Ann Arbor Railroad
The line that became the Ann Arbor Railroad started as the State Line Railroad Company in 1870. The State Line was chartered to build a connection between the downtown Toledo, Ohio, at Elm Street to the Detroit, Canada Southern, and Toledo Railroad at Alexis, Ohio. The next year, a group of Michigan capitalists incorporated the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern Railroad Company (TAA&N) to build between Alexis and Ann Arbor Michigan. By 1873, however, with little progress and mounting obligations, the line fell victim to the Panic of 1873.
By 1876, James M. Ashley reorganized the TAA&N as the Toledo and Ann Arbor Railroad Company (T&AA). With fresh money and ambition, Ashley completed the line to Ann Arbor in 1877. Ashley also in 1877 purchased the State Line Railroad. Ashley, then pushed the line further north into Michigan, reaching Frankfort and Elberta in 1878. Frankfort and Elberta were chosen because of the natural harbor of Betsie Lake. In 1892, the T&AA became the first railroad to transit Lake Michigan with a fleet of car ferries.
In 1925, the Wabash Railroad gained control of the Ann Arbor and operated the line until 1963 when it sold its holdings to the Detroit, Toledo, & Ironton Railroad. In 1973, the Ann Arbor defaulted on its bonds and went into receivership. In 1974, it joined other Northeastern and Midwest railroads in the massive reorganization under the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976. The United States Railway Administration (USRA) deemed that the southern portion of the line, between Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Toledo was reorganizeable and included it in the Final System Plan. The State of Michigan, however, deemed that the entire line was important to the state's economy and communities and arranged to purchased the entire line from the USRA. For a while, Conrail was the Designated Operator (DO) of the line.
In October 1977, a new entity, the Michigan Interstate Railway Company ("Michigan Interstate") became the DO of the line. In 1983, however, Michigan Interstate entered receivership. This receivership led to the eventual break-up of the railroad. In 1985, the southern portion was purchased by a trustee and was again sold, in 1988, to the Ann Arbor Acquisition Corporation. The northern section was purchased by the Tuscola & Saginaw Bay Railway Co., Inc. (TSBY). North of Cadillac, Michigan, the line was abandoned.