RailRoadFan.com

When did the Plant along 496 stop receiving and shipping by rail? Looks like all the tracks were paved over or ripped up. Also why did that happen?

I don't know when Oldsmobile/Lansing Car Assembly Plant 1 stopped getting rail service, but except for the old engineering and administration buildings, all of that has been torn down. The current "Lansing Grand River" plant was designed to be truck only and never has had rail service.

I'd imagine when LCA (Lansing Car Assembly) shut down in 2005. LGR (Lansing Grand River) is mostly built to the east of the former plant, though, they've expanded onto part of the old LCA footprint.

Many years ago box cars were used as warehouses and a lot of interplant switching was done. Of course it's much different now. Intermodal and warehouses prevail and very little box car traffic remains.

The plant along I-496 began auto production in 1901 when Lansing native RE Olds moved his factory from Detroit to Lansing. The east end was razed to make room for what is now the current Cadillac production factory in 1999 with production beginning in 2001 and it never used rail service, at least on the CR side. The GTW had one box car track and loaded finished autos under Logan/MLK. The west end of the plant closed in 2005 and demolition commenced in spring of 2006 and was mostly completed when GM filed for bankruptcy on 6/11/09. Much of the scrap metal from the Fisher Body plant went out by rail but very little of the Main plant did even though both were being razed by the same outfit.
During its heyday, the NYC/PC/CR had a job on each trick dedicated to switching just the Main Plant and each job would bring in about 25 cars, with a ratio of about 80/20 per cent loads and mtys.
It is the oldest continuously operating auto factory in the world.

So the factory I passed on the freeway is it closed or operating. Also why did it not use more rail service?

The factory you passed is in operation making Cadillacs. By the time it was built satellite plants in the area were making parts so trucks are used for delivery. Finished Cadillacs are trucked to the GM Delta plant alongside I-69 west of its junction with I-96 for loading on tri-levels along with the SUVs made at the Delta plant.

In addition to the Cadillac CTS and ATS, the Lansing Grand River plant also builds the current generation Chevy Camaro, which uses a modified ATS platform.

Tim wrote:The factory you passed is in operation making Cadillacs. By the time it was built satellite plants in the area were making parts so trucks are used for delivery. Finished Cadillacs are trucked to the GM Delta plant alongside I-69 west of its junction with I-96 for loading on tri-levels along with the SUVs made at the Delta plant.

This seems weird that Cadillacs still go out by rail, but not from LGR. It makes sense that parts are trucked into LGR to finish the assmebly, but if the product is finished at LGR, anyway, and it's on the same line as Cory Yard, why not just ship the finished product out directly from LGR? It's not as if they don't have the staging area since the finished cars sit out where the LCA used to be, anyway. Unless I'm understanding this wrong, it actually seems more inefficient to ship them to Cory Yard by truck.

Probably a volume/mix issue. Why set up two loading facilities that are both underutilized when one could handle the needs of both? Not sure what the Delta plant assembles, but I'd guess it's a higher volume vehicle than the Cadillacs that the plant in question runs.

MiddleMI wrote:

Tim wrote:The factory you passed is in operation making Cadillacs. By the time it was built satellite plants in the area were making parts so trucks are used for delivery. Finished Cadillacs are trucked to the GM Delta plant alongside I-69 west of its junction with I-96 for loading on tri-levels along with the SUVs made at the Delta plant.

This seems weird that Cadillacs still go out by rail, but not from LGR. It makes sense that parts are trucked into LGR to finish the assmebly, but if the product is finished at LGR, anyway, and it's on the same line as Cory Yard, why not just ship the finished product out directly from LGR? It's not as if they don't have the staging area since the finished cars sit out where the LCA used to be, anyway. Unless I'm understanding this wrong, it actually seems more inefficient to ship them to Cory Yard by truck.

The logistics of having one loading ramp make sense. Look at the mixing center in New Boston on CSX. Vehicles built all over the state are trucked in and loaded on trains there.

Between the factory and the river, there is a limited amount of ROW by the Grand River assembly plant. Back when they loaded cars under the MLK bridge GTW had to shuffle autorack back and forth from snow yard all day long. Great for railfans, but not for logistics.

Out at the Delta plant, and adjacent Cory yard, CN has tons of room to store racks.