Time Line - 1997

Last Year | Next Year

• January: The NS rehabs its Rouge River drawbridge. [MRC-4/1997]

• January: The LS&I and Wisconsin Central begin an all-rail movement of taconite ore from Tilden Mine near Negaunee to Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. LS&I moves the ore from Tilden to the WC at Eagle Mills, when then takes it via Escanaba, Gladstone, Trout Lake and the Soo over the International Bridge. [SOO-Sp/1996]

• February 15: The Canadian National (CN) sells the former DT&I to the Indiana & Ohio railroad from Diann south, and provides trackage rights to the I&O to Flat Rock Yard. [TR-08-2020]

• February: The NS acquires the Forman Wye, near Delray in southwest Detroit.  This track was originally built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and starts just east of the NS draw bridge over the Rouge Rivere, curving around and connecting with the CSXT just north of the Fort Street overpass. [MRC-4/1997]

• Early 1997: The Marquette to Munising Jct. portion of the old Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic has been taken out of service by the Wisconsin Central. [MRC-4/1997]

• May: America's newest passenger cog railway opened in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Quincy & Torch Lake Cog Railway carries passengers from Hancock, MI to historic mining sites on the hill above town.  The line is a half mile long and passengers are transported in a modern steel car with a capacity of 28 passengers. The car travels at a constant 5 m.p.h. speed on a grade as high as 35%. [MRC-11/98]

• October 18: Wisconsin Central tears down former Soo Line roundhouse at Sault Ste. Marie. [MRC-2/1998]

• October 29: Railtex removes 6.6 miles of track between Elmdale, north to Malta (the former PM/GTW junction). The diamond at Malta has also been removed and a new connection track has been installed in the northwest quadrant of the Malta junction. [COHS-1/1998]

• October: The approach to the former Soo Line ore dock in Marquette is dismantled. [MRC-2/1998]

• Late: Lake State Railway abandons the Paxton Branch, from Alpena west to the quarry at Paxton. [MRC-2/1998]

• December: Rouge Steel takes over its own railroad switching from the Ford Motor Co. railroad.  75 men at Ford lost their jobs as a result. [MRC-2/1998]

• December 31, 1997, "Ditch" headlights are now required on all U.S. locomotives.

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• The Lake State Railway announces it will pay about #10 million to buy locomotives, cars and rail lines of the Detroit & Mackinac Railway.  The transaction should take place around April 15th.  Equipment will now be repainted to reflect LSRC ownership.  The line had been leased by LSRC since 2/1992. [MRC-4/1997]

• Conrail donates the 100 foot turntable from the former MCRR shops at Jackson, Michigan to the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum at North Judson, Indiana. [MRC-4/1997]

• The UP (former Soo Line) abandons trackage between North Escanaba and Hermansville.  The connection track at Hermansville is upgraded for 40 mph.  A new connection track is also installed between the UP line and the former Soo Line near the old ore yard on the west side of Escanaba. [MRC-4/1997]

 Time line 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