Charlotte Industrial (CHIN)
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:14 am
Since the subject of Charlotte Southern (CHS) came up and its viability I will post my very successful paper railroad Charlotte Industrial (CHIN)
Service started in the late 90's when I acquired the line (approximately 2.5 miles) from CN/GTW. I use an ex-GTW SW1200 (yard switcher version) and it is still working fine. An ex-GTW GP9/18 was added around 2006.
The only customer from the beginning is the elevator southeast of town. All my fortunes ride on this customer. In the beginning they were good for 350-500 cars a year and some fertilizer. However, they have expanded capacity and acquired other local elevators without rail service so now in a good year they can ship up to 1,420 carloads of grain and receive 80 cars of fertilizer. But, it all depends on their customers. For example, from around 2005 to 2020 most of their product was going to local ethanol plants so average shipments out during that period was in the 450-650 range. Lately, with three local ethanol plants closing and others reducing production they are shipping a lot more grain out by rail to distant customers and car counts have been over a 1,000 the last several years.
Fertilizer capacity is also up. They started out receiving 12-15 cars a year but now receive 60-80 of mostly liquid but also dry fertilizer.
In the beginning CN would drop off five cars at a time on our line in downtown Charlotte. CN hated this arrangement and wanted it to go away. But, I kept growing the business and so they reluctantly worked with me.
Around 2005 a glass plant east of Charlotte closed and I persuaded CN to set out 25 car blocks at the siding by the plant. Through begging and pleading they granted me a mile or two of trackage rights to this siding. I pick up the 25 car blocks, take it to the siding across from the elevator, load five cars at a time (that's all the elevator spur will hold), rebuild the block to 25 after loading and take them back to the siding on CN east of town.
Usually this can be accomplished in a 12 hour shift but if there is a lot of traffic on CN sometimes, due to waiting for clearance, it can take a second day.
Recently I've been averaging 3-4 25 car shipments per month. But if the elevator starts selling to local customers by truck it may drop to around 2 per month. Fertilizer, at least for now, is steady at 60-80 per year. As long as I can keep car levels in the 500-600 range the line is viable.
For now CHIN's future is fine but things could change quickly if my only customer ever stops using rail.
Service started in the late 90's when I acquired the line (approximately 2.5 miles) from CN/GTW. I use an ex-GTW SW1200 (yard switcher version) and it is still working fine. An ex-GTW GP9/18 was added around 2006.
The only customer from the beginning is the elevator southeast of town. All my fortunes ride on this customer. In the beginning they were good for 350-500 cars a year and some fertilizer. However, they have expanded capacity and acquired other local elevators without rail service so now in a good year they can ship up to 1,420 carloads of grain and receive 80 cars of fertilizer. But, it all depends on their customers. For example, from around 2005 to 2020 most of their product was going to local ethanol plants so average shipments out during that period was in the 450-650 range. Lately, with three local ethanol plants closing and others reducing production they are shipping a lot more grain out by rail to distant customers and car counts have been over a 1,000 the last several years.
Fertilizer capacity is also up. They started out receiving 12-15 cars a year but now receive 60-80 of mostly liquid but also dry fertilizer.
In the beginning CN would drop off five cars at a time on our line in downtown Charlotte. CN hated this arrangement and wanted it to go away. But, I kept growing the business and so they reluctantly worked with me.
Around 2005 a glass plant east of Charlotte closed and I persuaded CN to set out 25 car blocks at the siding by the plant. Through begging and pleading they granted me a mile or two of trackage rights to this siding. I pick up the 25 car blocks, take it to the siding across from the elevator, load five cars at a time (that's all the elevator spur will hold), rebuild the block to 25 after loading and take them back to the siding on CN east of town.
Usually this can be accomplished in a 12 hour shift but if there is a lot of traffic on CN sometimes, due to waiting for clearance, it can take a second day.
Recently I've been averaging 3-4 25 car shipments per month. But if the elevator starts selling to local customers by truck it may drop to around 2 per month. Fertilizer, at least for now, is steady at 60-80 per year. As long as I can keep car levels in the 500-600 range the line is viable.
For now CHIN's future is fine but things could change quickly if my only customer ever stops using rail.