Series consists of records created and/or maintained by Grand Trunk properties in the United States. Although it had always been the intention of the promoters of the Grand Trunk to obtain a share of the traffic of the American mid-West, much of which passed through Chicago, for the first two decades of the company's existence there was very little expansion aimed at directly tapping this source of revenue. Two major US centres close to Canada had indeed been reached by Grand Trunk subsidiaries; Detroit in 1859 by The Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railroad Company (RG30-I-D-1) and Buffalo in 1873 via the bridge of the International Bridge Company (RG30-I-D-2).
In the 1870's events occurred that made the extension to Chicago not only desirable but essential. The change from broad to standard gauge line between 1872 and 1874 meant that the Grand Trunk was able to handle American through traffic promptly and efficiently. From this time, certain American railroad interests, in particular the Vanderbilt controlled New York Central, commenced active opposition to any Grand Trunk attempt to obtain America traffic. On October 15, 1877 the Grand Trunk purchased The Michigan Air Line Railway (RG30-I-D-3) both to prevent it being used by interests hostile to the Grand Trunk and for use as a possible component of a through line to Chicago. Up to 1878 the bulk of Grand Trunk traffic between Detroit and Chicago had been carried by the Michigan Central Railway. However, in 1878 the Michigan Central was acquired by the New York Central which took over the Grand Trunk's share of the business. The Grand Trunk was able to initiate an attempt to make its own way to Chicago when it sold its line between Rivière du Loup and Charny near Quebec City to the Dominion Government to be used as part of the Intercolonial Railway (RG30-IV-A).
One of the conditions of this sale, negotiated in 1878 and finalized in 1879, was that the payment received was to be devoted to the establishment of a railway line between Port Huron, Michigan (near Sarnia, at the western end of the Grand Trunk's Ontario line) to Chicago. This line was opened for traffic on February 8, 1880 and was formed by a process of purchases, construction and reincorporations.
The main portion of this new line already existed as a combination of railways operating as the Chicago and Lake Huron Railroad (no records in National archives) which had a line from Port Huron to Valparaiso, Indiana, some 56 miles from Chicago. The two main components of this line were the Port Huron and Lake Michigan Railroad (no records in National Archives) which operated 66 miles of line from Port Huron to Flint, Michigan and The Peninsular Railway Company (RG30-I-D-4) which had 164 miles between Lansing, Michigan and Valparaiso. There was a 49.7 mile gap between Flint and Lansing filled by the line of the Chicago and North Eastern Railway Company (RG30-I-D-5) that operated with this consortium but was not part of it. Foreseeing the part this latter line might play in the Grand Trunk's efforts to reach Chicago, W.H. Vanderbilt purchased the Chicago and North Eastern in 1879 to block these efforts. In the meantime, however, the Grand Trunk had acquired the two components of the Chicago and Lake Huron and announced plans to immediately construct another line to bridge the gap. Realizing that, in that case, it was trapped and nearly valueless, Vanderbilt sold the Chicago and North Eastern to the Grand Trunk later in 1879.
The Grand Trunk had already put in train the process of linking its new lines with Chicago. It controlled the Chicago And State Line Railway Company (RG30-I-D-6) which ran from Elsdon near Chicago to the Illinois/Indiana border, and incorporated the Chicago and State Line Extension Railway Company (RG30-I-D-7) in April 1879 to connect the former line with Valparaiso.
Prior to the creation of a unified company, these newly acquired companies were reincorporated for a brief period of time, usually well under a year. The Chicago and State Line and the Chicago and State Line Extension Railways were amalgamated to form The North Western Grand Trunk Railway Company (Illinois and Indiana) (RG30-I-D-8). The property of the Chicago and Lake Huron was transferred to The North Western Grand Trunk Railway Company (Michigan) (RG30-I-D-9) while The Indiana Railway Company (RG30-I-D-10) and The Michigan Railway Company (RG30-I-D-11) took over the property of the Peninsulas Railway within their respective states. On April 6, 1880 the four new companies plus the Chicago and North Eastern amalgamated to form The Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway Company (RG30-I-D-12). This main line gained entrance to Chicago by The Grand Trunk Junction Railway Company (RG30-I-D-13) plus the lease of part of The Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad Company (RG30-I-D-14), becoming part owner of this last company in 1882. While the Chicago and Grand Trunk was essential to the prosperity of the Grand Trunk system, its own financial situation deteriorated in the late nineteenth century and in 1900 it was taken over through a friendly foreclosure by the Grand Trunk to permit reorganization and refinancing. The rejuvenated corporation emerged as the Grand Trunk Western Railway Company (RG30-I-D-15).
In addition to its Port Huron/Chicago main line, the Grand Trunk system acquired or built other lines in this area. One, The Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway Company (RG30-I-D-16) parallelled the Grand Trunk owned Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway (RG30-I-F-8) but was acquired in 1888 to keep it out of competitive hands. Another, the Cincinnati, Saginaw and Mackinaw Railroad Company (RG30-I-D-17) was acquired in 1890 when the Grand Trunk acquired its indebtedness. Access to Toledo, Ohio was gained in 1902 when the Grand Trunk became owner of 50% of the stock of The Detroit and Toledo Shore Line Railroad Company (RG30-I-D-19-b), and electric railway that numbered among its corporate ancestors The Toledo and Ottawa Beach Railway Company (RG30-I-D-18), The Pleasant Bay Railway Company (RG30-I-D-19-a) and The Erie Construction Company (RG30-I-D-20). The line from Pontiac to Caseville, Michigan of The Pontiac, Oxford and Northern Railroad Company (RG30-I-D-21-b) - formerly the Pontiac, Oxford and Port Austin Railroad Company (RG30-I-D-21-a) - was acquired in 1908. In 1912 construction of the 18.58 mile line of The Detroit and Huron Railway Company (RG30-I-D-22) was commenced by the Grand Trunk. One Grand Trunk company that acquired property in Detroit but never constructed its intended line was the Detroit and South Lyon Railway Company (RG30-I-D-23). Another company that did not seem to be active and whose connection with the Grand Trunk is only deduced by the presence of its records was The Detroit and Munroe Railway (RG30-I-D-24).
The Grand Trunk had taken an early interest in the movement of refrigerated freight. It got further into this traffic when it acquired the Whipple Car Company (RG30-I-D-28). This purchase gave it control of the Chicago, New York and Boston Refrigerator Car Company (RG30-I-D-27). This company had inherited a thriving business in refrigerator cars from its corporate ancestors, The Chicago, Boston and Liverpool Company (RG30-I-D-25) and the New York Dispatch Refrigerator Company (RG30-I-D-26).
The Grand Trunk was also involved in providing a car ferry service across Lake Michigan. The companies involved included The Grand Haven and Milwaukee Transportation Company (RG30-I-D- 29), The Grand Trunk Car Ferry Line (RG30-I-D-30-a) and The Grand Trunk-Milwaukee Car Ferry Company (RG30-I-D-30-b).
An important aspect of the Grand Trunk's operations in this heavily urban and industrialized area was the terminal, siding, and switching facilities plus connecting and belt lines which gave access to cities and industries. These usually took the form of separately incorporated companies owned by one or more parent railways. The Grand Trunk owned wholly or partially The Belt Railway Company of Chicago (RG30-I-D-31), The Chicago and Kalamazoo Terminal Railway Company (RG30-I-D-32), Grand Rapids Terminal Railroad Company (RG30-I-D-33), Detroit Terminal Railroad Company (RG30-I-D-34), Bay City Terminal Railway Company (RG30-I-D-35), The Lansing Connecting Railroad Company (RG30-I-D-36) and The Muskegon Railway and Navigation Company (RG30-I-D-37).
Several years after the creation of Canadian National Railways it was decided to reorganize the United States properties. On 1 November 1928 the Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company (RG30-I-D-38) was formed by the amalgamation of ten surviving Grand Trunk corporations. It still exists under this name and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian National Railways. While never a Grand Trunk property, as the lineal corporate descendant of the aforementioned companies it is included in this series.
Additional textual records consist of Grand Trunk Western Railroad rail charts, prepared by the Chief Engineer, dated 1924, 1931-1960 (ca. 610 leaves) (RG30M 1997-02150-1, items #430-937).
