Railroad Forums 

Discussion relating to the B&O up to it's 1972 merger into Chessie System. Visit the B&O Railroad Historical Society for more information. Also discussion of the C&O up to 1972. Visit the C&O Historical Society for more information. Also includes the WM up to 1972. Visit the WM Historical Society for more information.
 #79378  by AmtrakFan
 
Did the C&O serve Detroit before the B&O merger? Where was their yard and Station?

John

 #81575  by okeana
 
yes

 #81709  by LI Loco
 
The Sportsman had a Detroit section that split from the main train at either Russell or Ashland, Kentucky. It handled through coaches and sleepers from Newport News. Also, in the late 1940s, the C&O acquired the Pere Marquette, which ran streamlined passenger trains called Pere Marquettes from Detroit ot Grand Rapids (and Grand Rapids to Chicago). C&O retained the name for the trains.

C&O passenger service operated out of Detroit's Fort Street station, which it shared with the Pennsylvania and Wabash RRs. B&O's trains (Ambassador, Cincinnatian and Night Express) used Michigan Central station and ran on New York Central track between Toledo and Detroit until 1964.

 #83141  by BaltOhio
 
First off, to clear up one bit of apparent confusion, the B&O never entered Detroit on its own tracks. It terminated at Toledo, and passenger trains entered Detroit on trackage rights over the Pere Marquette, C&O, and NYC, depending on the period you're talking about. Any Detroit (or other Michigan) freight traffic was handled strictly on an interline basis -- no trackage rights involved.

Before 1947 C&O also terminated in Toledo; its passenger trains used Pere Marquette track to enter Detroit, and freight similarly was handled on an interline basis. But the C&O directly controlled the PM, dating back to the mid-1920s, so that the two railroads essentially operated under a single executive management.

In 1947 the C&O fully absorbed the PM, so afterward the entire PM system in Michigan and Ontario became C&O. C&O/PM's primary Detroit freight yard was Rougemere, which still exists as CSXT's yard. Back in the Detroit River carfloating days, there was also a large waterfront yard under the Ambassador Bridge. C&O passenger trains always used Fort St. Union Depot. B&O used Fort St. until some time in the 1950s when it switched to the MC station. After C&O took control of B&O in 1963, B&O was switched back to Fort St.