The Michigan Interstate Railway was formed on August 27, 1977, to operate the Ann Arbor Railroad from

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

Elberta, Michigan Elberta is a village in Benzie County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 372 at the 2010 census. The village located in the east of Gilmore Township, on the south side of Lake Betsie, which is formed by the Betsie River before flow ...

. The AA had declared bankruptcy and was included in the assets of Conrail, formed on April 1, 1976. The MIRC operated until October 7, 1988, when the Ann Arbor Acquisition Corporation acquired all assets.

Operations

The Michigan Interstate Railway operated over the territory of the previous operator, the Ann Arbor Railroad, from

. The MIRC assumed operations from Conrail on October 1, 1977, and operated until October 7, 1988. Elberta was the site of the railroad's ferry operations. The ferry operations ceased in April 1982 and service north of

Cadillac, Michigan Cadillac ( ) is a city in and county seat of Wexford County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,371 at the 2020 census, which ranks it the third most-populated city in the Northern Michigan region after Traverse City and Al ...

was reduced to a sand pit just south of Yuma, Michigan. Additionally, the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway acquired operations north of Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1982. In 1983, the MIRC filed for reorganization and the trustee for the estate purchased the remaining portion of the MIRC from

to Ann Arbor, Michigan in September 1985. The MIRC continued to operate until October 7, 1988, when all assets were acquired by the Ann Arbor Acquisition Corporation.

Roster

The Michigan Interstate Railway operated equipment that had been used by the previous operator, the Ann Arbor Railroad. The Ann Arbor Railroad purchased ten new

EMD GP35 The EMD GP35 is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between July 1963 and December 1965 and by General Motors Diesel between May 1964 and January 1966. 1251 examples were built for American railro ...

s in 1962 that were built and delivered in 1963. When the MIRC assumed operations in 1977, the

s were in a state of disrepair. The MIRC rebuilt eight of the

s for service. Additionally, the MIRC also operated three Alco S3s, two

Alco RS-1 The ALCO RS-1 was a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by Alco-GE between 1941 and 1953 and the American Locomotive Company from 1953 to 1960. ALCO subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works built an additional three RS-1s in 1954. This model has ...

s, and two

Alco RS-2 The ALCO RS-2 is a B-B diesel-electric locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) from 1946 to 1950. ALCO introduced the model after World War II as an improvement on the ALCO RS-1. Between 1946 and 1950, 377 examples of the RS ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michigan Interstate Railway Defunct Michigan railroads Former Class I railroads in the United States Railway companies established in 1977 Railway companies disestablished in 1988 American companies established in 1977 American companies disestablished in 1988 Spin-offs of Conrail