• Ypsilanti Branch Line

  • Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.
Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

  by NYC3001
 
Does anyone know when passenger service officially ended on the Ypsilanti Branch? This line was built around 1870, and was intact until late 1961, when the section between Bridgewater and Brooklyn, Michigan was abandoned. However, other small segments still exist to this day in Hillsdale, and Saline.

I have a Michigan Central Railroad Time Table, dated April 26, 1931, which shows the Ypsilanti Branch, but does not list any passenger train service for this line. However, the nearby Jackson Branch that ran from Lenawee Junction to Jackson, does show three passenger trains each day.

Sincerely,

Ron
  by rlsteam
 
I already responded privately regarding this question. The Ypsilanti Branch was a NYC branch, not MC. A June 1928 NYC timetable shows a passenger train on the branch. If the branch shows up in the MC timetable in 1931, along with the Jackson Branch that crossed it at Manchester, perhaps by that time both branches were transferred operationally to the MC. (They're shown in bold, but labeled N.Y.C., on my 1930 MC timetable map.) However, if the Ypsi branch is shown with no passenger service, then service was suspended between 1928 and 1931. A search of NYC timetables from the period, if they could be located, might yield a more precise answer.