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WILX TV 10 out of Lansing is reporting tonight that the OI Glass Plant in Charlotte with close by May 1. 150 jobs will be lost from a plant that has operated for years. Many loads of sand and materials come off the CN local every day or so. This is a major blow to the local economy and to the railroad.

Shortly afterward Ch 6 TV out of Lansing had the same sad story.

Ch 6 added this information, "A company spokesman said the plant was the most costly to operate in North America. Glass food container work would be moved out to plants that could do it cheaper."

I never rail-fanned this plant and have never heard much about it. Yet, my understanding is they receive quite a few cars here. Any one able to share more info on it?

The local switching the plant arrives many times around 9:00 AM or so but is often at irregular times too. When CN went to single track, in this secion, they kept the old west bound main between Parckard Hwy and Cochran as a long siding. The spur into OI comes off this siding just east of Cochran Ave. crossing. Switching requires the movement of cars to block the street crossing at Cochran at times. If you are lucky you can also see them drop storage cars for CHS at the same time. The connection is on the other side of the Cochran crossing.

OI is the last rail customer in Charlotte. When the plant closes trains will not do much stopping in Charlotte. It truly will be an end of an era in many ways. The OI plant opened in 1963 and has been a big rail user for years. Sad times in more ways than one.

http://railroadfan.com/gallery/displayi ... pos=-58586 CN local at Cochran Ave. 9-09
http://railroadfan.com/gallery/displayi ... pos=-58587 crewman of local at swtich on Cochran Ave. 9-09

I enjoyed the pictures, Larry.

AARR wrote:I enjoyed the pictures, Larry.

Glad you liked them....I will try to document some of the final switching of the plant over the next few weeks.
The town is in a state of shock today over the news!!!

Larry G wrote:

AARR wrote:I enjoyed the pictures, Larry.

Glad you liked them....I will try to document some of the final switching of the plant over the next few weeks.
The town is in a state of shock today over the news!!!

Looking forward to it Larry. Especially anything you post about switching the plant.

Read about this in the LSJ yesterday. Still cant quite believe it but its the reality of modern industry.

Read about this in the LSJ yesterday.

FOR THOSE OF YOU NOT IN THE KNOW...
LSJ IS THE STATE URINAL.

PAT.C wrote:Read about this in the LSJ yesterday.

FOR THOSE OF YOU NOT IN THE KNOW...
LSJ IS THE STATE URINAL.

PAT, Your the man. LoL.

I wouldn't be surprised that they (OI) also had extra capacity in their glass food container segment. Usage of glass in that market is pretty well dwindled away to nothing (take a look at stuff the next time at a supermarket) Things that were traditionally in glass bottles or jars have almost all been switched to plastic containers. Which in some respects is too bad considering that glass can be recycled an infinite number of times (unlike plastic) but apparently there's up front cost savings in plastics (plus reduced losses due to breakage) that can't be ignored.

For many years, Cherry Growers in Traverse City shipped glass bottles of juice by rail to a military base. Recently, the base changed their spec to plastic bottles which CG could not accomodate and rail shipments stopped. It only amounted to a couple cars a week on average but the loss of traffic was enough to rail-bank the entire branch.

News from a reliable source is that OI glass plant will cease operations April 1 instead of May 1. If so, limited time left to view switching of plant and yard goat.

Does OI have their own locomotive or a trackmobile?

It is not a locomotive but somekind of hybrd in bright orange device...hard to see from a distance that shuffles the hoppers up and down the two unloading tracks inside the plant perimeter.

March 31, 2010...The final hoppers of sand, soda, and limestone have been unloaded in the underground bunkers at the OI plant and await pickup by CN. Production in the plant ends Th morning, April 1, with the furnace being shut down next week. Here are some views of the 3 tracks inside the plant grounds. Two tracks fed raw materials into the plant and at one time the other siding ran inside the plant for finished glass bottles. Currently the plant was using about 3.5 cars a day of raw materials brought in by CN. Now the empty hoppers await pick-up by the CN local and an era will come to an end. Shuttlewagon has moved its last hoppers at this plant.
Photos here...http://railroadfan.com/gallery/thumbnai ... album=1454

Great report and pictures Larry. Another sad conclusion for a MI mfg company served by rail.

Yes...as the campaign promised.."You'll be BLOWN away"...Gotta love this state and their thought process! Very sad story.

Larry G wrote:March 31, 2010...The final hoppers of sand, soda, and limestone have been unloaded in the underground bunkers at the OI plant and await pickup by CN. Production in the plant ends Th morning, April 1, with the furnace being shut down next week. Here are some views of the 3 tracks inside the plant grounds. Two tracks fed raw materials into the plant and at one time the other siding ran inside the plant for finished glass bottles. Currently the plant was using about 3.5 cars a day of raw materials brought in by CN. Now the empty hoppers await pick-up by the CN local and an era will come to an end. Shuttlewagon has moved its last hoppers at this plant.
Photos here...http://railroadfan.com/gallery/thumbnai ... album=1454

Hi all. This is my first post, so let me start by thanking all of you for the great information you post, I’ve learned a lot. I model the GTW in the early 90’s and am planning a layout that includes Charlotte.

Larry, thanks so much for posting the pictures of the O-I plant, they are incredibly helpful! I don’t know how long you’ve been railfanning in Charlotte, but I am looking for information on the O-I plant operations in the 90’s. Specifically, what types and road names of hoppers were common then? Have you ever seen any of the D&TS 2-bay hoppers delivering sand?

Any information anyone can provide is greatly appreciated!

GTW junkie wrote:Larry, thanks so much for posting the pictures of the O-I plant, they are incredibly helpful! I don’t know how long you’ve been railfanning in Charlotte, but I am looking for information on the O-I plant operations in the 90’s. Specifically, what types and road names of hoppers were common then? Have you ever seen any of the D&TS 2-bay hoppers delivering sand?

Any information anyone can provide is greatly appreciated!

Averaged 3-4 cars a day of mostly 2-bay ATSF covered hoppers with soda ash. I'm sure they received covered hoppers from other railroads and commodities (cullet, crushed limestone, silica).

I wouldn't think the D&TS 2-bays would be used in O-I service as they were captive to the sand plant in Rockwood but anything is possible.