Grand Trunk Western Railroad: Map, Roster, History

Last revised: October 23, 2026

The Grand Trunk Western was Canadian National’s railroad from Port Huron to Chicago, with the Michigan lines gathered on a hub at Durand. Reporting mark GTW. Headquarters Detroit. The trade name Grand Trunk Western was adopted in 1923, when Canadian National took over the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada and did not want that governmental name used on the United States lines. The other United States railroads in the same family were the Central Vermont and the Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific.

Jerry A. Pinkepank, writing the railroad’s history for Classic Trains, counts 967 miles of track after the Second World War, more than 850 of them in Michigan. After the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton stock-sale approval of June 3, 1980, and the Detroit & Toledo Shore Line merger of June 26, 1981, his figure for the enlarged system is 1,410 route-miles. The company still reports to regulators as a separate Class I. Since January 1, 1996, the initials GTW have been a small mark on Canadian National equipment.

Grand Trunk Western GP38AC 6213 and GP38-2 5833 at Blue Island, Illinois, on June 24, 1989

GP38AC 6213, former Detroit, Toledo & Ironton 213, and GP38-2 5833 at Blue Island, Illinois, on June 24, 1989. American-Rails.com collection.

On this page: Grand Trunk · Chicago · Michigan · At a glance · Car ferries · Steam and diesel · Grand Trunk Corporation

Grand Trunk

The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada was conceived in 1852 as a trunk line from the Atlantic to the lakes. Montreal to Toronto came first, then the line east to Portland. West from Toronto, the railway reached Sarnia in 1858, across the river from Port Huron, and it reached Chicago by 1880. The United States lines kept their own names until Canadian National, taking over the Grand Trunk in 1923, put the trade name Grand Trunk Western on the property.

The Grand Trunk Western Railroad logo. Author’s work.

An agreement between the United States and Canada let locomotives and passenger cars work in the other country when the equipment was back home within 72 hours. Sleeping cars on the through trains were Pullmans. From 1923, Canadian National passenger cars ran between Toronto and Chicago, except the sleepers. The named trains Pinkepank describes are the International Limited, trains 14 and 15, Chicago to Toronto, and the Inter-City Limited, train 17, with train 20 the eastbound that took the diner at Lansing. Night locals 5 and 6 handled the Chicago–Lansing and Detroit sleepers. Locals 21 and 56 were what remained of the Detroit–Muskegon passenger train, cut back to Durand and Detroit.

Chicago

Pinkepank’s Chicago–Port Huron main line is 334 miles, double track except for 5.46 miles from Valparaiso to Sedley, Indiana. In 1955 much of the railroad east of Durand was reduced to single track and placed under centralized traffic control. The freight speed limit was 60 miles an hour for decades. The Interstate Commerce Commission valuation of the Railway company measures that same Port Huron–Chicago main at 329.455 miles, of which 321.191 miles were double track. That is the valuation-era main of the Railway company. It is a different figure from the 334, and it is not the mileage of the later system.

Passenger trains used Dearborn Station. The Chicago & Western Indiana and the Belt Railway of Chicago were the terminal railroads in that part of the city. The perishable hotshot was train 492, out of Elsdon. It met the Indiana Harbor Belt at Blue Island and the Illinois Central at Harvey, and it was allowed 60 miles an hour over the Washington Avenue crossing.

Grand Trunk Western 4-8-4 6322 leaving Chicago's Dearborn Station in the late 1950s, with a Chicago and Western Indiana RS1 at the right

4-8-4 6322, built by Alco in 1942, leaving Chicago’s Dearborn Station in the late 1950s. A Chicago & Western Indiana RS1 is at the right. Photographer unknown.

In the troubled 1970s the railroad advertised itself as the Good Track Road, using the GT symbol on the timetable and the equipment.

Michigan

Durand was the hub. The Port Huron–Chicago main crossed the secondary main from Detroit to Muskegon. Muskegon succeeded Grand Haven as the lake terminal in 1933. A Detroit–Port Huron secondary main and six branches left the trunk. The most important branch ran to Saginaw and Bay City. Durand to Detroit is 67 miles, under centralized traffic control, and double track for the first 27 miles, Detroit to Pontiac. Three wyes met at Durand. Interdivisional crews ran Detroit–Battle Creek and Detroit–Flint.

Automobile plants, and General Motors above the rest, were the traffic that paid the railroad. That is why the diesel fleet was mostly Electro-Motive. The St. Clair Tunnel was electrified, and road power did not run through it until the tunnel was de-electrified in 1958.

The valuation also names the controlled companies, with their own miles, separate from the 967 and the 1,410. Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee, 188.253 miles. Grand Rapids Terminal, 1.503. International Bridge Company, 0.616. St. Clair Tunnel Company, 1.724. Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon, 95.951. Held through the Grand Trunk Western: Chicago & Kalamazoo Terminal, 2.924. Detroit & Huron, 18.579. Pontiac, Oxford & Northern, 99.894.

Official 1939 Grand Trunk Western system map, issued through Canadian National

Official 1939 system map, through Canadian National. Author’s collection. The center-white lines mark double track. The map is not a mileage citation.

Grand Trunk Western GP9 4916 with train 22, Muskegon to Detroit, at Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in April 1962

GP9 4916 with train 22, Muskegon to Detroit, at Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in April 1962. Rick Burn photo.

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Grand Trunk Western. Mark GTW. Headquarters Detroit
Trade name	1923, when Canadian National took over the Grand Trunk and kept the governmental name off the United States lines
Incorporated	Grand Trunk Western Railroad Incorporated, January 17, 1972. The 1997 R-1 gives 935 de la Gauchetière Street West, Montreal
States	Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and 0.32 miles in Wisconsin
Gauge	4 feet 8½ inches
Chicago main, Pinkepank	334 miles, Port Huron to Chicago. Double track except 5.46 miles, Valparaiso to Sedley
Chicago main, valuation	329.455 miles, of which 321.191 were double track. The Railway company at valuation, not the later system
Postwar track	967 miles, more than 850 in Michigan
Enlarged system	1,410 route-miles, Pinkepank’s figure after the DT&I approval and the Shore Line merger
Later operation	535 miles, his figure for what Canadian National still runs of the Grand Trunk Western
Steam	Quantity column 232. Leonard’s 1937–1942 class list. Roster
Diesels	Quantity column 377. Roster
DT&I stock sale	Interstate Commerce Commission approval on June 3, 1980. The DT&I name remained in use afterward
Shore Line	Merged June 26, 1981. About 47 miles is that railroad’s own length
Identity	January 1, 1996. Still a separate Class I in the regulatory reports

Car ferries

Across Lake Michigan the railroad was the Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company. Three boats worked in the modern years. Pinkepank does not name them. The Pennsylvania Railroad was in the operation from the 1930s until 1953, including trackage rights over the Grand Trunk Western’s 0.32 miles of track in Wisconsin. In the early 1960s the boat superstructures were raised to clear hi-cube auto-parts cars. A switcher and a crew stayed in Milwaukee. Brill 73 was that switcher for years. While the boats ran, two Muskegon trains each way filled a day.

In the late 1970s all three cross-lake rail-freight services quit. The railroad west of Durand went with them, and what remained on that side of the hub was a set of stubs.

Steam and diesel

The steam class list is Leonard’s, locomotives in service about 1937 to 1942, and the quantity column is 232. Two rows that mix Grand Trunk and Grand Trunk Western engines are outside that figure. The 4-8-4s on the list are three different classes: twelve U-3-a engines of 1927, twenty-five U-3-b engines of 1942 and 1943, and six Lima U-4-b engines of 1938. Pacific 5629, class K-4-a, has its own article.

Grand Trunk Western 4-8-4 6313 with a railfan special at Imlay City, Michigan, during the 1950s

4-8-4 6313 with a railfan special at Imlay City, Michigan, during the 1950s. Author’s collection.

Pinkepank dates the dieselizing of the main line to April 1957. The last regular revenue passenger steam in the United States, on his account, was locals 21 and 56 between Durand and Detroit, in March 1960. Shortly after that, the Detroit Division hosted the last regular intercity mainline steam freight in the country.

Early diesels wore Canadian National green and yellow. Black, with the GT noodle, dated from 1962. In 1971 twelve new GP38ACs brought the blue. The last show of independence, under Operating Vice President John H. Burdakin, was the choice of that color. The diesel quantity column is 377. Pinkepank counts twenty-two F3As of 1948, retired in 1971, and no F3Bs. He also counts two passenger GP9s obtained in 1954 and fifteen freight GP9s of that year, the freight engines geared for 65 miles an hour and the passenger-geared 4500s and 4100s for 83.

Grand Trunk Western F3A 9023 in Canadian National's original livery and F3A 9027 in the simplified design at Elsdon Yard, Chicago, on December 31, 1964

F3A 9023, wearing Canadian National’s original livery, and F3A 9027, wearing the simplified design, at Elsdon Yard in Chicago on December 31, 1964. Marty Bernard photo.

Grand Trunk Corporation

Grand Trunk Corporation was formed in 1971 to hold Canadian National’s United States railroads. Robert A. Bandeen, a Canadian National vice president, led it. The corporation did not erase the Grand Trunk Western name. The blue of 1971 was still that railroad’s own choice.

The Interstate Commerce Commission approved the sale of Detroit, Toledo & Ironton stock on June 3, 1980. The buyer was the Grand Trunk Western. The DT&I name remained in use after the approval. The Shore Line was a separate transaction. It had been owned in halves with the Nickel Plate. After the Norfolk & Western acquired the Nickel Plate and the Wabash in 1964, the Norfolk & Western sold its half to the Grand Trunk Western. The Shore Line was merged on June 26, 1981. About 47 miles is the Shore Line’s own length. Pinkepank’s 1,410 route-miles is his maximum for the system after those two acquisitions.

Detroit, Toledo and Ironton caboose 122 in Grand Trunk Western markings at Flat Rock, Michigan, in September 1982

Detroit, Toledo & Ironton caboose 122 in Grand Trunk Western markings, in the DT&I yard at Flat Rock, Michigan, in September 1982, beside a scale test car. American-Rails.com collection.

By 1992 every Grand Trunk Western line north of the Chicago–Port Huron main, except the 11-mile Kalamazoo branch, had been abandoned or sold. In 1997 the railroad sold what remained of the old DT&I south of Diann, Michigan, to the Indiana & Ohio. Pinkepank’s later operating figure is 535 miles: from Toledo on the Shore Line, from Diann and Flat Rock on the DT&I, through Detroit to Port Huron and Durand, and the Chicago main line.

Grand Trunk Western SD40 5926 and GP38-2 5700 with autoracks at Durand, Michigan, on May 22, 1993

SD40 5926 and GP38-2 5700 with autoracks at Durand, Michigan, on May 22, 1993. Author’s collection.

Grand Trunk Western caboose 79185 leaving Stanley Yard in Moline, Ohio, on a July evening in 1990

Caboose 79185 on a freight leaving Stanley Yard in Moline, Ohio, near Toledo, northbound on a July evening in 1990. American-Rails.com collection.

The Surface Transportation Board’s 1997 annual report for Grand Trunk Western Railroad Incorporated gives the date of incorporation as January 17, 1972, and the address as 935 de la Gauchetière Street West, Montreal. Since January 1, 1996, the mark has been those small initials on Canadian National paint. Pinkepank’s account of the years after that folds the property in with the former Illinois Central, which he counts at 2,650 miles and which Canadian National merged in 1999, and the former Wisconsin Central, 2,850 miles, merged in 2001. The Grand Trunk Western report to the regulators continued.

Sources

Jerry A. Pinkepank, “Grand Trunk Western history remembered,” Classic Trains. The 1923 trade name, the 1852–1880 Grand Trunk line, the 967 and 1,410 and 535, the 334-mile Chicago main, Durand, the tunnel, the ferries, the named trains, the end of steam, the 1971 corporation, and the blue GP38ACs.
Richard Leonard, “Grand Trunk Western Locomotives, Circa 1937–1942,” railarchive.net/rlsteam/gtroster.htm. The steam class list is on the companion page.
Canadian National Railway Historical Association, all-time Canadian National system diesel roster. The Grand Trunk Western rows are on the diesel companion.
Interstate Commerce Commission valuation of the Grand Trunk Western Railway: the 329.455-mile Chicago main and the controlled-company miles named above.
Surface Transportation Board, R-1 annual report of Grand Trunk Western Railroad Incorporated for the year ended December 31, 1997. Date of incorporation January 17, 1972. Address 935 de la Gauchetière Street West, Montreal.

Facebook X Pinterest Tumblr Reddit WhatsApp Messenger