The GLOR management has made a pending decision to sell off some of their branchlines to whole owned subsidiary companies. One of these branchlines is the tracks known as the Adrian Cluster.
The Adrian Cluster tracks extend from Riga to Adrian via Blissfield and then from Adrian to Clinton (via trackage rights over NS from Adrian to Raisin Center).
The CABR will continue to operate in a similar manner to the manner in which the GLOR operates the Adrian Cluster. Three trains will operate regularly on the line.
TEC-1, which was started recently by the GLOR, will be based in Tecumseh Yard and will operate from Tecumseh to Clinton before returning to Tecumseh, servicing local industries in Tecumseh before heading south, working Wacker Chemical as needed south of Tecumseh, then heading via trackage rights to Adrian, where they will exchange cars with ADR-1.
ADR-1, will originate in Blissfield and will work customers in Blissfield and Riga before heading west to Adrian and working the Adrian customers. They will also work the now infrequent interchange with NS in Adrian (averages about 5 cars per week), and the interchange with TEC-1. Upon completion of work in Adrian, they will head back to Blissfield and tie up their train for ADR-2.
ADR-2, will operate largely over trackage rights to GLOR's Erie Yard (and rarely Ottawa Yard). They will take the cars from ADR-1, and head east, leaving any southbound GLOR cars in Petersburg Siding, before heading around the connector in Diann and heading to Ottawa Yard. All interchange traffic with other railroads will be handed off to GLOR in Erie Yard, with the exception of the southbound cars left as previously mentioned.
GLOR management is anticipating selling 4 units to the CABR for their operations, although a 5th unit will possibly be included as well. It appears, as of today, that 2-3 units will be SD40 varients, while 2 will be either 1st or 2nd generation GP's for use on the TEC-1 operations. The tracks do allow for the SD's to operate all the way to Clinton, but GLOR management would like to limit the Clinton Branch to 4 axel power as much as possible.
The Paint Scheme for the CABR will be the basic GLOR paint scheme with the Clinton Adrian and Blissfield Railroad replacing Great Lakes and Ohio River Railroad. It is possible one of the University units may be part of the transfer locomotives, although that is unconfirmed at this time.
As with the other railroads spun off from the GLOR, the labor agreements in place at the time will remain in effect for the duration of the agreement. Currently the GLOR's labor agreements are in effect until 12-31-25.
Customers of the CABR will be as follows:
Train ADR-1
Blissfield Ethanol - Riga - Tank Cars and Covered Hoppers
AirGas Dry Ice Plant - Riga - Tank Cars
Nutrien Ag Solutions - Blissfield - Tank Cars and Covered Hoppers
MAC - Blissfield - Covered Hoppers
Blissfield Dinner Train - Blissfield - Trackage rights user
Consumers Energy - Adrian - Bulkhead Flats
OmniSource - Adrian - Gondolas
GLOR Adrain Transload - Adrian - Covered hoppers (on Big C Lumber Spur)
Big C Lumber - Adrian - Centerbeam Flatcars / boxcars (infrequent shipper)
Adrian Steel Company - Adrian - Coil Cars and Gondolas
NS Interchange - Adrain - Interchange with Norfolk Southern
Plastic Omnium - Adrain - Covered Hoppers
W2Fuel - Adrian - Tank Cars
Clinton Branch - Train TEC-1
Wacker Chemical - Raisin Center - Tank Cars and Covered Hoppers
Avery Oil and Propane - Tecumseh - Tank Cars (infrequent customer)
Tecumseh Baked Products - Tecumseh -Tank Cars, Covered Hoppers, Refridgerated and Insulated Boxcars
NextResins - Clinton - Tank Cars
Michigan Pallet - Clinton - Centerbeam and Bulkhead Flats
Clinton Plastic Products - Clinton - Covered Hoppers (Former DST Building)
Tri-County Logging / HMI Hardwoods - Clinton - Bulkhead and Centerbeam Flats
SMRS Trackage Rights - Clinton - SMRS Excursions
ADR-2 Operates as transfer running from Blissfield to Erie Yard and Return. Will interchange with southern division in Petersburg Siding.
Clinton Adrian and Blissfield Railroad (CABR)
Re: Clinton Adrian and Blissfield Railroad (CABR)
The Clinton, Adrian, and Blissfield Railroad has, on behalf of their owns, agreed in principle to a deal to lease for a period of 25 years, certain assetts of Norfolk Southern in Adrian, Michigan.
CABR will lease the following lines from NS. The north siding track running from just west of Academy Rd to the south end switch, approximately 2900 feet of trackage. In addition, CABR will lease, for the same period the approximately 1700's foot siding to the chemical storage track running to just south of Academy Rd, and will provide as needed service to the company.
Additionally, the CABR will lease the two yard tracks on the south side of the NS mainline, and pay to have the tracks reconnected to the mainline near Maumee St.
As part of the lease of these tracks, GLOR will pay for NS into install and maintain a pair of crossovers between the mainline tracks. The southern of these crossovers will connect the south side mainline to the north side mainline, just east of the connection track between the CABR line and the NS line allowing westbound movements from the south side to northside main. The second crossover will be located just east of Academy Rd and will permit EB movements to move from the south to the north mainline tracks. This will allow CABR movements into and out of the leased siding tracks heading to the connection tracks or to the Clinton Branch.
In addition, CABR will also lease the Anderson Development Spur, running from the NS mainline to the endo of track servicing former customer Anderson Development Company, a chemical manufacturer in Adrian.
The leased trackage will be accessed via the previously existing trackage rights over NS between Raisin Center (Clinton Branch), and Adrian.
The lease of these tracks will allow the potential for increased customer loads, should either company return to rail service, as well as performing a more streamlined interchange of traffic between CABR's trains TEC-1 (Clinton Branch Local), and ADR-1, the Blissfield to Adrian train.
In addition, CABR is looking to establish a transload, in conjunction with NS, alongside the main on the leased trackage.
CABR will lease the following lines from NS. The north siding track running from just west of Academy Rd to the south end switch, approximately 2900 feet of trackage. In addition, CABR will lease, for the same period the approximately 1700's foot siding to the chemical storage track running to just south of Academy Rd, and will provide as needed service to the company.
Additionally, the CABR will lease the two yard tracks on the south side of the NS mainline, and pay to have the tracks reconnected to the mainline near Maumee St.
As part of the lease of these tracks, GLOR will pay for NS into install and maintain a pair of crossovers between the mainline tracks. The southern of these crossovers will connect the south side mainline to the north side mainline, just east of the connection track between the CABR line and the NS line allowing westbound movements from the south side to northside main. The second crossover will be located just east of Academy Rd and will permit EB movements to move from the south to the north mainline tracks. This will allow CABR movements into and out of the leased siding tracks heading to the connection tracks or to the Clinton Branch.
In addition, CABR will also lease the Anderson Development Spur, running from the NS mainline to the endo of track servicing former customer Anderson Development Company, a chemical manufacturer in Adrian.
The leased trackage will be accessed via the previously existing trackage rights over NS between Raisin Center (Clinton Branch), and Adrian.
The lease of these tracks will allow the potential for increased customer loads, should either company return to rail service, as well as performing a more streamlined interchange of traffic between CABR's trains TEC-1 (Clinton Branch Local), and ADR-1, the Blissfield to Adrian train.
In addition, CABR is looking to establish a transload, in conjunction with NS, alongside the main on the leased trackage.
Re: Clinton Adrian and Blissfield Railroad (CABR)
The Clinton, Adrian and Blissfield Railroad has been a busy little railroad lately.
TEC-1, the train that runs between Clinton and Adrian started their day at 07:00 in the Tecumseh Yard, with #1575 and #1576 (both GP15-1's). The inbound yard track consisted of 23 cars, which were brought up to Tecumseh by TEC-1 on Friday. These cars included 3 loaded centerbeams for Michigan Pallet, 1 propane tank for Tecumseh's Avery Oil and Propane, 1 corn syrup car for Tecumseh Baked Products, 3 tank cars for NextResins in Clinton, 4 empty bulkhead flats for Tri-County Logging, 6 covered hoppers for clinton Plastic Products, 2 tank cars for Wacker Chemical, and 3 flour loads for Tecumseh Baking Products. The outbound track consisted of 2 empty corn syrup cars, 3 empty plastic pellet cars, and 2 empty centerbeams.
The crew began their day by organizing their train. They started by running the power to the north end of the yard, cutting off the corn syrup car for Tecumseh Baking (as well as the cars in front of it), and connecting those cars to the 2 empty center beams on the north end of the outbound cut. After this, they went back and reconnected the 3 loaded centerbeams and the propane car to the remaining cars on the inbound track. They then cut off the power, ran around the train, connecting to the south end of the outbound cars, cut off the outbound cars pulled clear of the yard switch, and backed those cars onto the main. After cutting them off, they reconnected to the south end of the corn syrup car, pulled clear of the yard lead, and then backed it onto the unloading spur at Tecumseh Baking products. This was followed by pulling two empty flour cars from the Tecumseh Baking Products Flour Lead, attaching them to the other outbound cars on the main, cutting off, connecting to the 3 inbound flour cars, uncoupling them from the rest of the inbound cut, and then depositing them on the Tecumseh Baking Flour Lead.
Following this work, the crew headed back to the north end of yard, cut the 3 centerbeams and the propane card off the cut, pulled north, then backed through the yard to deliver the propane car to Avery. They then pulled north, coupled back onto the remaining inbound cut, which now consisted of, 3 loaded centerbeams, 3 tank cars for NextResins, 4 empty bulkhead flatcars, 6 covered hoppers, and 2 chemical tankers for Wacker. They cut off the 2 chemical tankers, leaving them on the inbound track and pulled north of the yard. They reorganized their train so that the cars were in the following order on the inbound track. 6 covered plastic hoppers, 4 empty bulkhead flats, 3 loaded centerbeams, and 3 tank cars. The crew then cut off these cars and ran lite power to Clinton.
They pulled 6 plastic hoppers from Clinton Plastics, and 1 loaded bulkhead flat from Tri County Logging. After running around the train, they pulled a sngle tank car from NextResins and ran back to Tecumseh. Pulling down the outbound track, the crew cut off the train, and headed onto the main to connect to the remaining cars on the main. They left most of the cars on the main, but pulled a flour empty with them, pulled back south, and backed up onto the inbound track to connect to the Wacker Chemical Cars. They pulled those cars south, then backed onto the remaining cars on the main, pulled that entire cut south, then backed onto the outbound cut they brought south from Clinton. This cut now consisted of an empty flour car, 2 loaded tank cars for Wacker, 2 additional empty flour cars, 2 corn syrup tankers, 3 empty plastic pellets hoppers, 2 empty centerbeams, 6 empty plastic hoppers, and 1 single loaded bulkhead flat on the outbound track. After uncoupling the power, they cleared the south end, ran north on the main then backed onto the remaining cars on the inbound track. After a lunch break, they headed north to Clinton. They dropped the plastics hoppers off at Clinton Plastics, and the single bulkhead at Tri County, before running around their train in Clinton's Runaround track. They then dropped the 3 loaded centerbeams at Michigan Pallet and the tankers at NextResin, before running lite power back to Tecumseh. In Tecumseh, they picked up their outbound train, headed south to work Wacker Chemical. They pulled 1 loaded tanker out of Wacker, and left the two supply loads on the unloading track. They did some switching so the loaded car was behind the flour cars, and headed south. They arrived at Raisin Center at 14:30 and were held due to traffic on NS until 15:30. They then proceeded to Adrian, and backs their train up the interchange track to the Adrian-Blissfield line.
Due to the length of the outbound train, they were unable to get all the cars onto the siding, so they ended up having to cut cars across a couple crossings and leaving the cars. They then ran lite power back to Tecumseh.
TEC-1, the train that runs between Clinton and Adrian started their day at 07:00 in the Tecumseh Yard, with #1575 and #1576 (both GP15-1's). The inbound yard track consisted of 23 cars, which were brought up to Tecumseh by TEC-1 on Friday. These cars included 3 loaded centerbeams for Michigan Pallet, 1 propane tank for Tecumseh's Avery Oil and Propane, 1 corn syrup car for Tecumseh Baked Products, 3 tank cars for NextResins in Clinton, 4 empty bulkhead flats for Tri-County Logging, 6 covered hoppers for clinton Plastic Products, 2 tank cars for Wacker Chemical, and 3 flour loads for Tecumseh Baking Products. The outbound track consisted of 2 empty corn syrup cars, 3 empty plastic pellet cars, and 2 empty centerbeams.
The crew began their day by organizing their train. They started by running the power to the north end of the yard, cutting off the corn syrup car for Tecumseh Baking (as well as the cars in front of it), and connecting those cars to the 2 empty center beams on the north end of the outbound cut. After this, they went back and reconnected the 3 loaded centerbeams and the propane car to the remaining cars on the inbound track. They then cut off the power, ran around the train, connecting to the south end of the outbound cars, cut off the outbound cars pulled clear of the yard switch, and backed those cars onto the main. After cutting them off, they reconnected to the south end of the corn syrup car, pulled clear of the yard lead, and then backed it onto the unloading spur at Tecumseh Baking products. This was followed by pulling two empty flour cars from the Tecumseh Baking Products Flour Lead, attaching them to the other outbound cars on the main, cutting off, connecting to the 3 inbound flour cars, uncoupling them from the rest of the inbound cut, and then depositing them on the Tecumseh Baking Flour Lead.
Following this work, the crew headed back to the north end of yard, cut the 3 centerbeams and the propane card off the cut, pulled north, then backed through the yard to deliver the propane car to Avery. They then pulled north, coupled back onto the remaining inbound cut, which now consisted of, 3 loaded centerbeams, 3 tank cars for NextResins, 4 empty bulkhead flatcars, 6 covered hoppers, and 2 chemical tankers for Wacker. They cut off the 2 chemical tankers, leaving them on the inbound track and pulled north of the yard. They reorganized their train so that the cars were in the following order on the inbound track. 6 covered plastic hoppers, 4 empty bulkhead flats, 3 loaded centerbeams, and 3 tank cars. The crew then cut off these cars and ran lite power to Clinton.
They pulled 6 plastic hoppers from Clinton Plastics, and 1 loaded bulkhead flat from Tri County Logging. After running around the train, they pulled a sngle tank car from NextResins and ran back to Tecumseh. Pulling down the outbound track, the crew cut off the train, and headed onto the main to connect to the remaining cars on the main. They left most of the cars on the main, but pulled a flour empty with them, pulled back south, and backed up onto the inbound track to connect to the Wacker Chemical Cars. They pulled those cars south, then backed onto the remaining cars on the main, pulled that entire cut south, then backed onto the outbound cut they brought south from Clinton. This cut now consisted of an empty flour car, 2 loaded tank cars for Wacker, 2 additional empty flour cars, 2 corn syrup tankers, 3 empty plastic pellets hoppers, 2 empty centerbeams, 6 empty plastic hoppers, and 1 single loaded bulkhead flat on the outbound track. After uncoupling the power, they cleared the south end, ran north on the main then backed onto the remaining cars on the inbound track. After a lunch break, they headed north to Clinton. They dropped the plastics hoppers off at Clinton Plastics, and the single bulkhead at Tri County, before running around their train in Clinton's Runaround track. They then dropped the 3 loaded centerbeams at Michigan Pallet and the tankers at NextResin, before running lite power back to Tecumseh. In Tecumseh, they picked up their outbound train, headed south to work Wacker Chemical. They pulled 1 loaded tanker out of Wacker, and left the two supply loads on the unloading track. They did some switching so the loaded car was behind the flour cars, and headed south. They arrived at Raisin Center at 14:30 and were held due to traffic on NS until 15:30. They then proceeded to Adrian, and backs their train up the interchange track to the Adrian-Blissfield line.
Due to the length of the outbound train, they were unable to get all the cars onto the siding, so they ended up having to cut cars across a couple crossings and leaving the cars. They then ran lite power back to Tecumseh.
Re: Clinton Adrian and Blissfield Railroad (CABR)
ADR-1 started their day at 12:00 on the mainline with their locomotives #4011 (SD40-2) and #4023 (SD40M-2) facing northbound just south of Silberhorn Highway. The train consisted of 13 empty DDG cars for the ethanol plant, 16 empty ethanol tankers, 2 loaded CO2 tanks for airgas, 3 empty bulkhead flats for TEC-1, 1 tank car for TEC-1, 3 flour cars for TEC-1, 1 insulated boxcar for TEC-1, 3 empty gons for OmniSource in Adrian, 1 boxcar for Big C lumber, 2 steel coil cars for Adrian Steel, and 1 tank car for W2 Fuel in Adrian. The first move of the day was to back the 4 cars for the Adrian customers back into the passing siding south of Cemetary Rd. These cars were cut off the train and left in the siding. The crew then pulled the remainder of the train north, into the MAC passing siding before running around the train to pull it south. They proceeded to back the remaining train into the ethanol yard, leaving the 13 DDG cars on track 1, and taking the 16 empty ethanol cars to track 2. The two CO2 cars were delivered to the AirGas transloading area at the end of the yard. They also had the TEC-1 cars still on the train, now on the south end of the train. The crew head back west to the passing siding, ran around the remaining cars, then back to the siding and retrieved the Adrian cars. They were then ready to head west to Adrian with 3 empty bulkhead flats for TEC-1, 1 tank car for TEC-1, 3 flour cars for TEC-1, 1 insulated boxcar for TEC-1, 3 empty gons for OmniSource in Adrian, 1 boxcar for Big C lumber, 2 steel coil cars for Adrian Steel, and 1 tank car for W2 Fuel. The train got as far as the siding at Lenawee Jct before dispatchers notified them that there was a problem with a private crossing east of Adrian. It appeared as if a contactor was repaving the private contractor and somehow damaged the tracks at the crossing. Maintainane crews were dispatched to the location, but it would be several hours until the crew would be able to head west to Adrian.
As a result the crew was given a ride back to Blissfield. In Blissfield they picked up MP15AC #9, which was kept near the depot and headed east towards MAC, Nutrien, and the ethanol plant. First they pulled a single tank car from Nutrien, followed by 3 loaded DDG cars from the ethanol plant. They lined these cars on the small passing siding and headed back to Blissfield's Depot.
ADR-2 was supposed to be called at 23:00, but the decision was made to annul the train for 11-25. This means 11-26s outbound CABR train on Tuesday night is expected to be well bigger than normal, and there will likely be a number of inbound cars.
As a result the crew was given a ride back to Blissfield. In Blissfield they picked up MP15AC #9, which was kept near the depot and headed east towards MAC, Nutrien, and the ethanol plant. First they pulled a single tank car from Nutrien, followed by 3 loaded DDG cars from the ethanol plant. They lined these cars on the small passing siding and headed back to Blissfield's Depot.
ADR-2 was supposed to be called at 23:00, but the decision was made to annul the train for 11-25. This means 11-26s outbound CABR train on Tuesday night is expected to be well bigger than normal, and there will likely be a number of inbound cars.
Re: Clinton Adrian and Blissfield Railroad (CABR)
Tuesday on the CABR.
TEC-1 again began their day at 07:00 in Tecumseh Yard. They pulled the three flour cars which had been delivered the day before, as well as the corn syrup car. After running around the train, they proceeded southbound with #1576 leading #1575. They stopped at Wacker Chemical to pull 1 empty tank car out of Wacker, before arriving at Raisin Center at 09:25. They were held for a pair of trains on NS, before continuing west to Adrian. At Adrian they coupled the cars from todays train to the rest of the cars they had left in Adrian the previous day. They would then proceed to shove the cars off the interchange track and most of the way through Adrian, stopping when the power was just east of the US223 bridge. They would then cut off the power and return to the interchange track, tieing down the power on the interchange track siding.
This was completed by 10:45. A van would take the crew east to Lenawee Junction, where they would pick up the train ADR-1 left there the previous day. The crew would then run west, dropping the train into the interchange tracks and then cut off the power and head west to couple to the cars by US223. They would pull those cars east of the NS diamond before getting off the power and heading back to the GP15-1's in the interchanging passing siding. They run their train back to to the runaround, in Adrian, dropping the cars for Adrian customers and then head back down the interchange, move locomotive #1576 to the tail end of the train and wait for clearance onto the NS mainline. Running in a push-pull configuration, TEC-1 would take their 1 insulated boxcar, 3 flour cars, 1 tank car and 3 empty bulkhead flats back onto NS tracks and head back to Tecumseh. Back in Tecumseh they would pull the train into the inbound siding and run 1575 around the train to couple back to 1576 before calling it a day.
ADR-1's crew was called at 14:00 and would head to the Ogden Highway crossing to pick up the train bound for Blissfield. They would run this train back, leaving the train in the passing siding near the MAC elevator, before switching power to #2022 and #2033 (GP38-2's) and running those units lite power back to Adrian. They would cut off #2033, the lead locomotive heading to Adrian, and couple it to the west end of the cars in the Adrian passing siding, which consisted of 3 empty gons for OmniSource in Adrian, 1 boxcar for Big C lumber, 2 steel coil cars for Adrian Steel, and 1 tank car for W2 Fuel. They would cut the three cars for OmniSource off, pull into the OmniSource lead and back those cars into the loading area, coupling them to 4 cars already in the siding waiting to be loaded. After dropping those cars, they would proceed back to couple to the remaining cars on the passing siding, pull onto the main, back the W2 Fuel Tankcar up to #2022, drop the steel coil cars on the passing siding, couple the Big C car to the tank car, and proceed west. Upon reaching the last two customers, they would cut of #2022, pull #2033 and the two cars forward, back the tank to the W2 Fuels loading, area and then come back onto the main. The crew would tie down #2033, and walk to #2022 before pulling 3 empty plastic hoppers from the RandStad Adrian facility (formerly Plastic Omnium). They would then couple to the Big C lumber boxcar, and head back east. They would cut off #2033 just west of Center St and use #2022 to back the Big C boxcar into place, before returning to main, reconnecting to #2033 and pulling forward towards the yard. The crew would tie down #2022, switch to #2033, and uncouple it and connect to the steel coil cars on the siding. They would push back across the diamond, pull back up the Gulf Street Spur and drop the cars at Adrian Steel. They would then proceed back connect to #2022, which resulted in 2033 running LHF. They would run back to Blissfield arriving at 19:00 after delays getting back across the diamond.
Back in Blissfield ADR-1 would cut off the GP38-2's at the depot, leaving the 3 empty plastic hoppers on the main. The crew would be vanned taken back to the SD40-2's. They would uncouple them from the train on the siding, head west to pick up the 3 empty plastic hoppers just brought from Adrian, then head back east, attaching them to the rest of the outbound train. They would then uncouple, pull forward and pull one empty covered hopper from Nutrien Spur, pull forward again and back into the ethanol plant yard. There they would back up and take the 2 CO2 cars from Airgas, pick up 10 ethanol cars, and 6 DDG cars from the ethanol plant. They would then back this train up to the remaining outbound cars and tie down the power, signing off at 22:30.
ADR-2, which had been annulled the previous day, would beging their day at the depot at 22:30. They would hop aboard #2033, pull it onto the main, move to #2022, move it out coupled to #2033. This put the units in a traditional SHF confguration. They would then take both units and couple to #4023 and #4011 and their train. They would reconnect the train, which had been cut to avoid blocking a crossing, and begin their trek to Toledo. The train consisted of, 6 DDG loads, 10 ethanol loads, 2 CO2 Empties, 1 empty fertilizer hopper, 3 empty plastic pellet cars, 3 flour cars, 1 corn syrup car, 3 additional flour empties, 1 tank load, 2 corn syrup, 3 plastic pellet empties, 2 empty centerbeams, 6 more empty pellet cars, and 1 bulkhead flat load. Upon testing the air, the 4 units headed towards Riga and Toledo at 23:30.
They ran clean to Toledo with arriving at 01:15. Upon dropping their train on the arrival track, they uncoupled and ran to the south end of Erie Yard to pick up their outbound trains. They actually had two outbound trains to take back to Blissfield. 84 empty grain trains, as well as 13 ethanol empties, 12 DDG empties, 1 CO2 gas tanker, 1 steel coil car, 8 tankers for W2 Fuels, 3 plastic hoppers for RandStad Adrian, 2 gondolas for OmniSource, 2 corn syrup cars, 1 flour load, 1 sugar load, and 2 insulated boxcars for Tecumseh Baking, 1 plastic hopper for Clinton, and 2 bulkhead flats for Clinton. They departed back to Blissfield at 03:30, cutting off the two leading SD40's into the ethanol plant siding. They dropped the manifest cars just west of Tagsold Hwy, cut the cars for Wegner and pulled the grain cars forward onto the siding at MAC, cutting the crossing at Silberhorn, before pulling the rest of the train west, backing down the main, again cutting at Silberhorn, before tieing down the power at 05:15.
TEC-1 again began their day at 07:00 in Tecumseh Yard. They pulled the three flour cars which had been delivered the day before, as well as the corn syrup car. After running around the train, they proceeded southbound with #1576 leading #1575. They stopped at Wacker Chemical to pull 1 empty tank car out of Wacker, before arriving at Raisin Center at 09:25. They were held for a pair of trains on NS, before continuing west to Adrian. At Adrian they coupled the cars from todays train to the rest of the cars they had left in Adrian the previous day. They would then proceed to shove the cars off the interchange track and most of the way through Adrian, stopping when the power was just east of the US223 bridge. They would then cut off the power and return to the interchange track, tieing down the power on the interchange track siding.
This was completed by 10:45. A van would take the crew east to Lenawee Junction, where they would pick up the train ADR-1 left there the previous day. The crew would then run west, dropping the train into the interchange tracks and then cut off the power and head west to couple to the cars by US223. They would pull those cars east of the NS diamond before getting off the power and heading back to the GP15-1's in the interchanging passing siding. They run their train back to to the runaround, in Adrian, dropping the cars for Adrian customers and then head back down the interchange, move locomotive #1576 to the tail end of the train and wait for clearance onto the NS mainline. Running in a push-pull configuration, TEC-1 would take their 1 insulated boxcar, 3 flour cars, 1 tank car and 3 empty bulkhead flats back onto NS tracks and head back to Tecumseh. Back in Tecumseh they would pull the train into the inbound siding and run 1575 around the train to couple back to 1576 before calling it a day.
ADR-1's crew was called at 14:00 and would head to the Ogden Highway crossing to pick up the train bound for Blissfield. They would run this train back, leaving the train in the passing siding near the MAC elevator, before switching power to #2022 and #2033 (GP38-2's) and running those units lite power back to Adrian. They would cut off #2033, the lead locomotive heading to Adrian, and couple it to the west end of the cars in the Adrian passing siding, which consisted of 3 empty gons for OmniSource in Adrian, 1 boxcar for Big C lumber, 2 steel coil cars for Adrian Steel, and 1 tank car for W2 Fuel. They would cut the three cars for OmniSource off, pull into the OmniSource lead and back those cars into the loading area, coupling them to 4 cars already in the siding waiting to be loaded. After dropping those cars, they would proceed back to couple to the remaining cars on the passing siding, pull onto the main, back the W2 Fuel Tankcar up to #2022, drop the steel coil cars on the passing siding, couple the Big C car to the tank car, and proceed west. Upon reaching the last two customers, they would cut of #2022, pull #2033 and the two cars forward, back the tank to the W2 Fuels loading, area and then come back onto the main. The crew would tie down #2033, and walk to #2022 before pulling 3 empty plastic hoppers from the RandStad Adrian facility (formerly Plastic Omnium). They would then couple to the Big C lumber boxcar, and head back east. They would cut off #2033 just west of Center St and use #2022 to back the Big C boxcar into place, before returning to main, reconnecting to #2033 and pulling forward towards the yard. The crew would tie down #2022, switch to #2033, and uncouple it and connect to the steel coil cars on the siding. They would push back across the diamond, pull back up the Gulf Street Spur and drop the cars at Adrian Steel. They would then proceed back connect to #2022, which resulted in 2033 running LHF. They would run back to Blissfield arriving at 19:00 after delays getting back across the diamond.
Back in Blissfield ADR-1 would cut off the GP38-2's at the depot, leaving the 3 empty plastic hoppers on the main. The crew would be vanned taken back to the SD40-2's. They would uncouple them from the train on the siding, head west to pick up the 3 empty plastic hoppers just brought from Adrian, then head back east, attaching them to the rest of the outbound train. They would then uncouple, pull forward and pull one empty covered hopper from Nutrien Spur, pull forward again and back into the ethanol plant yard. There they would back up and take the 2 CO2 cars from Airgas, pick up 10 ethanol cars, and 6 DDG cars from the ethanol plant. They would then back this train up to the remaining outbound cars and tie down the power, signing off at 22:30.
ADR-2, which had been annulled the previous day, would beging their day at the depot at 22:30. They would hop aboard #2033, pull it onto the main, move to #2022, move it out coupled to #2033. This put the units in a traditional SHF confguration. They would then take both units and couple to #4023 and #4011 and their train. They would reconnect the train, which had been cut to avoid blocking a crossing, and begin their trek to Toledo. The train consisted of, 6 DDG loads, 10 ethanol loads, 2 CO2 Empties, 1 empty fertilizer hopper, 3 empty plastic pellet cars, 3 flour cars, 1 corn syrup car, 3 additional flour empties, 1 tank load, 2 corn syrup, 3 plastic pellet empties, 2 empty centerbeams, 6 more empty pellet cars, and 1 bulkhead flat load. Upon testing the air, the 4 units headed towards Riga and Toledo at 23:30.
They ran clean to Toledo with arriving at 01:15. Upon dropping their train on the arrival track, they uncoupled and ran to the south end of Erie Yard to pick up their outbound trains. They actually had two outbound trains to take back to Blissfield. 84 empty grain trains, as well as 13 ethanol empties, 12 DDG empties, 1 CO2 gas tanker, 1 steel coil car, 8 tankers for W2 Fuels, 3 plastic hoppers for RandStad Adrian, 2 gondolas for OmniSource, 2 corn syrup cars, 1 flour load, 1 sugar load, and 2 insulated boxcars for Tecumseh Baking, 1 plastic hopper for Clinton, and 2 bulkhead flats for Clinton. They departed back to Blissfield at 03:30, cutting off the two leading SD40's into the ethanol plant siding. They dropped the manifest cars just west of Tagsold Hwy, cut the cars for Wegner and pulled the grain cars forward onto the siding at MAC, cutting the crossing at Silberhorn, before pulling the rest of the train west, backing down the main, again cutting at Silberhorn, before tieing down the power at 05:15.
Re: Clinton Adrian and Blissfield Railroad (CABR)
There have been no significant changes on the CABR in recent months. There was one addition to the locomotive roster however.
GLOR #4029 SD40M-2 has been transfered to the CABR roster with the same number. The locomotive has been relettered for the CABR.
This move was made due to the length of trains between Blissfield and Toledo and the need for additional power to keep the trains moving over the line. While the two road units on the roster were working, they tended to take a longer period of time than management wanted getting up to speed from a dead stop, so a third unit was added to help with the road trains.
GLOR #4029 SD40M-2 has been transfered to the CABR roster with the same number. The locomotive has been relettered for the CABR.
This move was made due to the length of trains between Blissfield and Toledo and the need for additional power to keep the trains moving over the line. While the two road units on the roster were working, they tended to take a longer period of time than management wanted getting up to speed from a dead stop, so a third unit was added to help with the road trains.
Re: Clinton Adrian and Blissfield Railroad (CABR)
The current roster of the CABR is as follows:
CABR #9 MP15AC
CABR #1575 GP15-1 – Former CSX 1439
CABR #1576 GP15-1 – Former CSX 1419
CABR #2022 GP38-2
CABR #2033 GP38-2
CABR #4011 SD40-2
CABR #4023 SD40M-2
CABR #4029 SD40M-2
The units are generally assigned as follows:
#9 normally stays in and around Blissfield / Riga to work the local customers.
#1575 and #1576 normally work the Clinton to Adrian trains.
#2022 and #2033 normally work the Blissfield to Adrian trains, including limited interchange with NS and the interchange with the Clinton trains.
#4011, #4023 and #4029 are normally the power for the Blissfield to Toledo Road trains.
These assignments are always subject to change based on the needs of the railroad.
CABR #9 MP15AC
CABR #1575 GP15-1 – Former CSX 1439
CABR #1576 GP15-1 – Former CSX 1419
CABR #2022 GP38-2
CABR #2033 GP38-2
CABR #4011 SD40-2
CABR #4023 SD40M-2
CABR #4029 SD40M-2
The units are generally assigned as follows:
#9 normally stays in and around Blissfield / Riga to work the local customers.
#1575 and #1576 normally work the Clinton to Adrian trains.
#2022 and #2033 normally work the Blissfield to Adrian trains, including limited interchange with NS and the interchange with the Clinton trains.
#4011, #4023 and #4029 are normally the power for the Blissfield to Toledo Road trains.
These assignments are always subject to change based on the needs of the railroad.
Re: Clinton Adrian and Blissfield Railroad (CABR)
The operations along the CABR have remained steady. Very little traffic is currently being interchanged between NS and CABR in Adrian. The vast majority of traffic is being handled in the Toledo interchange.
The installation of the NS crossovers in Adrian, and the reconnection of the tracks in the Adrian "yard" has not yet occurred. This is expected to happen in the spring once the weather conditions have improved and NS MOW crews are available to complete the work. It is expected that the project, including installation of required signals will take approximately 3 months from start to finish.
The ethanol facility in Riga is expected to increase production during the 2025 production year as upgrades on the facility are completed.
The Clinton Branch customers all remain steady in terms of volume and frequency. There is talk of a couple other potential customers coming online within the next couple years, but nothing is signed or set in stonre.
The installation of the NS crossovers in Adrian, and the reconnection of the tracks in the Adrian "yard" has not yet occurred. This is expected to happen in the spring once the weather conditions have improved and NS MOW crews are available to complete the work. It is expected that the project, including installation of required signals will take approximately 3 months from start to finish.
The ethanol facility in Riga is expected to increase production during the 2025 production year as upgrades on the facility are completed.
The Clinton Branch customers all remain steady in terms of volume and frequency. There is talk of a couple other potential customers coming online within the next couple years, but nothing is signed or set in stonre.