The ''Resort Special'' was a seasonal night train from

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, renowned for serving resort towns such as

Traverse City Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although it partly extends into Leelanau County. The city's population was 15,678 at the 2020 census, while the four-county Traverse C ...

Charlevoix Charlevoix ( , ) is a cultural and natural region in Quebec, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River as well as in the Laurentian Mountains area of the Canadian Shield. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands ...

, Petoskey on the northwestern part of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

’s lower peninsula. Begun by the

Pere Marquette Railway The Pere Marquette Railway was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes (North America), Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and the Canadi ...

, it was a rare instance of a named Pere Marquette train continuing after the Chesapeake & Ohio absorbed the Pere Marquette Railway in 1947. In 1960s, the C&O shifted the ''Resort Special'' name to a

White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia White Sulphur Springs is a city in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,231 at the 2020 census. The city emblem consists of five dandelion flowers and the citizens celebrate spring with an annual Dandelion Festiva ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

route.

Early extent of route

The Pere Marquette (and later the C&O) operated coach and Pullman service on this western Michigan route for nearly six decades. It had two origin points by June 1921, from Chicago (

Grand Central Station Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

), and from Detroit (

Fort Street Union Depot The Fort Street Union Depot was a passenger train station located at the southwest corner of West Fort Street and Third Street in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It served the city from 1893 to 1971, then was demolished in 1974. Today, the downtow ...

). The sections from both cities joined in Grand Rapids and proceeded north to

Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...

, Petoskey and Bay View. Normally, all trains on this division of track ended at Petoskey, however, the ''Resort Special'' was the last remaining passenger train to use the segment from Petoskey to Bay View. Noteworthy resort locations en route were the Idlewild resort for African-Americans during the Jim Crow era, five miles to the east of Baldwin, the

National Music Camp Interlochen Center for the Arts ( '; also known as I.C.A. or Inty) is a non-profit corporation which operates arts education institutions and performance venues. Established in 1928 by Joseph E. Maddy, Interlochen Center for the Arts is loc ...

for young musicians and the

Interlochen State Park Interlochen State Park is a public recreation area covering on the isthmus between Green Lake (Grand Traverse County, Michigan), Green Lake and Duck Lake (Grand Traverse County, Michigan), Duck Lake in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, Grand Tra ...

Interlochen Interlochen ( ') is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Grand Traverse County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the population was 694, up from 583 at the 2010 census. The community is located w ...

and the Methodist revival camp in Bay View. 1948 was the last summer that the train, #10 northbound, #9 southbound, went all the way to Bay View. In 1949 it was shortened to Petoskey. Also that year, the Detroit section was eliminated from the train. However, the train resumed serving Baldwin. In 1957 the C&O eliminated this named train from this route. The PM's Petoskey Division also included regular year-round service trains that served local stations that the ''Resort Special'' bypassed. As late as the April, 1961 timetable, the C&O was running trains as far north as Petoskey. Despite the PM’s earlier dropping of the name from the train, the C&O continued to run #7 and #10 in summer, 1963 as unnamed through sleepers from and to Traverse City, the northern terminus of PM passenger service on the division by that point.

Rerouting

In the mid-1960s the C&O rejuvenated the name in an April - June and September - October two night a week eastbound only White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia-New York City all-Pullman train, running express from Covington, Virginia to Washington. White Sulphur Springs is the site of the C&O-owned five-star resort,

The Greenbrier The Greenbrier is a luxury resort located in the Allegheny Mountains near White Sulphur Springs in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, in the United States. Since 1778, visitors have traveled to this part of the state to "take the waters" of t ...

. (The

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

's #108 ''Edison'' carried the sleeping cars for the Washington-New York portion of the route.)

References

Early extent of route

Rerouting

See also

References