Railroad: Keweenaw Central Railroad (new)

Four "midwestern railroad buffs" formed the Keweenaw Central railroad to operate excursion trains which were popular under the original Keweenaw Central railroad between 1907 and 1917. The trains ran from Calumet to Lake Linden via Calumet Junction. The railroad was owned and operated by the Trans-Northern corporation, using Copper Range tracks.

Notes

Time Line

1967. A photo in the Battle Creek Enquirer on June 26, 1967 shows steam locomotive No. 29, of 1907 vintage, "chuffing" past Centennial No. 2 copper mine near Calumet. [BCE-1967-0626] Three scheduled trips per day. [EDP-1959-0626]

1969. The train is drawn by a 135-ton, 1907 steam engine with one coach. The KC railway bought the engine and coach in 1967 for excursion purposes. I had also acquired a rail line from Calumet Junction to Copper City. The railroad owns a former C&NW locomotive which is undergoing reconditioning.

The high point of the trip is Bridge No. 30, a 350-foot long, 120-foot high trestle spanning Douglass Houghton Creek and said to be the highest railway bridge in Michigan. [DFP-1969-0713]

1970. From the "water stop" at Calumet Junction to Bridge No. 30, its over three miles down-grade, nearly 2 percent. The whistle echoes along the track along Trap Rock Valley. The end of track is near Lake Linden and Highway M-26 where the KC railway connects with the Copper Range line. 

President and General Superintendent of the new KC is normally the Engineer, Clint Jones Jr. wears clean coveralls and jacket, a Hamilton 21 jewel railroad watch, and knows his locomotive's every bolt and valve. Conductor Fred L. Tonne, is the lines other principal operating member. [PHTH-190-0605]

1971. The last passenger train operating in the upper peninsula made what the Keweenaw Central railroad said was its final run Sunday with a standing-room-only crowd of passengers. Trans-Northern Corporation, a nine-stockholder firm which owns the railroad, said the train had carried about 15,000 passengers this year, but that this was not enough to justify continuance of the railroad. The line began its revived operations in 1966 as a tourist attraction. Clint Jones, 27-year old president of the Trans-Northern, was at the throttle of the 40-year old locomotive on the final run. [LSJ-1971-1011]

1972. October 255. The KC railway ceased operations Tuesday pulling its entire rolling stock - three locomotives and eight passenger cars - on the Copper Range railroad to McKeever to be turned over to the Milwaukee Road for ultimate service in other parts of northern Michigan. Fred Tonne, KC secretary, said abolition of feeder routes from the Copper Range railroad forced the KC closure. [BCE-1972-1025]