Timeline - 1928

  • January 21: The GTW car ferry Madison hits a sand bar, grounding the vessel and causing $49,200 in damages. The incident occurred during heavy wind, high seas and drifting ice. [GTWHS-5/1997]

  • May 1: Grosse Pointe Village refuses to allow DUR cars to operate into the village, ending service on the Shore Line. [EMR4]

  • June 9: Detroit & Mackinac Ry abandons the Lincoln Branch from Lincoln to Lincoln Jct. [MDY33]  Note: [GW] shows this abandonment as June 3.

  • June 10: The Pere Marquette puts into operation centralized traffic control (CTC) between Bridgeport, MI and Mount Morris, MI.

  • August 14: Interurban passenger service between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids and Battle Creek via Gull Lake ends. The track is abandoned. [MT/IT-12/79]/span>

  • August 18: The Detroit to Wyandotte rail line is abandoned (DSR operates part to the Penn "Y" until January 1, 1931). [EMR4]

  • Summer: Soo Line discontinues dedicated passenger trains on its Gogebic Branch between Bessemer, Ironwood and Wisconsin. A freight train was made into a mixed train to handle passenger traffic. [WC-Sp/1996].

  • November 1: The Grand Trunk Western RR consolidated 10 subsidiary or component companies to form a single system in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. [MDOT]

  • November 30: Interurban service between Jackson and Kalamazoo ends. [MT]

  • December 2: The last interurban car leaves Marshall at 12:15 a.m. [MT]

  • Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village founded. Ford begins moving historic buildings to the site from elsewhere. [BOM/DWS]

  • SNAPSHOT: The Michigan Central reports that they have installed 41 flashing road crossing signals this year on their line, as well as 14 "wig-wag" signals. They anticipate installing 12 more flashing light crossings and 19 more "wig-wag" signals in 1929. [RSC-1929]

  • Soo Line closes its agency at Upson, on the Gogebic Range. [SOO-Sp/1996]

  • The GTW builds a new brick depot at Imlay City. The depot continues to exist in 1999 as a historical museum. [MRP-I]

  • The Plymouth Motor Corporation builds their Lynch Road Assembly Plant at 6334 Lynch Road. [BOM]

  • The E&LS removes lumber branches at Ralph. [EDP-12/27/1950]

  • The Michigan United/MCRR diamond in Kalamazoo, just west of Gull Street, is removed. [GM]

  • The first Sperry Rail Detector Car (#102) is put into service on the Wabash. [SAM]

  • Rail cars with wooden main sills are banned from interchange.  Cars with truss rod underframes built new or retrofitted remain legal. [SAM]

  • Union Switch & Signal conducts tests of Inductive Train Communications (I.T.C.). [SAM]

  • The National Car Company is formed as a subsidiary of Fruit Growers Express. [SAM]

  • The Detroit Terminal Railroad and the Pere Marquette complete their grade separation project in Fordson (Michigan Avenue) at a cost of $1.109 million. 

  • The Michigan Central Railroad completes grade separation projects in Hamtramck, Waterman Avenue in Detroit, Fort Street in Detroit, Dearborn, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids. [RA-1/5/1929]

  • The Pere Marquette completes grade separation projects at Warren Avenue in Detroit. [RA-1/5/1929]

  • The Pere Marquette adds a second main track between McGrew and the GTW crossing in Flint, a distance of 3.36 miles. [RA-1/5/1929]

  • The Wabash Railway installs new track and a new icing facility at Oakwood, Michigan. [RA-1/5/1929]

  • The Detroit & Toledo Shore Line adds a second main track between Vienna and Kipf, a distance of 6.28 miles. [RA-1/5/1929]

  • The Michigan Central Railroad installs two new automatic block semaphore signals from the General Railway Signal Co. at Orion, Michigan on the Bay City Branch over a distance of 1.7 miles. [RA-1/5/1929]

  • The Pere Marquette installs a "centralized control system" and 55 semaphore US&S signals on 30 miles of track between Flint and Saginaw.  This includes 10 miles of double track and 20 miles of single track. [RA-1/5/1929]

  • The Grand Trunk Western installs 73 color-light signals over 65 miles of track between Granger, Indiana and Battle Creek, Michigan.  The equipment was delivered by US&S.  The GTW also installs 3 color-light signals over 4 miles at Lansing, 2 color-light signals on 1.6 miles of track at Ionia, 4 color-light signals on 2.2 miles of track at Pontiac, and 2 color-light signals on 1.6 miles of track at Corunna. [RA-1/5/1929]

 

 

 

 Timeline 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