Michigan Northern Railway

The Michigan Northern Railway (MIGN), with reporting mark MIGN, operated in northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan from 1976 to 1986. Established by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) in December 1975, MIGN took over former Pennsylvania Railroad lines, starting operations on April 1, 1976. Initially, it served Comstock Park to Mackinaw City and the Walton Junction Branch to Traverse City. In 1982, MIGN expanded by assuming operations of the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway from Grawn to Williamsburg and Charlevoix to Petoskey, as well as parts of the Ann Arbor Railroad from Alma to Frankfort.

MIGN interchanged with the Detroit and Mackinac Railway at Mackinaw City, using a ferry across the Straits of Mackinac for freight to the Upper Peninsula. The introduction of rate "flag-outs" in 1978 temporarily boosted overhead car counts, but after railroad deregulation in 1980, these numbers declined. In 1984, due to financial mismanagement and poor accounting practices, MDOT withdrew subsidies, transferring operations south of Reed City to Comstock Park to the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway. By then, only the Petoskey to Mackinaw City segment remained operational.

MIGN faced challenges with ferry services operated by Penn Central and struggled with excursion train attempts. It relied on a "truck-to-rail" facility in Pellston for steel products from Algoma Steel as its primary revenue source. Despite a six-month grace period granted in 1986 to pay $150,000 to Penn Central, MIGN failed to meet the deadline, leading to the removal of the remaining railroad line by June 1987.