DT&I has its beginnings dating back to
the Iron Railway which was incorporated in 1849 to move agricultural
products between Ironton (which lies along the Ohio River) and Lawrence
County, Ohio. The primary backbone of the DT&I would be the Detroit
Southern Railway, which was incorporated in 1901. The DS took over
smaller systems (including the original Iron Railway) such as the
Springfield, Jackson & Pomeroy Railroad, which connected Jackson and
Springfield, Ohio Railroad; the Ohio Southern Railroad, which connected
Springfield to Lima, Ohio; and the Detroit & Lima Northern Railway,
which connected Lima with Detroit. The DS made up virtually the entire historic DT&I, a linear north-south system that connected the town of
Ironton, Ohio with Detroit, Michigan to the north.
However, poor management and shaky profits cast the Detroit Southern into bankruptcy in 1903, a place the railroad would find itself often over the next 17 years. It emerged as the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railway in 1905 and was given the Ann Arbor Railroad (a system that connected Toledo, Ohio with Frankfort, Michigan) but after another bankruptcy in 1908 the DT&I lost its control of the AA and in 1914 reemerged as the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad. By 1920 the railroad was again in financial trouble and would have undoubtedly fallen into bankruptcy again if it were not for its purchase that year by legendary businessman Henry Ford, who saw the DT&I as a means to serve his automobile plants around Detroit. Ford quickly poured much needed capital improvements into the DT&I and after the railroad secured numerous interchange points with the east-west trunk lines in Ohio it became a very profitable operation.
After just nine years of ownership, however, Ford sold off his
interests in the DT&I to the Pennsylvania Railroad, which retained
ownership of it until the Penn Central debacle. Still, after Ford’s
ownership the DT&I remained a profitable, well-managed railroad for
the rest of its days, and interestingly the PRR did not execute much
control of the railroad, as it maintained its own identity and
personnel. During 1963, in an interesting repeat of history, the DT&I once
again acquired ownership of the Ann Arbor. The Ann Arbor Railroad today
is not the original company started in the late 19th century although
it continues to bear the familiar orange paint
that the Ann Arbor was so famous for. Much like the Wheeling & Lake
Erie Railway which was officially dissolved and whose name was later
resurrected, so is the case with the Ann Arbor.
The AA was in danger of
being taken over or merged into another system following the PC
collapse. However, for the Ann Arbor’s sake, fortunately this is when
its luck changed. In an attempt to ensure the line’s stability and future, the State of
Michigan stepped in and purchased the entire Ann Arbor Railroad in 1976
(it also added its car float
operations in 1980 although they were discontinued in 1982).
Unfortunately the designating operator, the Michigan Interstate, went
bankrupt in 1983 and the remaining portion of the AA between Ann Arbor
and Toledo is operated by the Ann Arbor Acquisition Corporation today.
Today the Ann Arbor Railroad, owned by the Ann Arbor Acquisition
Corporation, continues to serve the State of Michigan along its main
line to Toledo, Ohio.
Diesel Locomotive Roster
|SW8||900-901 (Traded In From SW1s)||1952||2|
Steam Locomotive Roster
|88, 94, 100, 200, 400||Consolidation||2-8-0|
Following the 1970 bankruptcy by the Penn Central the PC was
forced to spin-off the DT&I an
attempt to help pay off its debt. Over the next ten years the DT&I
remained a mostly independent operation until it was taken over by the
Grand Trunk Western Railroad in 1980. Unlike the PRR the GTW quickly
began phasing out the DT&I’s identity. By 1982 everything south of
Washington Court House, Ohio, a distance of 115 miles was abandoned and
just two years later in 1984 the DT&I was merged into history as
part of the GTW. Interestingly, however, all of the former DT&I
system is still in operation north of Washington Court House to Detroit
(about 240 miles). This was sold to short line Indiana & Ohio in
1990 and remains an important part of that railroad today.
Related Reading You May Enjoy
Detroit, Toledo & Ironton