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Does anybody know why Amway's yard in Ada is so large? Seems like their occasional cars don't do the yard justice. Also does the GRE do all unloading spotting or do they have some sort of trackmobile to shuffle cars around?

Amway used to get a lot more by rail. It wasn’t uncommon for the GTW, CMGN and GRE to take a dozen cars in and out of there at a time. They have their own Trackmobile to shuffle things around.

90 car yard complete with a scale and the trackmobile. NS would send them a scale car occasionally. I haven't seen one for a while. Amway used to make a lot of their product at the plant. Mostly inbound covered hoppers of a soap ingredient. They don't make much if anything there anymore. The yard was empty in the most recent AccessKent aerial photos, Previous years only had about a dozen cars. They do get a few tank cars of something used to make toothpaste. The cars go in the building next to Fulton west of the crossing.

2019 maps shows about a dozen cars in the yard. A mix of hoppers and tanks. I know a couple of years ago they were getting a few hoppers via GDLK to GRE.

By the time CMGN started servicing them in the late 80's they were shipping around 500 cars a year according to a newspaper article I recall reading.

But like you said that yard could handle a lot more cars.

Anyone have a guess how many cars they receive now?

I would say around 5-10 cars a week.

When the Freedom Train was in that yard back in the 70's I bet there was 30-40 cars sitting in the various tracks out there. They used to ship a lot by rail back them.

I don't believe Amway ever shipped anything out by rail. Quite a few intermodal trailers roll in and out although I don't know how the volume compares to the past.

Seems I recall couple years back Grand Elk had a scale test car going back to Elkhart on road train. How many scales are on the Elk that need testing 1 track?

Super Chief wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 19, 2021 5:00 pm

Seems I recall couple years back Grand Elk had a scale test car going back to Elkhart on road train. How many scales are on the Elk that need testing 1 track?

Non it was going to the GRE

I worked in Facilities at Amway in the late '80s/'90s and actually did some railyard work there. We rebuilt the track scale approaches, modified other track, and installed safety systems for guys on top of railcars. Amway got a lot of material by rail: liquids in tank cars, plastic pellets in covered hoppers, rolls of paper, corrugated, etc. They owned a couple trackmobiles and also stored a lot of covered hoppers in the yard for whoever owned them. The GTW scale car made it in there a few times.

They do currently have an ad on Indeed for a first shift Switcher / Rail operator