South Lyon Railroads

In the summer of 1871, the Detroit, Lansing and Northern was built west from Plymouth on the way to Lansing and Ionia. In 1880, the predecessor of the Ann Arbor Railroad built a line into town from Ann Arbor. The goal of this line was to continue on towards Pontiac but that did not occur under the original owners. The line was pulled up around 1890. In 1883 the Grand Trunk built their Jackson Branch from Pontiac to Jackson, which crossed the Pere Marquette near the elevator (photo above). The GTW branch line continued to serve South Lyon until the early 1980's. The branch line is now a paved bicycle trail through town and Reynold Sweet Parkway follows the original route. Today, South Lyon hosts the CSX main line from Detroit to Grand Rapids. 

For detailed information on the history of South Lyon's Railroads, please click here.