Michigan Southern Operations

Anything pertaining to railfanning in Michigan.
Super Chief
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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Commodity Concepts is on 131, they get the log cars and cottonseed cars.

Super Chief
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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Commodity Concepts is the log cars and cottenseed cars transload.

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NS3322
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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I was also wondering if someone could provide a brief summary of the history of the Michigan Southern. Which Class 1 sold the line? When did the Morris operations end? When did the last train go past Sturgis (east)?

Super Chief
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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Conrail was last class1 carrier. Gordy bought it from Sturgis to White Piegon at first as Mark Campbell and Kevin Mckinney who were partners with Gordy on the Wine Country Dinner train, tried to make a go of it from Sturgis to Coldwater. Gordy eventually got that too. Dates someone else will have to furnish. Inretrospect if Gordy hadn't made the Branch County Rail Users group mad he wouldn't have lost the Colwater traffic. He just couldn't justify Sturgis to Bronson as there were no customers. Also the Andersons put in the stone yard next to their grain storage which cut him out of that business on the Old Road.

jimnorthwood
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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John Uckley. Now there is a name blast from the past. I wonder what happened to him? The last time I saw him was in the living room of a mutual friend's house in Monroe in about 1993. John was getting ready to say goodbye to Michigan, and head to California. Nobody seems to have ever heard from or of him, again.

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Michael
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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jimnorthwood wrote:John Uckley. Now there is a name blast from the past. I wonder what happened to him? The last time I saw him was in the living room of a mutual friend's house in Monroe in about 1993. John was getting ready to say goodbye to Michigan, and head to California. Nobody seems to have ever heard from or of him, again.
Here's a possible lead. He may have moved to Adrian
https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/john-a ... 1896924635

Here is a newspaper article from 2014 that mentions him living in Adrian.
http://www.lenconnect.com/article/20140 ... /140629139

If it is him though I must say that is strange he lost contact with everyone.

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NS3322
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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Super Chief wrote:Conrail was last class1 carrier. Gordy bought it from Sturgis to White Piegon at first as Mark Campbell and Kevin Mckinney who were partners with Gordy on the Wine Country Dinner train, tried to make a go of it from Sturgis to Coldwater. Gordy eventually got that too. Dates someone else will have to furnish. Inretrospect if Gordy hadn't made the Branch County Rail Users group mad he wouldn't have lost the Colwater traffic. He just couldn't justify Sturgis to Bronson as there were no customers. Also the Andersons put in the stone yard next to their grain storage which cut him out of that business on the Old Road.
Thanks Super Chief for that info!

Now, there are currently three engine sheds in White Pigeon. Does Pioneer still use all three?

jimnorthwood
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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Thanks, Michael. My friend in Monroe totally lost track of John following that last encounter in his living room all those years ago. They were pretty close, too so we were both surprised by that. John was planning to leave for California the next morning, although a look at the vehicle he was driving made such a trip seem highly unlikely. I recall that John gave up on the hobby after he was kicked out of his favorite train watching spot, which was the parking lot of the former C&O depot in Monroe.

Super Chief
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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Pioneer uses 2 furthest east and west, the middle was for the tanker cleaning crew. Yes last I knew John was in Adrian. He wrote for a competitor of Trains mag. but I forgot which one? The tanker cleaning firm wss from South Bend.

Super Chief
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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Pioneer uses 2 furthest east and west, the middle was for the tanker cleaning crew. Yes last I knew John was in Adrian. He wrote for a competitor of Trains mag. but I forgot which one? The tanker cleaning firm wss from South Bend.

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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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John wrote for Rail Classics. I think that mag went under 20+ years ago.

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NS3322
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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Just wanted to share some other photos I took two weeks ago. I am sure these will be of interest to some.

The old Morris caboose has been placed at the end of the old quarry spur again in White Pigeon.
Image

I found ALAB 500006 next to the grain silos in White Pigeon.
Image

The White Pigeon depot looks fantastic! I almost expected a tourist train to show up.
Image

I also took some photos of the old misc. cars on the siding by Abbott Nutrition. I never understood why Pioneer collected the CN boxcars.
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AARR
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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I like your pictures :)
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...

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NS3322
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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It appears Atlantic Packaging no longer ships by rail...
Atlantic Packaging wrote:Thank you for contacting Atlantic! Our Sturgis facility does have an indoor rail siding that allows us to put 5 rail cars inside. We used to receive rolls by rail on occasion from the mills.

We have never shipped finished skids/rolls out by rail.

1TrackMind
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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NS3322 wrote:It appears Atlantic Packaging no longer ships by rail...
Atlantic Packaging wrote:Thank you for contacting Atlantic! Our Sturgis facility does have an indoor rail siding that allows us to put 5 rail cars inside. We used to receive rolls by rail on occasion from the mills.

We have never shipped finished skids/rolls out by rail.
Somebody is still getting boxcars. There were a few on the property not much more than a month ago.

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NS3322
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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1TrackMind wrote:
NS3322 wrote:It appears Atlantic Packaging no longer ships by rail...
Atlantic Packaging wrote:Thank you for contacting Atlantic! Our Sturgis facility does have an indoor rail siding that allows us to put 5 rail cars inside. We used to receive rolls by rail on occasion from the mills.

We have never shipped finished skids/rolls out by rail.
Somebody is still getting boxcars. There were a few on the property not much more than a month ago.
The mystery deepens....
Which property are you referring too?

Super Chief
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Re: Michigan Southern Operations

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I was at OmniSource yesterday. They had one CSX boxcar they were cutting up on but no covered hoppers. Were weighing the trucks from the previous CHs they had cut up. They are expecting 3 more cars soon. Sounded like they were at the end of getting anymore. Scrap metal was $145 NT yesterday. I had the privilege to get $300 of their funds.

1TrackMind
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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NS3322 wrote:
The mystery deepens....
Which property are you referring too?
Just on the MSO they were at the interchange point with the GDLK. They were NS boxcars so I'm sure they weren't getting scraped.

Jim_c
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

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1TrackMind wrote:
NS3322 wrote:
The mystery deepens....
Which property are you referring too?
Just on the MSO they were at the interchange point with the GDLK. They were NS boxcars so I'm sure they weren't getting scraped.
White Pigeon Paper?
Trails to Rails. Put the track back.

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AARR
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Re: Sturgis to Coldwater Line

Unread post by AARR »

I was wondering about WPP too but is the loading dock track still there?
Jim_c wrote:
1TrackMind wrote:
NS3322 wrote:
The mystery deepens....
Which property are you referring too?
Just on the MSO they were at the interchange point with the GDLK. They were NS boxcars so I'm sure they weren't getting scraped.
White Pigeon Paper?
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...

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