Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, Inc.

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59caddy
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Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, Inc.

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Great Lakes Transportation Holdings, LLC, (GLTH) was founded in January, 2013. It is a holding company that was founded to purchase railroad and transportation companies in the Great Lakes area, but they will probably branch out into other fields as well for capitalistic reasons.
The company got started out by a US$200 million loan from the Canadian National Railway, and all of the money will be used to purchase assets. Right now, headquarters and personnel are being leased from CN, and the initial trackage will be the trackage of the former Grand Trunk Western Railway, purchased from its current owner, CN. This GTW trackage will include the former Detroit, Toledo & Ironton from Detroit to Diann, Michigan, as well as the original GTW trackage from Port Huron to Chicago and Detroit.
Joseph Healey, the founder and president of GLTH, says "we hope to become a successful holding company and to give the greatest of service and cooperation to all communities and businesses that we meet."

[More will come later, we are in talks with various railroads about purchasing some lines to earn money. So far we haven't spent a dime on anything, CN will only start charging us when we begin making profit. ]
Last edited by 59caddy on Sun Aug 25, 2013 4:24 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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I will go into detail here about what trackage CN has given us for free to start out our new company:

Former GTW/CN trackage (Flint Subdivision) - Port Huron-Flint-Durand-Lansing-Battle Creek-Chicago
Former GTW/CN trackage (Port Huron Sub.) - Detroit-Mt. Clemens-Port Huron
Former PM/C&O/CSX/MQT trackage (trackage rights on Detroit Sub.) - Plymouth-Livonia-Rougemere Yard
Interchanges:

Vicksburg - PC
Durand - AA, GR&P
Detroit - MQT
Toledo: CSX, NS
Port Huron - CSX
Flint - MQT
Diann - AA, DS
Chicago - CSX, NS, CN, CP(?), BNSF, UP, AW, PC

Let me know if anything needs to be corrected.
Last edited by 59caddy on Tue May 28, 2013 9:14 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Saturnalia
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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You should talk to atrainguy about his GRP. He owns the Holly sub and squirms his way thru Detroit on CN tracks to make Toledo. Whether he sells or gives/takes trackage rights is up to you two, but just a heads up.
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59caddy
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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We just got an expansion to our system. Marquette Rail has leased us the Plymouth Sub from just east of Plymouth Diamonds to Rougemere. We have rights to run the locals on this trackage, and rights to run trains down their trackage to Toledo. MQT still has rights for intermodal traffic and passenger traffic along this line, and Motown Commuter trains have right of way on these tracks. We are also looking to acquire MQT's RC locomotive for Rougemere Yard.

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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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59caddy wrote:We just got an expansion to our system. Marquette Rail has leased us the Plymouth Sub from just east of Plymouth Diamonds to Rougemere. We have rights to run the locals on this trackage, and rights to run trains down their trackage to Toledo. MQT still has rights for intermodal traffic and passenger traffic along this line, and Motown Commuter trains have right of way on these tracks. We are also looking to acquire MQT's RC locomotive for Rougemere Yard.
FYI the plan is to interchange traffic using our Y-PLY2 (Plymouth Yard, 2nd Trick, 15:00-23:00), which will run to Rougemere in the early evening, setout, pick up, then return to Plymouth. Other than I-DETTOL and I-TOLDET, we will not be running other scheduled trains on the line.

What do you want for motive power? We can spare some stuff, but not a whole lot. We'd prefer to outfit some other units than sell. Keep in mind we will be making our GP9/35-3SLGs soon as well, which will be well-suited for yard service. We could however sell some MQTX stuff. Let us know.
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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Umm, PC does NOT have any tracks that reach Detroit and we do NOT have any connections at Battle Creek either. You can interchange with me at Vicksburg, MI where my GR&I Branch crosses the old GTW and in Chicago but other than those two points, I do not cross or connect to the old GTW anywhere else.
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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conrailman75 wrote:Umm, PC does NOT have any tracks that reach Detroit and we do NOT have any connections at Battle Creek either. You can interchange with me at Vicksburg, MI where my GR&I Branch crosses the old GTW and in Chicago but other than those two points, I do not cross or connect to the old GTW anywhere else.
Okay, sorry. :oops: I will edit the list and make the correction.

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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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59caddy wrote:
conrailman75 wrote:Umm, PC does NOT have any tracks that reach Detroit and we do NOT have any connections at Battle Creek either. You can interchange with me at Vicksburg, MI where my GR&I Branch crosses the old GTW and in Chicago but other than those two points, I do not cross or connect to the old GTW anywhere else.
Okay, sorry. :oops: I will edit the list and make the correction.
You still need to delete PC from your list of Detroit connections and then you've got it correct for me.
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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conrailman75 wrote:
59caddy wrote:
conrailman75 wrote:Umm, PC does NOT have any tracks that reach Detroit and we do NOT have any connections at Battle Creek either. You can interchange with me at Vicksburg, MI where my GR&I Branch crosses the old GTW and in Chicago but other than those two points, I do not cross or connect to the old GTW anywhere else.
Okay, sorry. :oops: I will edit the list and make the correction.
You still need to delete PC from your list of Detroit connections and then you've got it correct for me.
Sorry, I thought you still retain the NS Michigan Line. Now it should be correct for you.

atrainguy60
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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I was wondering, what sort of business is along this line that is for auction?

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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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atrainguy60 wrote:I was wondering, what sort of business is along this line that is for auction?
Not a business along the line, just the line itself.

Am I selling this line in the wrong way??? 'Cause if I am, I am soooooooooo embarrassed ( :oops: :oops: :lol: )

EDIT: Do you own the Detroit-Toledo line or lease it? I could perhaps consider buying it if it belongs to you. (I should have thought of this before :idea: :mrgreen: )

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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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59caddy wrote:
atrainguy60 wrote:I was wondering, what sort of business is along this line that is for auction?
Not a business along the line, just the line itself.

Am I selling this line in the wrong way??? 'Cause if I am, I am soooooooooo embarrassed ( :oops: :oops: :lol: )

EDIT: Do you own the Detroit-Toledo line or lease it? I could perhaps consider buying it if it belongs to you. (I should have thought of this before :idea: :mrgreen: )
Without any current business, I'm not really interested in the line, unless heartlandguy is willing to give me trackage rights to Riga so some of my trains can bypass Toledo. As for the Detroit-Toledo line, I own it. I don't really want to sell it, but I can give you trackage rights as far into Toledo, and then you can get access to CSX and NS. It doesn't matter how many trains you need to run on it, as I can add double track if I need to.

EDIT: Something else I just though of. I own the former DT&I between Toledo and Detroit, but what about one of NS's two lines between Detroit and Toledo? Looking at the map in the paper railroads information thread, it looks like they are unclaimed. Maybe you could get one or both of them.

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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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atrainguy60 wrote: Without any current business, I'm not really interested in the line, unless heartlandguy is willing to give me trackage rights to Riga so some of my trains can bypass Toledo. As for the Detroit-Toledo line, I own it. I don't really want to sell it, but I can give you trackage rights as far into Toledo, and then you can get access to CSX and NS. It doesn't matter how many trains you need to run on it, as I can add double track if I need to.
I don't need trackage rights to Toledo with you, I've already reached an agreement with MQT to have the occasional train ran down from Plymouth to Toledo. If you don't want the line to Diann, then I will go ahead and sell it to DS.

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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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59caddy wrote:
atrainguy60 wrote: Without any current business, I'm not really interested in the line, unless heartlandguy is willing to give me trackage rights to Riga so some of my trains can bypass Toledo. As for the Detroit-Toledo line, I own it. I don't really want to sell it, but I can give you trackage rights as far into Toledo, and then you can get access to CSX and NS. It doesn't matter how many trains you need to run on it, as I can add double track if I need to.
I don't need trackage rights to Toledo with you, I've already reached an agreement with MQT to have the occasional train ran down from Plymouth to Toledo. If you don't want the line to Diann, then I will go ahead and sell it to DS.
Ah ok. I must of missed that part reading through the MQT thread.

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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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atrainguy60 wrote:Without any current business, I'm not really interested in the line, unless heartlandguy is willing to give me trackage rights to Riga so some of my trains can bypass Toledo.
Do you want trackage rights, or is it not really an issue now? It can be done...
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atrainguy60
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

Unread post by atrainguy60 »

heartlandguy wrote:
atrainguy60 wrote:Without any current business, I'm not really interested in the line, unless heartlandguy is willing to give me trackage rights to Riga so some of my trains can bypass Toledo.
Do you want trackage rights, or is it not really an issue now? It can be done...
I would like some trackage rights. It would make the trip shorter for my trains coming from/going to Detroit and north of Detroit and going to/from Chicago.

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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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Detroit Southern Railroad has agreed to purchase our line from Diann to Monroe. We are awaiting STB approval for the purchase, which should take an unusually short amount of time as this purchase has been quick and easy. It was sold for a price of $30,000.

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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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Okay, here is my long-awaited-for list of trains :)

Locals

L12, Flint-Port Huron, 2-3/week, when needed
L10, Battle Creek-Chicago, M-S, afternoons/evenings
L8, Lansing-Flint, M/W/F, early morning
L6, Lansing-Battle Creek, T/Th/S, late night, often uses power from L8
L4, Port Huron-Detroit, T-S, afternoon, sometimes skips Friday
L2, Plymouth-Detroit, M-Th, early morning/late morning, sometimes works on weekends

Yard Jobs

Y1, Rougemere Yard, Su-W, evenings/night, power is often used for L2
Y3, Lansing, weekdays, afternoons
Y5, Battle Creek, weekday evenings, sometimes uses power from L10
Y7, Flint, M-S, evenings/night

Road Freights

R20, Flint-Chicago, weekdays, mornings, picks up loads in cities on the way
R21, Flint-Port Huron, weekend late night, interchanges with CN in Sarnia
R24, Chicago-Flint, weekdays anytime, stops in yards along the way


Notes
  • No road freight on the Port Huron Subdivision, the local handles all through traffic
  • Road freights always have right-of-way
  • Interchanges are handled by corresponding yard jobs or locals

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Saturnalia
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Re: Great Lakes Company Holdings, LLC

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Don't forget all the overhead CN traffic between CHI & FLT!

I'll give you a quick synopsis of our routine in Detroit. It's rather simple:
All yard jobs based out of Rougemere. 3 Tricks (0, 8 & 16 hour starts), 3 trains each. Tricks 1 & 2 run daily, 3rd trick is weekdays and as needed weekends. Our three service units are the Detroit Sub (All detroit sub local traffic), Detroit North (all traffic north of Rougemere), and Detroit South (all traffic south of Rougemere). All three trains handle switching in Rougemere, tossing their Outbounds on the manifest and taking what they need from the inbound. Pretty much self-explanatory. Manifest turns in Detroit Basically, leaving Toledo overnight, making DET in early morning, swaps cars, then heads south back to Toledo. 24-hour cycle.

BTW, our intermodal does run from Oak Yard, with a section from Rougemere.
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Re: Marquette Rail

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What's Oak Yard? Is it the yard in Livonia? :? :oops:

Also, when do your intermodal trains typically run? We'd like to run autorack trains to Toledo in competition against GR&P and DSR. We plan on loading in the afternoons/evenings, when the Ford plant is about done making cars for the day, switch while that's happening, and running them to Toledo by midnight. BTW, how much is 8,000 tons on a loaded autorack train?

We are, however, not sure if we will win a contract from Ford. If we don't, we probably will very few trains down the Toledo Sub. If we do win them as customer, it will be lots of trains down the Toledo Sub, and inevitably lots of $$$$$ for you! :P

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