Here is some MIGN stuff from another board, where it will eventually fall off and be lost, that I am transferring here so it can be stored in the archives for future reference.
Posted by Alex Huff on 12/3/2013, 1:43 pm, in reply to "MIGN paint scheme"
63.230.150.117
Green & white was selected by a majority of the initial investors, a decision which I accepted but personally preferred red/black/white. See images of Dakota Southern Rwy, which my brother and I founded later. The initial shade of green was picked by shareholder and staff attorney Dennis Ashworth's brother. The "apple green" shade wasn't too favorably received and when the ex-CofG 153 was painted that way it wasn't very attractive. The same paint was used to replace the red on the third locomotive MIGN purchased, a GB&W RS2. The gold lettering with black border came from the GB&W's in house painter. To my mind, it was an attractive paint scheme, albeit the most expensive one MIGN ever had. I take credit for the cheapest, the $75 spent on ex-SOU 2037. A Cadillac sign painter changed two letters in Southern and painted MICHIGAN in the same font above it. Later, the darker green was used, more in line with what was thought about in the beginning. The GP7s to my knowledge were painted under the direction of Herb Strieby, the CMO, and there was variation in what was painted white. The MIGN logo was designed by the wife of Jerry Zimmerman, MIGN's marketing department.
Posted by Alex Huff on 12/3/2013, 3:02 pm, in reply to "Re: MIGN management"
63.230.150.117
It sounds like a cliche, but is none the less true, the best thing about the company was that we had some dedicated employees that kept things held together. From a personal standpoint, I was perhaps the strongest advocate for the decision to decline to take an Ex Parte freight rate increase, known as the Michigan Northern flag-out. That was a group decision, but some were opposed, Jerry Zimmerman, in particular. Beth Andrus was ambivalent. In a one on one meeting with the key staffer at MDOT, I held the line on operating all or none of the GR&I. The first offer was Cadillac to Kalkaska and the Traverse City branch. (Governor Milligan was from TC) In hindsight, the company's management/ownership was weak. Part of it I credit for our age, I was thirty-one at the beginning, Beth was a year younger, a graduate student at MSU working on her PhD. Her husband was a few years older, a small time farmer who didn't finish at MSU. His older brother, Tom, helped us with the drafting of the pro-formas. He was a CPA working for a redi-mix company in Lansing. Dennis Ashworth, a solo practice attorney, was married to Beth's best friend in college, Kathy. I had the most railroad experience, having worked for the Cadillac & Lake City in its last days as a dining car waiter/steward and then worked for the TP-MPTofNO, the switching carrier in New Orleans for the Missouri Pacific. It was my sole experience with Class I railroading, working as a switchman, engine foreman and senior extra board yardmaster. In some respects, the yardmaster's job was the toughest I ever worked, constantly making decisions on the fly and making sure nobody bumped into somebody else. Mark Campbell, another almost graduate of MSU, was the sparkplug that led the group,and was the first president of the company. He got a brief write-up in People magazine for becoming a railroad president at age 30. Mark had worked a couple of summers as a sectionman for the GTW and was foreman of the section on the C&LC where I was the third man. Jerry Wilson, Beth's to-be-husband, and how she got connected to the railroad, was supposed to be the money. He had an inheritance as I recall, but balked when it was time to put the money down. There was a mad scramble to find the necessary money. My brother and I put all we had (not much) and an aunt loaned $12,500 as did my mother. Jerry had an aunt who loaned $5,000. Sam Freeman, who was much older and much, much richer, became the company's sole preferred shareholder, putting in $25,000 as a result of a phone call from Mark Campbell. Beth was incensed when I told the group that I wanted 60% of the common stock in exchange for my family putting in most of the initial capital. Peter Drucker, the now-deceased management guru, who became famous for a book he wrote about the management of General Motors, also wrote that the people who start companies are not usually the ones who can do the best job of managing it. That was the case I think for Michigan Northern. Beth was able to get me out the company but later hubris came around and bit her in the butt, leaving her in a vulnerable position. After the cancellation of through rates by the annoyed Class I's after deregulation in 1980, the company gradually declined. With the company $2 million in the red and insurance canceled, Beth and her husband turned over their majority ownership to the owner of my brother's and my minority ownership, Bob Redman. Tom Wilson, who received an allocation of $500 in common stock for his work on the financial side of the company before we started up, is the only shareholder with original shares. The company has been defunct for many years.
Posted by Alex Huff on 12/4/2013, 3:11 pm, in reply to "Re: MIGN management"
63.230.150.117
Original shareholders were Beth Andrus, Dennis Ashworth, Mark Campbell, Jerry Wilson, Tom Wilson and myself plus Sam Freeman as the sole
preferred shareholder. I later split my shares, giving up majority control, selling some to Dennis Ashworth and some to Jerry Zimmerman on an easy-payment plan. Beth fired both Dennis and myself before the original shareholders ever signed a mandatory buy back by the company. Mandatory buy backs or first option to buy are fairly common among shareholders in closely held corporations. As an example, the senior officers who originally staffed the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern were required to purchase some shares in the company. When they left, the company exercised its right to buy the shares back. Only one, the head of marketing, stayed with the company until it was sold to the CP. He benefited from the run-up in the stock valuation. Back to MIGN, I sold some single shares to Brian Osmer and Greg's older brother, John Bunce. Beth wasn't pleased when I sold these shares but couldn't prevent the transfer on the books and the issuance of the certificates. She really got unhappy when she found out the underlying reason those shares were issued. Board members were required to have some share ownership. At an annual meeting of shareholders, Beth presented a list of nominees, the current board. I presented a different list which seemed like a fool's errand, as I didn't own a majority. However, I presented a copy of the purchase agreement between Jerry Zimmerman and myself to Jerry and reminded him that as long as he had not paid for the shares, I was entitled to demand he vote for the slate of my choosing. With Jerry's shares, I did have a majority. Talk about ---- hitting the fan. Beth called a recess and tracked down an attorney in Detroit, Dennis Nystrom, who had been involved in the flag-out issue before the ICC. Beth told Jerry that Nystrom told her to tell Jerry not to vote the shares as I demanded. He did as Beth instructed, I filed suit for breach of contract, etc. In a hearing, the judge handling the suit ruled that the demand was valid. Beth wrote letters to Nystrom (which I read in the files) asking for a letter from Nystrom's firm, putting his instructions in writing (and putting his firm at risk of having to use their errors and ommissions insurance to settle with me) which he never did. I was back on the board, at Nystrom's request, and would politely ask Beth at the monthly board meeting whether she had a letter from Nystrom yet. She was by then joined at the hip with Zimmerman and when I turned up the interesting fact that he was buying an Oldsmobile Tornado and charging it off on his expense account the pet board took a fairly benign view of it until I mentioned I had taken this information to the State Attorney General's office. At that point, there was a change of heart by the board as they discovered they had a new sense of financial probity. I stepped out of the meeting while they chewed Jerry's butt and he agreed to turn title to the car over to the company. I withdrew my suit as part of the sale of my ownership in the company to Bob Redman.
As to Mark Campbell, he was forced out, in which I to my regret had a hand.
As an aside, Brian Osmer framed his share of stock and hung it over his toilet. He could look at it whenever he took a piss.
Posted by Alex Huff on 12/5/2013, 1:31 pm, in reply to "Re: MIGN management"
63.230.150.117
Short answer- No, in my opinion.
The primary reason for taking the flagout in the first place was to meet the state DOT concerns that the line was so low density. I was told by the head of the rail section at the time that if we didn't increase traffic, the state would discontinue its lease of portions of the GR&I/PRR. Exactly what would be cut wasn't specified.
The Chief Wawatam was certainly a money loser. We looked at conversion to burning wood chips but fuel density was a problem. We were before our time on that one, pelletized wood chips with nearly the BTU the same as coal on a volume basis are now shipped from the US to Germany for boiler fuel. The DOT was stuck with a tug-barge combination, built in Octonagon as I recall, as a replacement for the Annie's boats. The cancellation of through routes after deregulation killed the Annie's overhead business too. By the time that white elephant was available, MIGN was in no position to acquire it as the traffic had dried up except for some lumber moving to Cadillac where the cars were unloaded and re-mixed per shipper's requirements for movement under a new bill of lading.
Two other possible rail moves via the Chief which were considered was steel from Algoma Steel and pulpwood. Due to weight restrictions at the time on the railroad bridge at Sault Ste. Marie, the decision was made to truck the steel to Pellston and reload it there. Pulpwood from the UP to lower Michigan mills was also looked at. At the end, I had no involvement with MIGN so there may have been other possibilities of which I am not aware.
The Chief survived in part because it was the last direct rail link between upper and lower Michigan. There was political support for it in the UP. Penn Central had filed for abandonment of the route, but in the days of ICC regulation, they were unsuccessful. Fortune magazine used the Chief as an example of the damage the government regulation was doing to the industry.
Ironically, very late in the day before we started, it was suggested to us by the head of the rail section that we would better off taking a look at what became TSBY. In hindsight, he was right.
Posted by Paul Larsen on 12/3/2013, 4:11 pm, in reply to "Re: MIGN management"
138.23.162.138
I found this online from the NY Times in 1981 about Beth Andrus being 1 of only 3 women running a railroad at the time. One woudl think that things were going gangbusters on the railroad from the article but we all know how it ends. Interesting that the MIGN was pushed for by a bunch of railroad club members at MSU!
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/21/busin ... ntist.html
Paul
Posted by Alex Huff on 12/6/2013, 12:43 pm, in reply to "Re: What IF for Northern Michigan"
63.230.150.117
With the boost in traffic at the straits due to the flagout and consequent increase in state subsidy for the Chief's operator, the D&M, it was discussed whether it would be feasible to truck rail cars via the bridge. At a monthly public meeting of the state's transportation commission, Beth pointed out that there was an already existing problem with the bridge, overweight trucks were causing the primary suspension cables to pull loose within the massive concrete blocks that anchored them at the ends of the bridge. I was there and was amused to watch the head of MDOT try to minimize the issue. Some board members, who had not been informed privately, were pretty unhappy about being treated like mushrooms. I assume that DOT still has not installed scales at the toll booths at St. Ignace to check truck weights. Those of you who are in the area can speak about current speed and spacing restrictions for trucks on the bridge.
Rather than a bridge, I think a tunnel would be more elegant solution. Use the downhill to build momenteum to run the uphill. I offer no comment on the cost!
Posted by D.M. Mitzel on 12/8/2013, 6:32 pm, in reply to "Re: What IF for Northern Michigan"
97.77.100.67
I found the old email message - enjoy:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kim Nowack
Date: Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 11:56 AM
Subject: Mackinac Bridge web question
To: dan.mitzel
Dear Mr. Mitzel, Recently, you sent the following question to the Mackinac Bridge web site:
"I am performing some historical research on the Straits crossing. Were the early plans to include a railroad crossing on the lower level of the span ever saved for historical purposes? Thank you. R, Dan Mitzel, Oxford, MI mailto:
dan.mitzel@gmail.com "
The "Report on a Proposed Crossing for the Straits of Mackinac" dated 1940 had the following comment about adding rail to the bridge: " A combined railway and highway bridge is not recommended as the topographic and geologic conditions require the construction of long span suspension bridges. Suspension bridges, on account of their flexibility, would require special operating equipment with restricted loads in order to negotiate the heavy grades. The long spans designed to carry the railway loadings, even though restricted, would require an additional investment in the crossing far in excess of any amount that could be amortized by reasonable rental charges." (this comment refers to bridges in the plural because it recommended 2 suspension bridges be used to span the straits.)
The "Report on Proposed Mackinac Straits Bridge" dated 1951 investigated the feasibility of adding a rail line to the bridge. They estimated that the "additional cost for provision of a single-track railway on this bridge is $60,000,000...." This option was never carried forward.
There were no drawings showing rail tracks on the bridge in either report. There may be conceptual drawings of the rail track option somewhere, but I don't believe these were developed further.
I would be happy to answer any other questions you may have and thank you for your interest in the Mackinac Bridge,
Kim
Ms. Kim Nowack, P.E.
Chief Engineer, Mackinac Bridge Authority
Posted by Alex Huff on 12/13/2013, 2:38 pm, in reply to "Re: MIGN flagout question"
63.230.150.117
MIGN inherited the rates and routes of the PRR. PRR routes via the Mackinaw gateway to destination stations on PRR were PRR direct. PRR also protected the longest haul it could get as a general rule when the destination station was not on PRR. In the days of ICC regulation, aka legalized cartels, rates and routing were a very arcane part of the business. MIGN hired a woman from the GTW who was a clerk specializing in rates and routes. Her seniority district as I recall was most of two floors and part of a third in the GTW HQ.
The AA came late to the flagout party after MIGN led the way. The AA interchanged some Canadian fertilizer traffic at Cadillac to MIGN. The shippers got a double discount on this business as two different Ex Parte rate increases were flagged.
As an aside, I learned years later that MIGN's and others' flag outs lowered rates on traffic that MIGN never handled. It was fairly common for rail tariff routes to have a caveat - "lowest through rate applies". At a conference I met a guy who back in the day worked for a large canned goods company. His time was spent correcting freight bills on carloads of canned foods originating west of Chicago, citing the "lowest through rate applies" and the MIGN flagout. PRR had a lot of clout back in the day. It was a legal (not logical) route to ship canned goods from Southern California to Florida via Mackinaw City as an example. After the MIGN flag out, canned goods moved SP-New Orleans-L&N-Jacksonville-FEC took the reduced rate. Its no wonder the industry thought MIGN was a pain in the ---.
PatC created a monster, 'cause nobody wants to see Don Simon no more they want AARR I'm chopped liver, well if you want AARR this is what I'll give ya, bad humor mixed with irrelevant info that'll make you roll your eyes quicker than a ~Z~ banhammer...
