Time Line - 1939

Last Year | Next Year

• March 30. The engineer and fireman, were drowned Thursday night when a Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic passenger train struck a stretch of damaged track one mile east of Three Lakes, throwing the locomotive into the Michigamme River. The bodies were recovered from the cab of the completely submerged locomotive. The tender and main car were partly submerged. No passengers were injured. Officials said that a landslide of rock and earth at the edge of a highway 50 feet above the track had caused the accident. The engineer, Charles Richardson, one of the oldest DSS&A engineers, was a former State senator. [DFP-1939-0331]

• April. The Interstate Commerce Commission allows railroads to remove derails from main line and other interlocking plants. Railroads in Michigan immediately apply to the Public Service Commission to remove derails throughout Michigan. [GTWHS-2022-Fall]

• August 10: A westbound freight trains derails and rearranges the features of the MCRR Ypsilanti station. It is rebuilt, no longer with bay windows and the tower disappears. [MRC-09/88]

• November 12: New York Central's "The Mercury", perhaps the most luxurious passenger train to serve Michigan, begins service between Chicago and Detroit. [MT] Note: At variance from 1938 report.

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• Pere Marquette RR receives first diesel switcher, a SW-1 #10. [PMHS]

• SNAPSHOT: The Ludington & Northern delivers 2,515 cars of sand to the Pere Marquette for distribution. [PM45]

• The New York Central roundhouse in Grayling burns to the ground. The fire started in the south end of the building and the cause was not determined. The roundhouse, made of pine, contained two locomotives at the time of the fire. [PG]

• The Copper Range abandons the Greenland Branch, 2.3 miles long. [CRH]

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