Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad

Infobox SG rail
railroad_name=Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad
marks=LSI
locale=Michigan's Upper Peninsula
start_year=1896
end_year=present
hq_city=Marquette, Michigan
The Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad reporting mark|LSI (LS&I), a U.S. railroad offering service from Marquette, Michigan, to nearby locations in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, began operations in 1896. The LS&I continues to operate as an independent railroad from its headquarters in Marquette.

History

The Lake Superior & Ishpeming has operated throughout its life under its original name. The LS&I was organized in 1892 as a subsidiary of the Cleveland-Cliffs iron ore mining company. From the start, the railroad's primary business was the transport of iron ore from the Marquette Iron Range, located west of Marquette, to docks on Lake Superior from which the ore could be shipped to steel mills on the lower Great Lakes. The primary towns on the iron range are Ishpeming and Negaunee, Michigan.

In 1904, the railroad carried over 1.2 million tons of freight, and over 1.1 million tons of that was iron ore. It had 489 ore cars, 14 locomotives, and 121 employees. [Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads of the State of Michigan, for the Year Ending 1905, By Michigan Railroad Commission]

In 1923 the LS&I acquired the Munising, Marquette and South Eastern Railroad, a short line running from Marquette mi to km|40 east to Munising. The LS&I's new spur ran through a section of the Upper Peninsula thickly forested with pulpwood, adding a second commodity to the LS&I's workload. The LS&I also operated a second spur from Marquette northwest to Big Bay.

Passenger operations were never a major function of the Lake Superior and Ishpeming. In 1904 the railroad carried over 180,000 passenger miles of traffic, compared to over 24 million ton miles of freight. In 1931 two trains a day ran each way from Munising to Lawson, Marquette and Princeton. One train ran from Marquette to Big Bay and one on the East branch from Munising to Cusino. By 1940 the Munising-to-Princeton and Lawton-to-Marquette service had been reduced to one train a day each way, and Big Bay service was operating 3 times a week. This level of service lasted at least to 1950. By 1955 the only passenger service remaining was a single daily train from Munising to Princeton; Marquette and Big Bay were no longer served. All passenger service had been discontinued by the year 1960.

The Big Bay spur was sold in the 1960s, and Munising operations ended in the 1980s.

As of 2007, the Lake Superior & Ishpeming's primary remaining business continued to be the transport of iron ore over a mi to km|16 short line from the Empire-Tilden Mine, operated by Cleveland-Cliffs, south of Ishpeming, to Lake Superior for transport.

Engineering

The Lake Superior & Ishpeming's historic main line operates on a relatively steep grade, called "The Hill", from Marquette to the iron mines. The steepest gradient is 1.63%.

Because of the location of the LS&I's Marquette docks, the railroad must cross the Dead River. The trestle is ft to m|565 long and ft to m|104 high.

Nicknames

The LS&I's nicknames include "Little Sally and Imogene", after the names of two daughters of H. R. Harris, its first general manager [Bulletin, Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, 1957] and "Lazy, Slow, and Independent".

References