Station: Oak, MI

Oak was settled around 1858 and became a station stop on the Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western railroad (later PM/C&O/CSX) about ten miles northwest of downtown Detroit. The DGR&W main line from Lansing came east through here in 1871 on their original route to West Detroit and the MC depot which they used until Fort Street Union Station was established.

Oak was also known as Redford Junction. [MRC-10/76]

Notes

The yard at Oak was originally used as a marshalling location for freight going to and from the West Detroit Branch. With the invention of intermodal containers, the Canadian Pacific began utilizing Oak as their main intermodal yard, using trackage rights from Delray to Oak.

Time Line

1893. The Flint & Pete Marquette railroad built a new main line from a junction at this location (Oak) southeast through Springwells Township (later Detroit) to Delray for a connection with the Union Belt of Detroit and on to Fort Street Union Station at 3rd street downtown. This allowed them to reach downtown Detroit. The DGR&W also used this line and in return gave the F&PM trackage rights from Plymouth to Oak. Both lines merged into the Pete Marquette in 1899. The DGR&W discontinued using MC station in favor of Fort Street Union Station at this time and the branch to West Detroit became an industrial branch line, serving many industries including the Lincoln Plant near Livernois avenue. Much of it is still in existence today.

Mid-1920's. The area around Oak was annexed by the City of Detroit.

1927, The PM had station agents here, around the clock. They were paid 60¢ per hour. [PMTA]