Time Line - 1960

Last Year | Next Year

• February: Copper Range Company suspends mining operations at the Champion Mine. [CRH]

• March: Stockholders approve the merger of the Soo Line, DSS&A and the Wisconsin Central. The merger takes place on December 31, 1960. [RO]

• May (or March)  27: Last regularly-scheduled steam-powered passenger train on a major U.S. railroad, runs from Durand to Detroit over the Grand Trunk Western. [MDOT] [MHM]

• August: NYC and DT&I remove interlocking tower in Adrian, replacing it with stop boards. The tower had been unmanned since 1931. [MSAI]

• September: The Humboldt Mining company Friday opened an iron ore pelletizing plant with a capacity of 650,000 tons a year here. The new plant, adjacent to an open pit mine from which it will convert low-grade ores into rich iron pellets, is jointly owned by the Ford Motor Company and Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company.

  A previous plant, which converted low grade jasper rock into rich iron ore powder proved unsuccessful because the powder was too fine and light for satisfactory blast-furnace feeding.

• December 16: The Senter Plant of the Atlas Powder Co. discontinues operations and dismantles their plant. This results in a decrease in Copper Range Railroad revenue of 5%. [CRAR]

• December 31: Michigan Railroad Mileage Totaled 6,640 miles - 12/31/1960 [MDOT]

•  December 31: The Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic railroad (from the Sault and St. Ignace to Duluth, via Marquette) ceased to exist - merges into the Soo Line. [SSS=12-2019]

  ---

• Grand Trunk Western drops passenger service between Durand and Muskegon, via Grand Rapids - 1960 [MDOT]

• E&LS closes their agents office in Escanaba. [ELSW]

• The New York Central is down to just one train per day to Mackinaw City, arriving at 4:30 p.m. A 2nd train, the Timberliner" still runs on summer weekends. [MRC-3/90]

• The Soo Line runs just a tri-weekly mixed train between Gladstone (Escanaba) and Sault Ste. Marie. [MRC-3/90]

• Current Houghton-Hancock vehicle/railroad lift bridge is completed. [DWS]

• CK&S discontinues operation from Doster to Hooper. [NYC-2/1989]

• Tri-level autorack cars are introduced by Trailer-Train. [SAM]

• Unit coal train service is introduced on the Southern Railway. [SAM]

• General Electric Company introduces it's first diesel road unit, the U25B. [SAM]

• SNAPSHOT:  Pelletized ore is loaded into ore cars at Randville and other locations and transported to Escanaba. The pellets are still hot from the roasting process when loaded and are a potential fire hazard for the No. 6 ore dock which is still of timber construction. The C&NW utilizes a heat sensing device to determine the temperature of the pellets before unloading. Cars that are too hot are set aside for cooling until they are safe to unload. [LSIOR]

• SNAPSHOT: The Milwaukee Road services the Champion Mine, on the north end of its line from Iron Mountain via Channing. The Champion yard has four tracks and is a primary connection for freight with the Soo Line. Ore is handled on tri-weekly freights No. 69 and 82, which operate between Channing and Champion. [LSIOR]

• The NYC abandons its line from Sturgis south to Shipshewana, Indiana. [NK]

• Unit trains begin to haul western coal to eastern markets. [STOV]

• The Manistique & Lake Superior looses "bridge" traffic with the merger of the South Shore and the Soo Line. [HH/MIHX8]

• Former DSS&A shops at Marquette are downgraded with heavy repairs moved to Shoreham and north Fond du Lac. Marquette will now do "running repairs" only. [RO]

• Former DSS&A east and west overhead traffic is now moved to the Soo Line through Gladstone.

• The C&NW decides to reroute all of its remaining ore traffic from the Gogebic Range (near Ironwood) through Escanaba, instead of Ashland, Wisconsin. This decision reduced transportation costs for the mines allowing them to remain open a bit longer.  FM units were used for motive power. [LSIOR]

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