Pontiac, Oxford & Northern

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AARR
Ann Arbor RR Nerd
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Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:39 pm
Location: Washington, MI

Pontiac, Oxford & Northern

Unread post by AARR »

Pontiac, Oxford & Northern 1984

Acquired ex-GTW track from Oxford to Pigeon. Business never materialized south of Dryden and track was abandoned and removed shortly after acquisition.

Started out with a pair of ex-GTW S2's

Interchanged with GTW at Imlay City and Chessie at Clifford & Pigeon.

Operations was typically 1-3x a week.

Constructed engine house in Imlay City and later Cass City when line between North Branch and Cass City was abandoned.

Served agricultural customers at about six different locations. Each location averaged around 75 cars a year. Also served house builder in Dryden (1-2 cars a week), pickle plant in Imlay City (250 cars per year), and rail car repair in Gagetown (5-10 cars per week from CN).

Around 1992 the home builder and rail car repair locations closed. Track between North Branch and Cass City abandoned and removed.

Picked up a trio of ex-GTW SW1200 (with road brakes/trucks) in early 1990's and scrapped S2's.

1997 plastics plant moved into Dryden, elevators in North Branch and Cass City doubled storage, and Monitor Sugar established sugar beet yard north of Cass City.

Current service is 1-3x per week. 2007 they closed and consolidated - Cass City-Pigeon recieves 5-6 65 car blocks of empty grain cars from HESR per year. We spend the next 24 hours switching cars at the five elevators and delivering them back to HESR at Pigeon (we do not switch the huge elevator in Pigeon, they chose HESR rather than pay extra for us to handle their cars). 2008 Two elevators remain between Cass City and Pigeon (Owendale-Vita Plus and Cass City-Star of the West). They each ship up to 25 car blocks totaling 120-150 cars per year each Monitor (now Michigan Sugar) sugar beet yard north of Cass City is switched 3x per week during harvest season (around 21 weeks long) handling 15-18 cars per week which HESR picks up at Pigeon and delivers to Bay City plant. 2007 closed Terra fertilizer at Linkville that receives around 25-30 cars annually. 2009 Cooperative Elevator now operates fertilizer dealer in Gagetown and receives 12-15 cars annually

Current service on Dryden-North Branch segment is also 1-3x per week. Plastics plant in Dryden gets switched 2x per month with 2 cars each time. Pickle plant in Implay City is switched 2-3x per week during campaign (about 5 months) and 1x per week rest of the year. They can load up to 3 box cars at a time and receive some vinegar. There's a pair of elevators between 2004 Imlay City moved to location on CN mainlne and North Branch that can load 15 car blocks. Imlay City loads 60-75 cars a year. 2008 - Cooperative elevator acquired - North Branch has expanded several times and now loads around 200 cars per year in 25 car blocks and also receives fertilzer (12-15 annually) and fuel oil (16-20 per year).

New business opportunities are scarce. 2009 NIMBY'S killed this venture Terra to locate ammonia plant at Linkville but locals are protesting successfully against it. We've tried to pursued Cooperative Elevator to build an ethanol plant or biofuel plant but they balked at ethanol (looks like it was a good decision) and are more interested in Bad Axe for biofuel. We don't give up and keep looking for new business.

Millenium Industries in Cass City began service in 2007 receiving a carload of plastic pellets everyother month

Acquired 2 ex-CN (nee GTW) GP9r's and sold SW1200's.

We have begun negotiations for CN's Pontiac Beltline and what remains of PO&N in Pontiac area. We have plans which I will detail later.

Updated 8/16/10
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

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AARR
Ann Arbor RR Nerd
Posts: 37910
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:39 pm
Location: Washington, MI

Re: Pontiac, Oxford & Northern

Unread post by AARR »

Update 5/6/12
Line has been broken into three segments:
- Dryden to Imlay City (Interchanges with CN at Imlay City)
- Clifford to North Branch (Interchanges with HESR at Clifford)
- Pigeon to Cass City (Interchanges with HESR at Pigeon. HESR switches the huge Cooperative Elevator and Bean plant in Pigeon)

Dryden and North Branch lines have an ex-GTW SW1200. Cass City has an ex-GTW GP9r.

Customers:
+ Dryden - Metamora Products: Twice a month receives a couple carloads of plastic pellets
+ Imlay City - Vlasic: Ships pickles averaging about 3-8 a week
+ North Branch - Cooperative Elevator: Receives 12-15 carloads of dry and liquid fertilizer, 16-20 fuel oil, and ships out about 200 carloads a year of grain in blocks of 5-25 cars.
+ Cass City - Star of the West: Ships out about 135 cars a year of grain in 3-18 car blocks
+ Cass City - Millenium Industries: Receives a 2-car block of plastic pellets every week or two
+ Gagetown - Cooperative Elevator: Receives 12-15 carloads a year of dry and liquid fertilizer
+ Owendale - Vita Grain: Ships out about 135 cars a year of grain in 3-17 car blocks
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

User avatar
AARR
Ann Arbor RR Nerd
Posts: 37910
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:39 pm
Location: Washington, MI

Re: Pontiac, Oxford & Northern

Unread post by AARR »

Good news, line from Imlay City to Clifford is again operated as a single segment
AARR wrote:Customers:
+ Dryden - Metamora Products: Twice a month receives a couple carloads of plastic pellets
+ Imlay City - Vlasic: Ships pickles averaging about 3-8 a week
+ North Branch - Cooperative Elevator: Receives 12-15 carloads of dry and liquid fertilizer, 16-20 fuel oil, and ships out about 400 carloads a year of grain in blocks of 5-25 cars.
+ Cass City - Star of the West: Ships out about 300 cars a year of grain in 3-18 car blocks
+ Cass City - Millenium Industries: Receives a 2-car block of plastic pellets every week or two
+ Cass City - MI Sugar: Ships 3-4 10-car blocks of sugar beets during the harvest season
+ Gagetown - Cooperative Elevator: Receives 12-15 carloads a year of dry and liquid fertilizer
+ Owendale - Vita Grain: Ships out about 135 cars a year of grain in 3-17 car blocks
Cooperative Elevator in North Branch has significantly grown and now ships around 400 cars a year. About 1/3 is 13 car blocks of corn interchanged with HESR in Clifford for the ethanol plant in Caro.

Star of the West has also significantly grown and now ships around 300 cars a year.

MI Sugar opened a sugar beet transload in Cass City that ships 600-800 cars per year during the "campaign" (about 21 weeks).

Vita Grain went to trucks
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...

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