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The Pere Marquette Railway

The Pere Marquette Railway was a system which stretched throughout Michigan and also reached northern Indiana and southern Ontario. If you have often wondered how the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway came to operate so much trackage in Michigan and stretched so far northward this is the reason as the C&O gained control of the PM in 1947. Overall the Pere Marquette was only ever a marginally successful system suffering through a number of reorganizations during its short existence as Michigan's largest railroad. Today, a fraction of the PM remains in operation cut up amongst CSX and numerous shortlines.

The Pere Marquette Railway began life through the merger of several smaller Michigan railroads the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway; Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad; and Chicago & West Michigan Railway. The F&PM dates as far back as 1857 when it was chartered to connect Flint, Michigan with Lake Erie at present day Ludington with its main staple of traffic based in lumber and wood products. Through consolidation with other small lines like the Flint & Holly Railroad; Holly, Wayne & Monroe Railroad; Bay City & East Saginaw Railroad; Flint River Railroad; and Cass River Railroad the F&PM eventually reached its Lake Erie connection in 1874 as well as such cities as Detroit.

The DL&N was created on March 16, 1871 as a consolidation of the small railroads the Detroit, Howell & Lansing and Ionia & Lansing. Overall this railroad was rather unprofitable and fell into several bankruptcies before become part of the Pere Marquette. At its peak the DL&N connected Detroit with Howard City to the northwest.

The last component of the PM was the Chicago & West Michigan Railway which was formed through the consolidation of the Chicago & West Michigan Railroad; Grand Rapids, Newaygo & Lake Shore Railroad; Grand Haven Railroad; and Indiana & Michigan Railroad. Overall the C&WM was large system containing some 348 miles of railroad mostly concentrated in Michigan's western regions connected such cities as Holland, Grand Rapids, White Cloud, Muskegon, New Buffalo and others.

The creation of the Pere Marquette Railroad took place on January 1, 1900 as the three systems, never very profitable, chose to consolidate as a means of decreasing costs and increasing profits. The Pere Marquette Railway was formed 17 years later April 1917 when the system was reincorporated after a reorganization.

Stretching all throughout Michigan and as far south as La Crosse, Indiana the PM eventually reached southern Ontario including trackage rights as far east as Niagara Falls and Bridgeburg. Along with these expansions the PM also had car ferry operations at Ludington (connecting Milwaukee, Manitowoc and Kewaunee, Wisconsin) and took over the Manistee & North Eastern Railroad in December 1931 giving it additional lines in northern Michigan.

Overall the Pere Marquette Railway had a tough time earning healthy profits as its predecessors. It went through receivership twice, first in December of 1905 and later as mentioned before in April 1912, successfully coming out of the second in April 1917. Perhaps, though, the PM's most interesting period took place when it came under the control of siblings Oris P. and Mantis J. Van Sweringen, famously remembered as the Van Sweringen brothers in 1924. These two had also gained control of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis (the Nickel Plate Road) and Erie railroads. The two were successful in turning around the PM's fortunes cutting costs and expanding revenues. As successful as the brothers were at managing railroads their attempts to consolidate the three systems was not allowed by the ICC. If this merger had taken place its interesting to think what may have come from the new railroad and its history as a classic fallen flag (assuming, of course, that it was eventually merged from existence).

In any event, as it were while the Pere Marquette Railway had also come under the control of various railroads over the years such as the Erie itself and Baltimore & Ohio it was eventually the Chesapeake & Ohio which acquired it, merging the PM into its system on June 6, 1947. For several years the C&O continued operating much of the Pere Marquette including the car ferry but it was particularly during the Chessie era (after 1972) that the railroad began selling off and abandoning large chunks of the railroad.

Although the Pere Marquette Railway only existed a short time in the diesel era it did operate a small fleet of them before coming under C&O control. It's diesel locomotive fleet was exclusively comprised of EMD models (NW2s, SW1s, BL2s and even E7As) save for three General Electric 70-tonners.

While the PM may not be well remembered by the masses as part of our country's railroad heritage it does have a very famous steam locomotive, 2-8-4 Berkshire #1225 which is fully operational and was the star in the 2004 hit movie Polar Express. For more information on the Pere Marquette Railway itself please click here to visit the Pere Marquette Historical Society's website.

Please Click Here To Return To The Main Fallen Flags Section

Pere Marquette Railway Diesel Locomotive Roster

For an all-time diesel locomotive roster of the Pere Marquette Railway please click here. Also, for an excellent listing of EMD-built diesel locomotives, including those owned by the Pere Marquette please click here. Lastly, please click here to locate preserved PM diesel locomotives.

Electro-Motive Corporation/Electro-Motive Division

Model Type	Road Number	Date Built	Quantity
SW1	10-11	1939-1942	2
NW2	51-64	1942-1946	14
BL2	80-85 (Delivered with C&O liveries.)	1948-1949	6
E7A	101-108	1946-1947	8

General Electric

Model Type	Road Number	Date Built	Quantity
70-Tonner	20-22	1946	3

Pere Marquette Railway Steam Locomotive Roster

For a more information regarding Pere Marquette Railway steam locomotives please click here. Also, for information regarding surviving PM steam locomotives please click here.

Class	Type	Wheel Arrangement
A-4, A-5	Atlantic	4-4-2
C (Various)	Consolidation	2-8-0
E-1 Through E-6	American	4-4-0
M Through M-3	Mogul	2-6-0
MK	Mikado	2-8-2
P, SP (Various)	Pacific	4-6-2
N Through N-2	Berkshire	2-8-4
SF, SF-6	Santa Fe	2-10-2
T (Various)	Ten-Wheeler	4-6-0

(A deep thanks to the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University for allowing Ron Nixon's historic collection of the Pere Marquette Railway to be featured here. Please note that the photos featured on this page feature their corresponding image number so that you may quickly and easily find more information about it from their website. To view Ron Nixon's entire collection please click here.)

It should be noted that the C&O did keep alive the history of the PM. A year before the railroad was merged into the C&O on August 10, 1946 it launched a streamline train serving Grand Rapids and Detroit simply as the Pere Marquette. Interestingly it was also the first streamliner to debut after World War II. Following the C&O's takeover of the PM it retained the train and launched two more successful versions of it between Chicago, Grand Rapids and Muskegon; and Detroit and Saginaw. If you are interested in reading more about these trains you may want to consider Thomas Dixon's book Chesapeake & Ohio's Pere Marquettes: America's First Post-War Streamliners. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit the link below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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