Mansfield, Coldwater and Lake Michigan Rail Road

The Mansfield, Coldwater and Lake Michigan Rail Road (MCW&LM) [Krupp (2001), 12.] is a defunct railroad which operated in southern Michigan and Ohio during the 1870s. By the time it went into foreclosure in the late 1870s it owned two non-contiguous track segments, each of which was leased by a different company.

Corporate history

The company formed on December 28 1870 through the merger of the Ohio & Michigan Railway and the Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan Railway, neither of which had yet built track. On January 1 1874, the Grand Rapids & Indiana leased the "Allegan Division" (Michigan holdings) of the line. On August 28 1877, the company was sold at foreclosure: the Allegan & Southeastern bought the Allegan Division, while the Pennsylvania Railroad, which had controlled the Ohio properties since 1873 through the Pennsylvania Company, bought the Ohio holdings outright. [Sipes (1875), 18.] [Meints (1992), 102.]

Michigan

In September 1871 the MCW&LM completed an convert|11.2|mi|km|adj=on line from Allegan east to Montieth, where it met the GR&I. This constituted the "Allegan Division" of the line. When the GR&I leased the line in 1874 it took complete control of all operations.

The comparatively short segment of the "Allegan Division" enjoyed an unusual history. The MCW&LM had already completed, but not opened, an convert|8|mi|km|adj=on extension east from Montieth; [Michigan Railroad Commission (1877), 306.] the Allegan & Southeastern did not alter the situation during its short (1877–1883) stewardship of the line. Under the Michigan & Ohio (1883–1886), this line was extended another convert|113.7|mi|km to Dundee, but by 1937 this extension had been abandoned. In 1913 the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee, the then current owner of the Allegan–Dundee line, sold the Allegan–Battle Creek section, which included the old MCW&LM line, to the Michigan & Chicago, an interurban, which electrified the line. The successor to the M&C, the Michigan United, abandoned the Allegan–Montieth section in 1928. [Meints (2005), 170-172; 746-747.]

Ohio

At the same time the main part of the MCW&LM, under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), was constructing a convert|216|mi|km|adj=on line from Mansfield, Ohio (where it met the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago) northwest toward Allegan. By 1874 a convert|49.7|mi|km|adj=on line from Toledo Junction (near Mansfield) via Tiffin to Fostoria was complete. The prime contractor for this line was Joseph Fisk (1810–1874), who built over convert|1000|mi|km of track in the Midwest during his long career. [Krupp (2001), 12; Sipes (1875), 252.] Although controlled by the PRR, MCW&LM trains operated this section under their own flag. [Hallock (1877), 137.] [Investigating Committee (1874), 48-49.]

Although substantial portions of the northwestern extension were graded, most of the track was never laid. The PRR abandoned the idea in 1875 and instead focused on a route north from Tiffin into Toledo, Ohio. [Camp (2006), 85.] To that end, in 1877 the PRR merged the Ohio portion of the MCW&LM with the Toledo, Tiffin & Eastern and the Toledo & Woodville into the Northwestern Ohio Railway, which the PRR in turn leased. The convert|79|mi|km|adj=on line linked the PRR's massive network to Toledo for the first time. [Other sources put the length at convert|86|mi|km; this may depend on whether the section from Mansfield proper to Toledo Junction is included. See Macfarlane (1879), 113; Schafer (1997), 37.]

Notes

References

*cite book| title=Railroad Depots of West Central Ohio | first=Mark J. | last=Camp | year=2006 | publisher=Arcadia Publishing | isbn=0738540099 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=11o44vsxtGwC
*cite book| title=The Sportsman's Gazetteer and General Guide | first=Charles | last=Hallock | year=1877 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aPQPAAAAYAAJ
*cite book| title=Report of the Investigating Committee of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company | author=Investigating Committee, Pennsylvania Railroad | year=1874 | publisher=Allen, Lane & Scott's | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Dt3fI99l9qwC
*cite book | title=Images of America: Fostoria, Ohio | first=Paul | last=Krupp | coauthors=Nathan Krupp | year=2001 | publisher=Arcadia Publishing | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sydTxVz3khgC | isbn=0738508454
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*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 book | title=Michigan Railroad Lines | first=Graydon M. | last=Meints | publisher=Michigan State University Press | year=2005 | location=East Lansing
*cite book| title=Annual Report| year=1877| author=Michigan Railroad Commission| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MBM2AAAAIAAJ
*cite book | title=Pennsylvania Railroad | first=Mike | last=Schafter | coauthors=Brian Solomon | publisher=MBI Publishing Company | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PxQpiIDTOh4C
*cite book | title=The Pennsylvania Railroad: Its Origin, Construction, Condition, and Connections | first=William | last=Sipes | year=1875 | publisher=Pennsylvania Railroad | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Un0FAAAAQAAJ