MC has major yards in Detroit, Wayne, Willow Run, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, and Chicago. MC has major interchange yards in Detroit, Toledo, Wayne, Ann Arbor, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, and of course Chicago. As the years went on some of the smaller branches we abandon/ sold off, and by 2000 the map looked something like this:
The line to Mackinaw has been cut as well as a few branches, but the Mainline still is the Detroit to Chicago line. That is how the map still looks today, but a few things have changed. The MC now operates as A Class 2 Regional, but still has modern power (Much like Iowa interstate or FEC). MC owns around 700-800 miles of track, and owns 50 locomotives including 5 more on order this year.
Currently MC operates trains to and from Chicago to Detroit, as well as locals on the other routes of the MC. Canadian Pacific has Trackage Rights over the MC from Detroit to Chicago for 10-15 trains a day, and the MC runs between 8-14 trains a day on the mainline between Detroit and Chicago. There are currently 6 Amtraks a day that serve the MC, they stop at all of the MC stations (Never needed to build modern Amtrak stations at any stop) including a stop at the MC in Detroit. The Michigan Central line sees about 20-30 trains a day run all the way from Detroit to Chicago.
The Roster of the Current MC is as follows:
SD70ACe 2 (2 more on order for 2013)
1800
1801
*1802 (on order)
*1803 (on order)
ES44AC 3 (2 on order for late 2013)
2200
2201
2202
*2203 (on order)
*2204 (on order)
GP38-2 15
3800-3814
GP40-2 10
4000-4009
C40-8W 5
4800-4804
SW1500 10
5100-5109
GP38-3 3
8300-8302 (rebuilt 2012)
E8A
8000
8001
Current Paint Scheme
SD70ACe
ES44AC
GP40-2
*Not part of the organized paper RRs
