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Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 5:34 pm
by 1TrackMind
NS3322 wrote:Is MANN+HUMMEL off of Sprinkle Rd. an active customer?
nope

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 8:50 am
by Ben Higdon
NS3322 wrote:Is MANN+HUMMEL off of Sprinkle Rd. an active customer?
That spur was put in under NS for Mueller Plastics, but Mueller closed up right about that time and I don't think they ever received a carload.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 11:29 am
by GAP
I've heard from two sources that there is now a red trackmobile at the new stone operation being built east of Botsford (oops, Gearhart yard) in Kalamazoo. Things are progressing, albeit not as fast as us railfans would like. I wonder when the first stone train will actually arrive.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 4:30 pm
by 12Bridge
Amtrak has been leaving their shuttlewagon there that they are using for ballasting/work train.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 7:09 am
by NSSD70ACe
12Bridge wrote:Amtrak has been leaving their shuttlewagon there that they are using for ballasting/work train.
Amtrak’s stuff is usually neon yellow, not red. It could be a rental for Amtrak.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 8:35 am
by Ben Higdon
The one I've seen in Ypsilanti was red and did not have Amtrak's name on it.
Does Amtrak handle track maintenance of the state owned track?

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 10:21 am
by Saturnalia
Ben Higdon wrote:The one I've seen in Ypsilanti was red and did not have Amtrak's name on it.
Does Amtrak handle track maintenance of the state owned track?
Yes. MDOT owns the railroad but by contract Amtrak maintains and dispatches it while NS retains the freight franchise. All MDOT does is own it.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 9:25 pm
by Super Chief
Met the new general manager Chadd today. NS 3067 was at Gearhart yard today a GP40-2 which had 6 days left on its Elk lease so it will be going back to Elkhart. 303 was on the GR&I main at Mosel with 4209 & 4189. 105 was at the old stone pit along Walbridge near Patterson with 2204 & 3534 training new trainmasters and conductors. Amtrak ballast cars on east end of Gearhart. The first stone train should be coming real soon per my source.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 11:46 am
by NSSD70ACe
Super Chief wrote:Met the new general manager Chadd today. NS 3067 was at Gearhart yard today a GP40-2 which had 6 days left on its Elk lease so it will be going back to Elkhart. 303 was on the GR&I main at Mosel with 4209 & 4189. 105 was at the old stone pit along Walbridge near Patterson with 2204 & 3534 training new trainmasters and conductors. Amtrak ballast cars on east end of Gearhart. The first stone train should be coming real soon per my source.
Amtrak ballast cars (6-7 of them) appear to be on the stone yard lead now with a large piece of MOW equipment behind them.

Saw the trackmobile today. Definitely not Amtrak’s.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 2:27 pm
by 12Bridge
The red one sitting under the billboard by the stone company?

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 4:10 pm
by Super Chief
There were 2 red trackmobiles at the grain terminal in Lawton last summer. A big and a smaller one, could this one be one of theirs?

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 4:20 pm
by Super Chief
I meant Decatur had the 2 trackmobiles.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2019 5:13 am
by bctrainfan
NSSD70ACe wrote:
Super Chief wrote:Met the new general manager Chadd today. NS 3067 was at Gearhart yard today a GP40-2 which had 6 days left on its Elk lease so it will be going back to Elkhart. 303 was on the GR&I main at Mosel with 4209 & 4189. 105 was at the old stone pit along Walbridge near Patterson with 2204 & 3534 training new trainmasters and conductors. Amtrak ballast cars on east end of Gearhart. The first stone train should be coming real soon per my source.
Amtrak ballast cars (6-7 of them) appear to be on the stone yard lead now with a large piece of MOW equipment behind them.

Saw the trackmobile today. Definitely not Amtrak’s.
I have previously seen a red Shuttlewagon used by Amtrak MOW crews with ballast cars around Hinman Yard in Battle Creek a couple of times, assume Amtrak leases it for that purpose.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 5:49 pm
by Super Chief
Went to Gearhart today, almost empty of cars. Are shipments on the Jackson turn going another direction? Just looked too empty. Both road trains up from Elkhart were half their usual length.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 6:31 pm
by Super Chief
First stone train due into Gearhart yard tomorrow. Just a heads up.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 7:14 pm
by 12Bridge
When I was by today the conveyors were not even done yet.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 7:28 pm
by NSSD70ACe
Super Chief wrote:First stone train due into Gearhart yard tomorrow. Just a heads up.
Any ideas what time?

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2019 8:43 pm
by Super Chief
Meeting today between the 2 RRs, working out operations. Stay tuned can't pin down actual time yet.

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:54 am
by Saturnalia
Super Chief wrote:Went to Gearhart today, almost empty of cars. Are shipments on the Jackson turn going another direction? Just looked too empty. Both road trains up from Elkhart were half their usual length.
For what it is worth, NS' new "clean-sheet" transportation plan for everything but intermodal rolls out at the beginning of July. It is entirely possible that traffic patterns with respect to overhead traffic on the GDLK could change in the near future, if they haven't already. NS has noted that in a few places they have gone ahead and modified the schedules already where it made sense to do so, but the "light switch" cutover is expected around the 4th of July holiday.

And on that note, I hope NS crossed their Ts and dotted their Is. From the UP-SP merger, to the CR breakup, to CSX's PSR conversion, rapidly changing operating plans has a very rocky history. Good luck, Norfolk!

Re: GDLK Operations

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 6:29 am
by Super Chief
According to one source the entire Cleveland pool is being eliminated out of Elkhart in the near future or has already. The reason Gearhart seemed empty is I saw no coil cars, so did the JAIL traffic just disappear or was it rerouted east? So has NS eliminated WBs on the Michigan line to the Elk? I've seen no coil cars on any Elk train in a week now.