Alpena and Northern Railroad

Alpena and Northern Railroad

Company type	Private
Industry	Rail transport
Founded	July 28, 1893 (1893-07-28)
Defunct	April 16, 1895 (1895-04-16)
Fate	Purchased by Detroit and Mackinac Railway
Headquarters	Alpena , United States

Alpena and Northern Railroad

The Alpena and Northern Railroad (A&N) was a brief-lived rail company operating in northern Michigan throughout the 1890s. Established on July 28, 1893, its objective was to construct an 85-mile railway stretching from Alpena to Mackinaw City, located along the southern edge of the Straits of Mackinac. By November 18 of the same year, a 35-mile section connecting Alpena to LaRocque (present-day Hawks) was inaugurated, utilizing the station of the Detroit, Bay City and Alpena Railroad in Alpena. The following year, the track was extended approximately 28.6 miles southwestward into Montmorency County.

The A&N ceased independent operations when it was purchased by the Detroit and Mackinac Railway (D&M) on April 16, 1895. This acquisition integrated the original main line into D&M’s Northern Division, which eventually reached Cheboygan by 1904. The southwestern extension from LaRocque—referred to as the Valentine Branch or Jackson Lake Branch—was progressively phased out: abandonment south of Hurst occurred in 1903 due to a downturn in logging activities, with complete discontinuation finalized by 1923.

Ultimately, control of the line passed to the Lake State Railway, successor to D&M, which discontinued all operations along this route in the early 2000s.