The Railfan Chronicles, Detroit & Mackinac Railway, Volume 1, 1975 to 1987

The Railfan Chronicles is a series of books about different railroads during the last quarter of the 20th Century. This was a period of great change in the railroad industry, with mergers of large railroads and creation of regional and short line railroads to operate unwanted lines of the Class One railroads. These books will cover this period in photographs taken by the author. Detroit & Mackinac Railway is the subject of this next book in The Railfan Chronicles. This is Volume 1 of our coverage of this unique Michigan railroad, looking at its operations in northern Michigan between the years 1975 and 1987. Not only did D&M travel through beautiful and sometimes harsh countryside on its two routes from Bay City to the tip of Michigan's lower peninsula, but its locomotive roster consisted entirely of rare ALCO locomotives during this time frame. Both its original route that followed the Lake Huron shoreline and its newer, former Penn Central, route that ran up the middle of the State are covered in photographs taken by the author during his many trainwatching trips on the D&M.