Lake State Railway is a railroad operating in the Saginaw Valley and northeastern quadrant of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

[1] The railroad moves large quantities of aggregate and limestone, as well as coal, grain, and chemical products.

[2] In 2005, Lake State acquired 67 miles of trackage from CSX Transportation around Saginaw, Midland, and Bay City.

Following the news of the merger, Lake State has stopped painting the Saginaw Bay Southern logo on its locomotives.

[7] Lake State Railway's Flint–Saginaw line (former SBS) is shadowed by several parks and walking trails.

North of Saginaw, MI, the line passes through the Crow Island State Game Area.

At the north end of the east line is Lafarge's cement plant and Lake freighter loading dock in Alpena, MI.

On June 11, 2018, Lake State started leasing 4 miles of former Grand Trunk Western trackage in Port Huron, MI from Canadian National.

The line runs from the west end of CN's rail yard at Tappan to Dunn Paper at the head of the St. Clair River and Lake Huron.

Since the acquisition of the Saginaw Bay Southern lines north of Flint, MI, the railroad has added 27 used Electro Motive Diesel units and gradually retired their ALCO roster.

The first of these units included three GP38Ms (modified GP35s of mixed heritages) from Western Rail (WRIX) in Washington state.

An EMD SD40 #5921 of Grand Trunk Western heritage was purchased from Larry's Truck & Electric (LTEX).

The next group of locomotives included five original GP40s of mixed heritage and a unique former Southern Pacific EMD GP40X.