Forgotten Railways, Roads & Places

Boyne City, MI's railroad operations began in 1893 with the creation of the Boyne City Southeastern Railroad , running 7 miles east to Boyne Falls. The line was owned by the W.H. White Lumber Company to tap into northern Michigan's logging industry. Image: Detroit Public Library In 1905, the Boyne City Gaylord & Alpena Railroad  was chartered to succeed the line and extend it to Alpena, MI, 91 miles east of Boyne City. ( Right-of-Way ) Image: Railroad Michigan While expansion took longer than expected, the railroad finally reached Alpena in 1918. Included in the expansion were three branch lines, each of which was used to expand the WH White Lumber Company's land holdings. The land was purchased, cut down, and then marketed to farmers once cleared, who would then benefit from having the BC G & A as a transportation system to the rest of the US railroad network. Unfortunately, Michigan's short growing season, and the lack of fertile soils along

Almost every railroad crossing in the entire world is meant for either cars or pedestrians to cross railroad rights of way. But there have been a few railroad crossings across the world where a rail line crosses an airport runway. In Wynyard, TAS, Australia, the Far Western Railway of TasRail once crossed the north end of a runway at Burnie Airport . Imagine the runway delays for this. Image: Airways Museum The railway was constructed along Tasmania's north coast in the early 1920's. "During the late 1930s when the aerodrome at Wynyard was constructed, it was built on the only flat land in the area - the flood plain of the Inglis River. When properly formed runways were constructed, Runway 05/23 was built over the railway line." (Airways Museum) This arrangement was not without precedent in Australia, or in other parts of the world, as Sydney's Airport had a similar crossing before the tracks were relocated. Chicago's Midway Airport also had a simila