The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company was an American subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, later of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holding company, the Grand Trunk Corporation. Grand Trunk Western's routes are part of CN's Michigan Division. Its primary mainline between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan, serves as a connection between railroad interchanges in Chicago and rail lines in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. The railroad's extensive trackage in Detroit and across southern Michigan has made it an essential link for the automotive industry as a hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants.
Early history
thumb|A 1912 postcard of the Grand Trunk depot at [[Charlotte, Michigan, built in 1885 by GTW predecessor Chicago and Grand Trunk Railroad]]
Grand Trunk Western grew out of a collection of 19th century Michigan rail lines which included:
- Bay City Terminal Railway
- Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railroad
- Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway
- Chicago, Kalamazoo and Saginaw Railway
- Chicago and Kalamazoo Terminal Railroad
- Chicago and Lake Huron
- Chicago and Northeastern
- Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway
- Detroit and Huron Railway
- Grand Rapids Terminal Railroad
- Michigan Air Line Railway
- Muskegon Railway and Navigation Company
- Peninsular Railway of Michigan and Indiana
- Pontiac, Oxford and Northern Railroad
- Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway
Mainline
Grand Trunk Western began as a route for the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) to link its line to Chicago through lower Michigan. GTR's objective was to have a mainline from shipping ports in Portland, Maine, to rail connections in Chicago through the southern part of the Province of Canada that would serve Toronto and Montreal.
In 1859 the Grand Trunk completed its route to Sarnia, Canada West, and began a ferry service across the St. Clair River to Port Huron. GTR leased the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railroad to reach Detroit and from there then ran over the Michigan Central Railroad's line from Detroit into Chicago.
More routes
Over the next two decades through either leases or purchases Grand Trunk acquired several other branch lines in Michigan. It took control of the Michigan Air Line Railway through a lease in 1881. The line connected with the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction at Richmond and ran to Jackson, through Romeo and Pontiac, Michigan. When Grand Trunk purchased the Great Western Railway in 1882 it also acquired the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway (DGH&M), which Great Western had owned since 1877. The DGH&M gave Grand Trunk a route from Detroit through Pontiac, Durand and Grand Rapids to Grand Haven, Michigan, where it began its Lake Michigan railcar ferry operations in 1902. By 1910, GTW had a network of trackage connecting all of lower Michigan's major manufacturing cities when it acquired a lease on a short branch of the Chicago, Kalamazoo and Saginaw Railroad giving it access to Kalamazoo, Michigan. A few years before, in 1902, GTW had gained access into Ohio with its shared ownership of the Detroit and Toledo Shore Line Railroad. The line was a small carrier that had a multi-track mainline bridging Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, and was purchased equally by GTW and the Toledo, St. Louis and Western Railroad, a predecessor of the Nickel Plate Road. GTW eventually took complete control of the line when it bought Nickel Plate's half interest from its successor Norfolk and Western Railway in 1981.
Terminal railroads
Grand Trunk Western also owned or co-owned terminal switching railroad companies in some of the cities it operated in. Beginning in 1905, it co-owned equal shares of the Detroit Terminal Railroad with New York Central (NYC). By the 1970s Detroit Terminal was suffering financial losses, and GTW negotiated to sell its share to NYC's successors Penn Central and Conrail until it dropped its ownership in 1981. For its entry into Chicago GTW, along with the Erie, Wabash, Chicago and Eastern Illinois and Monon railroads, was a co-owner of the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad (C&WI), beginning in 1883. It performed passenger and express car-switching duties at Chicago's Dearborn Station. GTW was also part of a group that created and shared ownership in the Belt Railway Company of Chicago, which connects every rail line in the Chicago area.
Canadian National
By 1919, GTW's parent, Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, was suffering financial problems related to its ownership of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The Canadian government nationalized Grand Trunk and other financially troubled Canadian rail companies by 1923 and amalgamated them into a new government-owned entity, the Canadian National Railway. In 1987, the former Cincinnati, Saginaw, and Mackinaw and the former Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee routes north of Durand were sold to the Central Michigan Railway. Elsdon Yard, GTW's primary terminal and rail yard in Chicago, had been downsized and closed by 1990. It had also sold almost the entire route of the Detroit, Toledo and Ironton in 1997 to the shortline rail operator Railtex. By 1998, it had abandoned the entire former Michigan Air Line route except for a portion in Oakland County, Michigan, which it sold to Coe Rail. With the end of SEMTA commuter rail service to downtown Detroit, in 1983, GTW abandoned and sold its trackage from the Milwaukee Junction area to downtown Detroit. That line was the former route to Brush Street Station and its railcar ferry dock on the Detroit River. It is known as the Dequindre Cut, which has been transformed into an urban greenway rail trail. By the year 2000, engine terminals and maintenance facilities had also been eliminated or downsized in Chicago, Detroit, Durand, Pontiac, Port Huron and Battle Creek.
CN North America
thumb|Grand Trunk Western [[EMD GP38-2|GP38-2 4900 at Battle Creek, Michigan in the CN color scheme with GTW reporting marks|alt=]]
In December 1991, Canadian National announced a corporate image and restructuring program to consolidate all of its U.S. railroads under the CN North America brand. Grand Trunk Western,
along with other CN owned subsidiaries, would see their images replaced with the CN logo and name.
thumb|A 1909 photograph of a Grand Trunk Western locomotive and crew at the [[Durand, Michigan roundhouse|alt=]]
GTW's predecessor lines primarily used American-type locomotives before the turn of the 20th century. Throughout its history, GTW has shared the same type and class designations of its locomotives with parents Grand Trunk Railway and Canadian National. Its locomotive road numbers would also be integrated into CN's roster sequence. By the first half of the 20th century, the railroad's largest steam power would be its Northern type locomotives, called Confederations by CN. The locomotives, built by the American Locomotive Company in the 1930s and 1940s, had driving wheels with 60,000 pounds of tractive effort and would be used in mainline freight and passenger service. Six GTW U-4-b class s built by Lima Locomotive Works would have streamlined shrouding and driving wheels, to be used only in passenger service.
left|thumb|GTW class K-4-a #5628 in
Other steam locomotives in GTW's fleet at the time included the Mikado type 2-8-2s built by Baldwin Locomotive Works and Alco, primarily used in mainline freight service. Pacific type and Mountain type locomotives, also built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) and American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in the 1920s, and Ten-Wheelers built around 1900 began in mainline service but later were eventually both found mostly on branch lines and mixed train service. GTW also had a variety of other models of steam engines, including several 0-8-0 and 0-6-0 switching locomotives used to move rolling stock around in rail yards. Although there was a third Pacific, K-4a 5629, that was used on excursions from the 1960s to 1970s, it was scrapped in July 1987, in Blue Island, Illinois.
Diesel
thumb|GTW 4619 heading south from [[Kalamazoo, Michigan|Kalamazoo near Battle Creek is one of the GP9s the railroad rebuilt and designated a GP9R]]
The first diesel locomotive to operate in regular service in Michigan arrived in 1938. It was GTW 7800, an EMC SC switching locomotive to work in Detroit. Previously, in 1925, GTW acquired from EMC an early motorized gasoline-electric railcar known as a Doodlebug. The cars were self-propelled units resembling a passenger car, with a baggage compartment and a coach section for passengers that GTW used on its Detroit to Port Huron and Richmond to Jackson routes until 1953. GTW also had another gasoline-electric locomotive referred to as a box-cab, built by Brill in 1926. Originally built for the Long Island Rail Road, GTW purchased it in 1934 and numbered it 7730. It was relegated to loading and unloading freight cars from GTW ferries in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The unit was eventually converted to diesel power in 1939 and served in Milwaukee until 1960.
GTW continued to dieselize its locomotive fleet in the 1940s and 1950s, primarily with models from EMD, which was owned by one of GTW's largest freight customers, General Motors. The exceptions were approximately 40 Alco S-2 and S-4 switching locomotives. Other diesel locomotives from EMD included several NW2s, SW900s and SW1200s, purchased for switching duties in rail yards and on branch lines. Grand Trunk Western's first mainline road diesel locomotives were almost two dozen EMD F3As, acquired in 1948. They were followed in the 1950s by EMD GP9s and GP18s for freight and passenger service. The GP9s were rebuilt by GTW's Battle Creek locomotive shops into GP9Rs, with improved internal components and modern low-nose cabs.
Second-generation diesel locomotives
thumb|GTW 5812, an [[EMD GP38-2, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on May 16, 2020.]]
The next new motive power to be acquired was the EMD SD40 in 1969. These were GTW's first six-axle locomotives, and most lasted on GTW for at least four decades. GTW management found it cost-effective to lease or purchase second-hand diesel locomotives. It purchased several former Rock Island GP38-2s after that railroad closed in 1980. Union Pacific sold GTW several surplus former Missouri Pacific SD40-2s after it had acquired that railroad.
Facilities
thumb|The first locomotive in Grand Trunk Western's Battle Creek locomotive shops. c. 1908
Over its history, Grand Trunk Western has had rail yards and engine terminals located in Detroit, Battle Creek, Durand, Flat Rock, Flint, Grand Rapids, Pontiac, Port Huron, Blue Island, Illinois and Chicago. In each of these cities, GTW had engine terminals and facilities for locomotive maintenance, including roundhouses and turntables. Prior to 1900, the railroad constructed its major locomotive repair shops in Battle Creek, while railcar repair and maintenance was handled by GTW's Port Huron car shops. GTW's rail car ferry service began in 1902 with an operating agreement with the steamship company, Crosby Transportation Company. The railway constructed ferry slip docks at Grand Haven and Milwaukee and had two steamships built, the SS Grand Haven and , capable of carrying 26 freight railcars. In 1905, Grand Trunk assumed Crosby's interest and incorporated the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company to operate the ships. In Milwaukee, GTW interchanged rail cars with the Milwaukee Road, Chicago and North Western and the Soo Line. It soon was joined in service by the steamer Huron. The ferries continued until 1891, when Grand Trunk completed its rail tunnel connecting Sarnia and Port Huron under the river. However, GTW and CN reinstated the ferry service 80 years later, in 1971, with its Rail-Barge service to accommodate the larger freight railcars that were higher than the 1891 tunnel's height clearance. The St. Clair river barges discontinued service again in 1995, after the new, larger St Clair Tunnel was completed.