FWIW?? This is worth a LOT!cdressel wrote:FWIW, The GM plant was a war-built facility, beginning manufacturing in 1941/42. GM planned regular visits by a company photographer to record the construction and these photo albums were still in the facility as of 1990. Photos and employee memories record a steam locomotive placed beside the location where the plant's boilers were being installed to act as a stationary boiler and provide steam for building heat and manufacturing processes. In other words, the need was so great that manufacturing was started long before the building was complete.
The tracks were used for a variety of purposes, but normally not related directly to manufacturing; i.e., shipping a finished product. Salt was brought in by rail cars for the boiler water softeners, as well as Bunker 'C' oil for the boiler fuel. (Note: The boilers were dual-fuel - natural gas and Bunker 'C' oil.) The single track through the plant allowed tank cars to supply the tank farm on the east side of the plant. This tank farm supplied lubricating, cutting and machining oils to the manufacturing processes. The scrap metal processing facility was also on the east side of the main plant building and metal machining chips were removed by gondola.
The in-plant track was four feet below floor level and was crossed by two elevated bridges, which had to be lowered to allow the rail traffic to pass, powered by a Trackmobile. A constant curse was that one of the elevators were hit at least once a year when the Trackmobile was unable to stop quickly enough and struck the elevator and it had to be disassembled and its jack screws replaced.
In the late-70's, the east side single track was extended and converted to a double track. Six box cars were purchased from the C&O (Plymouth Yard) at scrap prices. These cars were used for tooling and small parts storage and were transferred in and out of the plant by Trackmobile.
Well, Diesel Equipment prided itself on being the smallest GMC Division. Then in the 1980s, built a second plant in Coopersville, MI to produce, first the Oldmobile Diesel fuel injection pump, then gasoline fuel injectors. Then came the cutbacks and Diesel Equipment was merged with Rochester Products. Then Rochester Products was merged with AC Spark Plug at the same time that Penske Diesel purchased part of the manufacturing facility and operated it as a separate company, within the same building. The Coopersville plant was closed and the equipment brought back into the Wyoming facility. Then the umbrella of Delphi Corp. took over most of the GMC component plants and employees had to decide which company to retire from, etc., etc. At that time, I left GM and went to work for Teledyne/General Dynamics in Muskegon, MI.
It's sad to think was the facility was, and what it is now. Oh well, life goes on . . . .
Chuck
Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge of this building and operation. Without people like you sharing this kind of info, a lot of interesting history will be lost.