Byron Babbish

Dequindre Line Byron Babbish

Named after the Detroit street it parallels, the Dequindre Line is a four-mile stretch of railroad right-or-way that was once part of Grand Trunk Western Railroad's Holly Subdivision. This Babbish Field Guide covers the Dequindre Line from when it was built in 1838 to present. Running from what was once Brush Street Station in downtown Detroit on the Detroit River north four-miles to Milwaukee Junction, the Dequindre Line was one of the busiest sections of railroad in Michigan up to the late 1960's. Hosting six to eight passenger trains in the modern era as well as being switch by numerous freight train jobs running twenty-four hours a day, this four-track rail line was built for work. About a mile and a half of the Dequindre Line was lowered below grade in the early 20th Century to eliminate the many roads it crossed at grade in the city acquiring a separate name later in its history: The Dequindre Cut. Today the Dequindre Cut has been preserved as a greenway linear park and the northern half of the Dequindre Line is still operated by a short line railroad.