the Chicago and Northeastern Railroad (C&NE) and the Peninsular Railway of Michigan and Indiana together formed a direct route from Port Huron through Flint and Lansing, Michigan to Valparaiso, Indiana where it connected into Chicago on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. However, Vanderbilt owned the Chicago and Northeastern section of the route from Flint to Lansing and would charge Grand Trunk higher rates to move its freight over the line. Vanderbilt would soon sell the C&NE to Grand Trunk when GTR bought the other two lines in 1879 and proposed building its own route between Flint and Lansing just north of Vanderbilt's line. Grand Trunk completed its own route into Chicago from Valparaiso in 1880 and incorporated the entire line from Port Huron to Chicago as the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway. More routes Over the next two decades through either leases or purchases Grand Trunk would acquire several other branch lines in Michigan. It would take control of the Michigan Air-Line Railway through a lease in 1881. The line connected with the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction at Richmond, Michigan and ran to Jackson, Michigan through Romeo and Pontiac. When Grand Trunk purchased the Great Western Railway in 1882 it also acquired the Detroit Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway (DGH&M) which Great Western had owned since 1877. The DGH&M gave Grand trunk a route from Detroit through Pontiac, Durand and Grand Rapids to Grand Haven, Michigan where it would begin its Lake Michigan railcar ferry operations in 1902. The DGH&M would connect with the Chicago and Grand Trunk at Durand and with the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Trunk Junction in Detroit. Durand would become a major junction point for Grand Trunk when it continued to increase its mileage. It acquired the 96-mile Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway from Ashley, Michigan to Muskegon, Michigan in 1888. GTR would obtain trackage rights to reach the line at Ashley from Owosso, Michigan with the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan Railway, the predecessor of the Ann Arbor Railroad. Grand Trunk acquired a route into Saginaw, Michigan in 1890 with the lease of the Cincinnati, Saginaw & Mackinaw Railroad from Durand to Bay City, Michigan. The line was the last to be held as a leased property until January 1943, when it was fully merged into Grand Trunk Western. Western Division By 1900 Grand Trunk would unite the