Paw Paw Railroad

Infobox rail
railroad_name = Paw Paw Railroad
logo_filename =
logo_size =
system_

map_caption =
marks =
locale = Van Buren County, Michigan
start_year = 1857
end_year = 1887
predecessor_line =
successor_line = Toledo & South Haven
gauge = RailGauge|sg
length = convert|4|mi|km
hq_city = Paw Paw, MichiganThe Paw Paw Railroad is a defunct railroad which operated in Van Buren County, Michigan between 1857 and 1887. At a length of convert|4|mi|km, it was the shortest operating common carrier railroad in the state. [cite web | url=http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1860s/TimeLine1860sBackUp.htm | title=Railroad History Time Line - 1860s | accessdate=2008-01-05 | work=Michigan's Internet Railroad History Museum] Later (from 1902 until January 15, 1982), the Ludington & Northern Railway Company, at convert|2.79|mi|km, stripped the Paw Paw of its title as "shortest Michigan Railroad". [cite web | url=http://www.railroadmichigan.com/ln.html | title=Ludington & Northern Railway Company | accessdate=2008-01-10]

The Michigan Central Railroad had originally planned to reach the coast of Lake Michigan at St. Joseph, but these plans changed and the company built to New Buffalo instead. This meant that instead of passing through Paw Paw, the line passed through Lawton, some four miles (6 km) to the south. Desiring a railroad connection, on April 25, 1857, the Paw Paw Railroad was incorporated by a group of local businessmen to construct a railway line from Paw Paw to Lawton, where it would join the Michigan Central. An initial attempt, which aimed east of Lawton, resulted in the partial creation of a grade but no track was laid. The so-called "calico grade" was later developed, briefly, by the Kalamazoo, Lake Shore & Chicago. A second attempt, in 1867, led to the completion in September of that year of a convert|4|mi|km|adj=on line between Paw Paw and Lawton, which was opened for public use. This constituted the total physical extent of the Paw Paw. [Rowland (1912), 111; Meints (1992), 124; Meints (2005).]

The line was originally built as standard gauge, RailGauge|ussg, but in 1875 the Paw Paw's original owners were bought out by the owners of the Toledo & South Haven (T&SH), a RailGauge|36 road which ran west from Paw Paw to Lawrence. The two companies remained separate, but in 1877 the Paw Paw's line was rebuilt to the RailGauge|36 gauge to permit joint operations. [Hilton (1990), 427.]

On March 7, 1887 the Paw Paw merged with the T&SH and ceased to exist as an independent company. Throughout its history, the Paw Paw was specifically exempt from those sections of Michigan's railroad law which regulated rates and fares. [Michigan Railroad Commission (1888), v; Michigan Legislature (1877), 954.]

In 1898 the South Haven & Eastern (successor to the T&SH) converted the T&SH's lines, including the Paw Paw–Lawton segment, back to standard gauge. In 1903 it passed along with the SH&E to the Pere Marquette Railway, which finally abandoned the line in 1941. [Meints (2005).]

Notes

References

*cite book | last=Hilton | first=George Woodman | title=American Narrow Gauge Railroads | year=1990 | publisher=Stanford University Press | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=7POj8GvF4sIC | isbn=0804717311
*cite book| title=Michigan Railroads and Railroad Companies| first=Graydon M.| last=Meints| year=1992| publisher=Michigan State University Press| location=East Lansing, Michigan| isbn=0870133187
*cite journal | last=Meints | first=Graydon M. | title=The fruit belt line: Southwest Michigan's failed railroad | journal=Michigan Historical Review | month=September | year=2005 | pages=117–149
*cite book| title=Annual Report| year=1888| author=Michigan Railroad Commission| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZiM2AAAAIAAJ
*cite book | author=Michigan Legislature | title=Journal | year=1877 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=blBNAAAAMAAJ
*cite book | last=Rowland | first=Oran | title=A History of Van Buren County, Michigan | year=1912 | publisher=Lewis Publishing Company | location=Van Buren County, Michigan | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zcqnFOSY2RQC