Railway Tunnel

In the fall of 1906 the construction was begun on the revolutionary Michigan Central Railway Tunnel. Only three years later it was opened to the general public for transportation.

Before the tunnel was completed, commuters were left to use a Ferry boat to move them and their cars across the river. Now they could move back and forth on two separate tracks.

Multiple accounts and stories about the railroad have been recorded in public documents. They include a story about an 11 year old boy in 1909 who was horribly mangled and crushed by a train when attempting to jump across the tracks just before the train.

Another story from 1927 tells of a brakeman who was only on the job a few days before misunderstanding directions. He pulled a lever at the last moment thinking he had made a mistake. The passenger train was sent head on into a freight locomotive. Amazingly only one person was killed and a few other injured from the destruction.

Many other stories about the railroad haunts its past. Not all the accidents happened in the tunnels, but future posts about the railroad are sure to come.