The
Detroit, Bay City & Alpena Railroad, was a
narrow gauge short line operated from Bay City northward to the
Lake Huron port of
Alpena. The line was converted to in 1886 and was reorganized into the Detroit and Mackinac (D&M) on December 17, 1894. During the late 1890s and the first decade of the Twentieth Century, the timber resources of northeastern Michigan were fully utilized and the D&M expanded its trackage northward from Alpena to Cheboygan. The Bay City-Cheboygan main line prospered, and a stone passenger depot was constructed in
Harrisville. The main constituent of the freight service offered by the D&M and its predecessor railroads was timber from what was then the vast forests of northeastern Michigan; the D&M built spurs and branch lines to the forested areas. The
Rogers City Branch served the limestone quarries of
Rogers City. In 1922, the railroad also had branch lines to Au Gres, Comins, Curran, Hillman, Lincoln, Prescott, and Rose City. freight train in
Fredericksburg, Virginia in 2021 In the 1940s, D&M had enough revenue to be a
Class I railroad and it was one of the first such to eliminate
steam locomotives in 1948. In March 1976, the Detroit & Mackinac acquired a combination of trackage and operating trackage rights from the remains of the bankrupt
Penn Central that created an alternate main line from Bay City northward, through
Gaylord and Cheboygan, to
Mackinaw City. However, adverse economic conditions continued to affect railroad operations in the northeastern United States. The road was sold to the
Lake State Railway in 1992, and ended its existence as an independent railroad. The Detroit & Mackinac called itself the "Turtle Line" and its logo symbol was "Mackinac Mac". The railroad bore the hostile
backronym of "Defeated & Maltreated".
Passenger service The D&M mainline from Bay City to Alpena offered sleeping car and meal services between
Detroit and Alpena in the 1930s. Continuing coaches were carried over
Michigan Central Railroad tracks from Detroit to Bay City. Separate
motor coach trains operating daily except Sunday carried passengers from Alpena to the northern extent of D&M territory,
Cheboygan. By the 1940s, meal services had disappeared. By 1949, service was reduced to a morning trip from Bay City to Alpena and a reverse trip in the evening. Sleeping cars were eliminated. And service from Alpena to Cheboygan was discontinued as well. Passenger service was entirely eliminated by 1951. Named train passenger service in the mid-1930s consisted of: •
Resorter (#1), sleeping car, Detroit to Alpena; coach, Bay City to Alpena (coach passengers would take a Michigan Central train from Detroit to Bay City) •
Clipper (#3), coach via Michigan Central, Detroit to Bay City; motor coach train from Bay City to Alpena •
New Yorker (#4), motor coach train from Alpena to Bay City; coach via Michigan Central, Bay City to Detroit •
Sunset (#12), sleeping car, Alpena to Detroit; coach, Alpena to Bay City (coach passengers would take a Michigan Central train from Bay City to Detroit) ==Legacy==