RailRoadFan.com

Rickoff talking about shipments of USG rock from National City near Alabaster....unit trains perhaps? to where?

https://www.wphm.net/episode/november-7-john-rickoff/

I thought it was someone in the Detroit area but I may be misremembering

I heard connections with CN, CSX and NS (via CN).

Wonder how much track will have to be reinstalled. I know the Wye at Alabaster (think this is Alabaster Jct) is still in place but how much was actually left in west of there?

I did not listen to the report, but if the location (National City) is correct, I suspect this will be a transload from truck to railcar. National City does have a short siding, good for maybe 10 cars in National City, which does include a couple MOW cars and a loaded ballast hopper (according to Google Streetview from December 2023)

If this is the location, this would have to be carload traffic and would likely be coming from National Gypsum's mine in White Rock, not from Alabaster Jct.

As for the tracks around Alabaster Jct, the west leg of the wye appears to be intact, and I think used to have storage cars on it. The east leg appears connected at the mainline but its hard to tell if it is still in place or not.

Going south on the Alabaster Branch, the tracks are removed it appears to Port Gypsum, however they are cut at the Alabaster Rd crossing, US 23 and Turtle Rd crossings, per Google Streetview.

I honestly love how growth minded LSRC is, alot of railroads need to take notes. I honestly thought Alabaster was cooked after they ripped up the track during the summer of 2012. Plus I have heard rumors that LSRC wants to increase their speed on the Huron Sub from 10 mph to 25 mph. Seems like every summer for the past 4-5 years going up to Oscoda I see some MOW either working on the track or sitting in a siding on that track. LSRC seems to see a future with this line. Maybe Alabaster and National City is it.

The goal is to get the speed high enough on the Huron Sub for LSRC to be able to run a turn job from Bay City to Alpena and back with one crew.

Hasn't some of the state and federal money for track improvements been directed to that line?

Yes they are making progress

NoviRailfan wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 11, 2024 10:59 am

Hasn't some of the state and federal money for track improvements been directed to that line?

Wonder what the speed was on the old D&M?? ALSO-- what happens to the Alpena yard job, and/ or the old roundhouse in Alpena??

joeyuboats wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 11, 2024 2:27 pm

Wonder what the speed was on the old D&M?? ALSO-- what happens to the Alpena yard job, and/ or the old roundhouse in Alpena??

Alpena yard job isn't going anywhere. They will still keep a Geep up there to service the local industries, even after they implement a Bay City-Alpena turn.

Track speed on the D&M, even into the 80s, was still mostly 40.

Roundhouse is used by a local mill to transload panel board IIRC

joeyuboats wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 11, 2024 2:27 pm

Wor the old roundhouse in Alpena??

SD80MAC wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 11, 2024 2:30 pm

joeyuboats wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 11, 2024 2:27 pm

Track speed on the D&M, even into the 80s, was still mostly 40.

On the Alpena line? Ron Cady in his 1992 Trains article said it was mostly 10 MPH then. Are you sure it had been mostly 40 only 10 years previously?

Yes. When Cap Pinkerton Jr took over in the 70s, reinvestment into the physical plant stopped. By the late 80s, a decade of virtually no maintenance had taken its toll.