GLOR management has decided to make another change to operations.
It was previously announced that upon completion of the refurbishment of the Coldwater to Sturgis portion of the Old Road, that the White Pigeon Subdivision of the Lake Michigan Division would be transfered and become part of the INER Division of the GLOR, as the White Pigeon Subdivision. This will be changing.
The GLOR management has decided that they will instead "spin off" the INER Division and the White Pigeon Subdivision into a different railroad. The railroad, for legal purposes, will be known as the Indiana and Northeastern Railway (as opposed to Railroad). The existing reporting marks, INER, will be used.
The railroad will differ from the other wholely owned subsidiary lines in 1 key respect. Unlike the rest of the lines spun off from the GLOR, where the units retained their GLOR inspired paint scheme, the INER will retain the current INER paint scheme, which as of this time, has not changed to the the GLOR paint scheme.
Previously the GLOR has established trackage rights between Monpieler, OH and Milan, MI to allow trains from the INER division to run to Erie Yard outside Toledo. These trackage rights will be transfered to the INER. In addition, the INER will obtain trackage rights over the GLOR and NS from White Pigeon to NS' Elkhart Yard. GLOR will obtain trackage rights over the INER's White Pigeon Subdivision between the junction into the White Pigeon Yard. This will allow GLOR to maintain a presence on the southern end of the railroad between Elkhart and White Pigeon, rather than having to operation this section from the yard in Kalamazoo.
The locomotive roster for the INER will consist of the following locomotives. Many of these locomotives have been operating on the White Pigeon Subdivision or the INER Division for an extended period of time.
#905 GP30M Retained NKP # and NKP Paint scheme
#906 GP30M Retained NKP # and NKP Paint scheme
#1601 GP7 – Still in INER Paint
#1602 GP9 – Still in INER Paint
#2185 GP30 – Still in INER Paint
#2216 GP7u – Still in INER Paint
#2230 GP30 – Still in INER Paint
#3084 SD40-2 – Still in INER Paint
#3125 SD40-2 – Still in INER Paint
#4007 SD40-2
#4009 SD40-2
#5903 GP9H – Still in INER Paint
#6001 SD60
#6008 SD60
#6302 SD40-2 (EX-Lake State #6302)
#6303 SD40-2 (EX-Lake State #6303)
In addition, the GLOR/INER has a long term lease on the following locomotive
DOTX #2000 - GP40-3
The INER will operate in a similar manner to what was operated prior to this decision and the connection between Strugis and Coldwater being rebuilt.
The operational plan for the railroad will be as follows.
Indiana Subdivision
IND-1 Ashley, IN to Montpieler, OH and return. May be combined with HIL-2. Transfer for all INER traffic to NS in Montpieler.
IND-2 Ashley, In to South Milford, In and return. - Works from Ashley, In west to the end of the line and return.
IND-3 Extra Crew- May work anywhere on the Indiana Subdivision as needed. Based in Hudson, In.
INTO - Ashley, IN to Erie Yard, via trackage rights over NS from Montpieler to Milan. May interchange with CABR in Adrian.
TOIN - Return verstion of INTO via trackage rights over NS from Montpieler to Milan.
Hillsdale Subdivision
HIL-1 Hillsdale to Coldwater Local - Works all industries from Hillsdale north and to West Coldwater Yard and return.
HIL-2 Hillsdale to Montpieler, OH - Transfer form Hillsdale Subdivision to NS in Montpeiler. May be combined with IND-1.
HIL-3 Hillsdale Subdivision Extra - May work anywhere on the Hillsdale Subdivision
COLW-1 Coldwater Local - Will work customers in Coldwater and interchange cars with WP-2 and HIL-1.
Sturgis Subdivision
WP-2 White Pigeon to West Coldwater Yard and Return Local. Will work all Stugis Customers.
WPEK White Pigeon to Elkhart, IN NS Interchange. May also carry GLOR traffic from White Pigeon area customers.
Trains will be based in either Ashley / Hudson, Hillsdale, West Coldwater Yard or White Pigeon.
The railroad will also run a substantial number of unit trains to the major grain elevators on the line.
Indiana and Northeastern Railway (not the real one)
Re: Indiana and Northeastern Railway (not the real one)
As was previously announced on the GLOR page, the INER will continue its operational agreement with the Indiana Rail Experience and with the Little River Railroad, both of whom operate over the INER lines. The agreement may actually expand the operational envelope of both groups, but exact details of what will happen are still to be determined.
Re: Indiana and Northeastern Railway (not the real one)
The Indiana Northeastern Railway has gained their first new (returning) customer on the rebuilt line between between Sturgis and Coldwater. King Farms, a grain elevator in Burr Oak, used to be a rail user for the Michigan Southern. Due to a rate hike with NS, they stopped using rail service in the late 1990's or early 2000's. They didn't have issues dealing with Conrail before the Conrail Split, but when NS took over they drastically increased rates, forcing King to trucks.
Now that the line has been reestablished and the GLOR has multiple outlets other than just NS, King Farms is looking at again getting rail service.
Currently there is no siding at King Farms, so a new siding will need to be installed. King currently doesn't have the capacity to operate unit trains, so it is likely traffic would be carload traffic only for the time being, although King may consider expanding their facility in the future.
In addition, a couple other companies in Sturgis have been in discussions with the GLOR/INER about rail service to their facility.
Now that the line has been reestablished and the GLOR has multiple outlets other than just NS, King Farms is looking at again getting rail service.
Currently there is no siding at King Farms, so a new siding will need to be installed. King currently doesn't have the capacity to operate unit trains, so it is likely traffic would be carload traffic only for the time being, although King may consider expanding their facility in the future.
In addition, a couple other companies in Sturgis have been in discussions with the GLOR/INER about rail service to their facility.
Re: Indiana and Northeastern Railway (not the real one)
The GLOR's INER division, soon to be the Indiana and Northeastern Railway, added a new customer in Coldwater recently. Avra Warehousing, a warehousing and logistics company recently received 4 boxcars at their facility near Jat St in Coldwater. It is hoped that there will be more carloads coming in the future, as these were reportedly test loads brought into the facility. The opening the of Sturgis to Coldwater line may provide additional available access for shippers wishing to use Avra as a transloading partner.
Re: Indiana and Northeastern Railway (not the real one)
The INER has been steady recently with grain trains continuing to run on the southern end of the line. The first trains regularly running from White Pigeon to Coldwater have begun. WP-2, which was previously the White Pigeon to Sturgis train, is now running mutiple times per week as far east as West Coldwater Yard. They are averaging 10-15 cars per week each direction. Many of the cars from the east end are going north out of White Pigeon, either to connections with CN or CSX, or are staying online with the GLOR system. One of the resulting changes from this has been a decrease in frequency of INER trains utilizing trackage rights from Montpieler to Milan. The only trains making this run in the last couple months have been grain trains to CSX, CN or to GLOR destinations on the Lake Erie Division.
There have been no changes to the locomotive roster, and no significant customer changes. King Farms has received permits to build the required siding for their facility, so that construction will begin in the spring and will likely conclude by late summer, in time for the grain season in the fall.
The Sturgis Metal facility is still continuing to scrap railroad cars, averaging roughly 10 per week. Many of these cars are being stored either on the GLOR tracks and are being interchanged to the INER in White Pigeon. There will also be a significant number of cars going into pre-scrapping storage along the Litchfield Branch. Sturgis Metal is now estimating they have contracts for roughly 250 cars, which are being stored or will be stored, as they are averaging only about 10 cars per week scrapping volume. They are also looking at another contract which would drastically increase this car count to be scrapped. The downturn in several industries has lead to a glur of certain car types in the market, and as such older cars are being scrapped.
There have been no changes to the locomotive roster, and no significant customer changes. King Farms has received permits to build the required siding for their facility, so that construction will begin in the spring and will likely conclude by late summer, in time for the grain season in the fall.
The Sturgis Metal facility is still continuing to scrap railroad cars, averaging roughly 10 per week. Many of these cars are being stored either on the GLOR tracks and are being interchanged to the INER in White Pigeon. There will also be a significant number of cars going into pre-scrapping storage along the Litchfield Branch. Sturgis Metal is now estimating they have contracts for roughly 250 cars, which are being stored or will be stored, as they are averaging only about 10 cars per week scrapping volume. They are also looking at another contract which would drastically increase this car count to be scrapped. The downturn in several industries has lead to a glur of certain car types in the market, and as such older cars are being scrapped.