Lincoln yard, Wixom

[hoborich]

I used to work at Lincoln yard back in the 70s and 80s. Haven't been downstate in a while. Was by the old Ford site back in the summer, and the Ford plant was gone and Menards was on the old Ford site. I knew that was coming. I was on my way somewhere else, so I didn't poke around the area. Is Lincoln yard still there? Is it used for anything now. We used to get poles for Edison there and there was another building materials company west of Wixom road that used to get a car now and then. We had a rip track used mostly for fixing the auto racks. What goes on there now, if anything?

[AARR]

Lincoln Yard is still there. Used for storage last time I checked. The transload place closed a few years ago. Haven't seen poles at DTE in a long time. The soap place on the north side gets steady business. Coe Rail/MAL is abandoned and removed. GM in the industrial park hasn't shipped by rail in years. The plastic plants on the south end don't ship by rail anymore either. The small building supply place hasn't received anything by rail in years.

[hoborich]

Thanks. We also used to get a tanker of some kind of syrup for the Owen and Mowrey jam plant in Milford now and then. We were pretty busy back in the day, with the Ford plant cranking out T Birds and Lincolns two shifts a day. We were loading 25 to 30 Tri levels of autos a day from six ramps. There was a four track ready yard behind the plant where we kept auto racks to fill the ramps. Ford was into the "just in time" inbound parts. Occasionally, we had to go to Plymouth to get a "hot car" that Ford just had to have.
I remember one day when the crew pulled out a bunch of empties, with a bridge plate still in place in a boxcar. Another time someone lowered the rollup door on a cut of cars the crew was pulling out. Good times.

[conrailmike]

Rails are pretty rust going across Wixom Rd. and it looks like they end not to long after that either. Nothing goes to Milford anymore, Iverson's Lumber sold their property to a condo developer awhile back and that was the only spur left in town, they have no rail service at the Highland location

[Doktor No]

We used to make setoffs with Q336 and massive pickups with Q337 back in the day. I worked those jobs in the mid 90's on a regular basis. Who was the old timer that wouldn't retire...always made coffee for everyone? Went on the Iron Highway for awhile too...in his 70's...
One setoff of racks we made right down into the plant thats how badly they wanted them...The most innovative move they made during my tenure was getting AIR on the outbound pickups so we could grab em and go. Pulling teeth to get that to happen and gee, just get an airhose and hook it to the yard engine would ya! Gimme and airslip and we're gone...is that too hard? Evidently it was...but they finally did it.
Salad days INDEED! All gone.