The Delray Connecting Railroad company was organized in 1904 to provide service to Zug Island and the Solvay Process Company [MRC-1909]. The railroad continues in operation today and is owned by a subsidiary of United States Steel which purchased it from the National Steel Corp. The line has 15.5 miles of track, mostly on the island.
Built → Delray Connecting Railroad → Active operation
Built: 1904 from Delray to Zug Island, in southwest Detroit and River Rouge
Operated for 122+ years
Became: Active corporation.
Reference: [MRRC]
Photo Info: Delray Connecting caboose #100 in a builders photo from the American Car & Foundry Co. The freight door on this caboose was unique, given that the DC didn't offer passenger or express service. [Charles Geletzke Jr. collection]
NotesThe railroad was known as "The Zug Island Road" [TSD]
There are three (3) bridges on the DCRR. They are:
1904. Railroad operations begin. Owned by Allied Chemical's Semtex-Solvay division. It's primary job was to move coke from to Great Lakes Steel on Zug Island. [TSD]
1915. The railroad gains trackage rights on the DT&I to the Sibley quarry in Trenton to bring limestone for the Solvay process. This operation ended in the 1950's. [TSD]
1920. The Delray Connecting and Delray Terminal have six industries with six sidings and a car capacity of 1,064 cars. [DWT-1920]
After 1968. With the closing of coking operations, most DC operations east of the Rouge River were discontinued [TSD]
1975. The DC purchases the tracks of the DT&I on Zug Island and in the vicinity, 1.75 miles.
2004. November. The DC has expanded. A new line of track was installed on the old Solvay Process property in the Delray section of Detroit to serve the new LaFarge cement terminal that has been built on this site. This is to replace the old Huron Cement facility on the east riverfront in Detroit. [MRF-2005-02]
2006. Delray Connecting has taken over the hot metal/bottle runs to and from Zug Island. After a problem with the FRA and the firing of a USS remote control operator this summer, the work was put into the hands of an actual locomotive engineer. [MRF-2006-12]
2006. US Steel announced it was selling its controlling shares of the Delray Connecting railroad to its subsidiary, Transtar, Inc. Transtar will then own all six of the U.S. Steel railroads. [MRF-2006-12]
2009. The DC had three locomotives, two EMD SW1200's and one EMD SW600 (#'s 1, 2 & 3). All were built between 1951 and 1952.
The following sources are utilized in this website. [SOURCE-YEAR-MMDD-PG]:
