Michigan Rail Business news

Anything pertaining to railfanning in Michigan.
redside20
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by redside20 »

I was wondering if the Coopersville and Marne served the Continental Dairy Plant in Coopersville.

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-mich ... ssors.html
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Doktor No
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

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No they do not.
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AARR
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by AARR »

As Dok said they don't. There is a spur that goes into their building (at least it did) and a switchback to some storage tanks. As the story goes when GM was in the building they wanted the spurs left in place even though they didn't use them.
redside20 wrote:I was wondering if the Coopersville and Marne served the Continental Dairy Plant in Coopersville.

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-mich ... ssors.html
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redside20
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by redside20 »

Thanks to a booming ziploc bag business, SC Johnson is expanding their plant in Bay City Michigan.

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index ... iver_index
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AARR
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by AARR »

They are a good customer of LSRC. There are usually 10 or so plastic cars there at any given time.
redside20 wrote:Thanks to a booming ziploc bag business, SC Johnson is expanding their plant in Bay City Michigan.

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index ... iver_index
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David Lang
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

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http://www.autonews.com/article/2017042 ... in-detroit

Close to railroads based on location, but don't know if rail service will be used.

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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by AARR »

I'm not aware of any Flex-n-Gates that use direct rail service. They might use intermodal or transload yards, though.
David Lang wrote:http://www.autonews.com/article/2017042 ... in-detroit

Close to railroads based on location, but don't know if rail service will be used.

David Lang
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David Lang
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by David Lang »

Hi Don!

Well it is too bad the other Flex N Gate facilities don't have rail service - but I do understand with the way the automotive industry is today, now especially true for me now that I work for the auto industry.

Anyway...Maybe we can still hope - this new facility is on 30 acres and will be 600,000 square feet making many plastic components. Inbound covered hoppers of plastic pellets maybe! Time will tell.

David Lang

redside20
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by redside20 »

You can bet that CN will definately be getting in on this Metal recyling center coming to the belt....metal recycling pays bookoo bucks...

http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf ... iver_index
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atrainguy60
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by atrainguy60 »

Nevermined, old article, lol.
Last edited by atrainguy60 on Wed Apr 26, 2017 12:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Mike H
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by Mike H »

redside20 wrote:You can bet that CN will definately be getting in on this Metal recyling center coming to the belt....metal recycling pays bookoo bucks...

http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf ... iver_index
Buddy, someone gave you some bad information. Scrap metal is a low value commodity which means it cannot afford to travel very far unless there is a very favorable freight Delta or something like exchange rates make the economics work. Scrap metal is basically one step above stone from a railroad pricing perspective. Usually you can get a lot of volume from scrap metal, but the margins are very very small in most cases.

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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by AARR »

Even though CN is in the heart of steel industries it doesn't appear they handle as much scrap metal as CSX and NS. And perhaps because of what Mike H said is why.
Mike H wrote:
redside20 wrote:You can bet that CN will definately be getting in on this Metal recyling center coming to the belt....metal recycling pays bookoo bucks...

http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf ... iver_index
Buddy, someone gave you some bad information. Scrap metal is a low value commodity which means it cannot afford to travel very far unless there is a very favorable freight Delta or something like exchange rates make the economics work. Scrap metal is basically one step above stone from a railroad pricing perspective. Usually you can get a lot of volume from scrap metal, but the margins are very very small in most cases.

Mike H
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redside20
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by redside20 »

Look for boxcar traffic to pickup between Fort Wayne and Detroit. GM pickup truck production is moving back to the GM Oshawa plant near Toronto and NS will be bringing in boxcars of stampings to exchange either for CN or CP. The canadian road that gets the traffic will then forward them to Toronto.

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/the- ... 4413306802
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penn central
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by penn central »

Well i have bad news. Im inside the old Terry Materials asphalt storage facility in Alma. They got bought out in 2015 by Michigan Paving and Materials. And all there asphalt gets trucked in from the Marathon Refinery in Detroit now. This area has seen some bad news for a long time. This is gone now. Total Petroleum, Oxford Automotive, Alma Iron and Metal. Not good.

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Doktor No
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by Doktor No »

That could also be why MQT lost their asphalt business in Manistee then.
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by penn central »

Im in Stanwood at the Nestle Water plant that bottles Ice Mountain Water they have a plastic bottle plant on site. I spoke with a Northern Logistics driver they are bringing the plastic pellets from the transload in Clare off the GLC. He said this place has a tremendous appetite for plastic pellets. So more good news for the GLC. Nice.

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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

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Doktor No wrote:That could also be why MQT lost their asphalt business in Manistee then.

last 2 trains out of barr yard had asphalt car on them for mqt

rob

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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by AARR »

PolyPavilion (operated by Northern Logistics and serviced by GLC) in Clare receives a lot of cars. Around 1200-1300 annually last I heard.
penn central wrote:Im in Stanwood at the Nestle Water plant that bottles Ice Mountain Water they have a plastic bottle plant on site. I spoke with a Northern Logistics driver they are bringing the plastic pellets from the transload in Clare off the GLC. He said this place has a tremendous appetite for plastic pellets. So more good news for the GLC. Nice.
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redside20
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by redside20 »

Kroger will be locating a dry goods distribution center run by Penske located at 23090 23 Mile Road just east of Gratiot Avenue in Chesterfield Twp. According to googlemaps, there looks to be a spur running into this facility. Is the spur still there and does Kroger/Penske plan to utilize rail?

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20 ... d-township
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AARR
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Re: Michigan Rail Business news

Unread post by AARR »

This was last operated by Metro Aluminum. They had two tracks going into the plant and the one you can see outside. They received a lot of aluminum ingots in box cars. I think each track inside held 5 50's or 4 60's.

Kroger has already moved in and removed the two tracks going inside so this is kinda old news. Kroger is not expected to receive anything by rail.

I grew up not far from here when this same building was a Ford sewing plant. It was switched by a switch back and received daily service with 86' box cars. At that time one track went inside the plant and the other parallel to it but outside. I would often meet the crew at Chesterfield siding (removed about 10 years ago). They would let me up in the cab while they switched the Ford plant.
redside20 wrote:Kroger will be locating a dry goods distribution center run by Penske located at 23090 23 Mile Road just east of Gratiot Avenue in Chesterfield Twp. According to googlemaps, there looks to be a spur running into this facility. Is the spur still there and does Kroger/Penske plan to utilize rail?
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20 ... d-township
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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