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Must be different on a different division or railroad. Around here contractor uses a bob cat with forks to flip out scrap ties from the resale. They bundle them up, and ship them out. Scrap ties get loaded in gons and shipped for burning.

With what little overhead there is, wouldn't be hard to make a tidy profit when a good relay tie is worth 5 times the "landscape" tie price...

Without knowing any of the details, it would appear it could worth sorting out the relay quality ties from the ones going thru the chipper.

When will MDOT give Adrian and Blissfield the 7-mill. I'm more than willing to give them money and do the back breaking work myself.

Tuesday... MDOT will give them the money the day after Presidents Day.
Or as others have said... When MDOT has cash and deems it a worthwhile project. Just because it's on a list of projects doesnt mean it'll get funded. If A&B wants it done they should take out a loan. They're a private business... Why should MDOT pay for it?

Any progress? All I know is that they did relocate utilities and they also paid for planning and engineering.

BerkshireKid wrote:Tuesday... MDOT will give them the money the day after Presidents Day.
Or as others have said... When MDOT has cash and deems it a worthwhile project. Just because it's on a list of projects doesnt mean it'll get funded. If A&B wants it done they should take out a loan. They're a private business... Why should MDOT pay for it?

Check out the Republic mine thread, kinda spells out how the project may be funded.

CSX_CO wrote:If I were an electric customer of theirs, and I got wind they were paying $50 for ties to burn when $10 were readily available, I'd be raising holy hell.

Relay ties are only worth $40 to $50 after the have been sorted out of the mountain of used ties that have been stacked up after a project.

The railroads seem to find loading ALL the ties into cars and sending them to the power plants to be quicker, cheaper, and faster than the alternative. I know when CN relayed ties on the ore sub this past summer, the used ties were gone within weeks of the project starting.

In addition the railroad also avoids any possible liability arising from contamination caused by storage and/or use of ties. Used ties are a regulated waste. In about 2008 the railroads were "convinced" to eliminate the stockpiles of used ties sitting everywhere. I noticed this week that all of the old ties laying along the CN line near Seney were gone. There were piles of ties along that line since the early 90s.

If ties are so darn toxic then why do weeds grow right next to them and through them..

SousaKerry wrote:If ties are so darn toxic then why do weeds grow right next to them and through them..

For the same reason aspen trees are planted on contaminated sites to remove some heavy metals. What is toxic to one species may or may not be toxic to another. What is toxic to many species may take time to accumulate. Time is also an issue. A weed's life is measured in months. There may not be enough time for the toxins to accumulate to a level that is injurious to the plant before the plant dies.

Well they are going to try it again. Applied for a grant to relay track between Riga and Ottawa lake.
http://www.lenconnect.com/news/20171011 ... ard-toledo

This is interesting. Good to see that they voted 9-0. I want to see this line when it opens.

This is my first thread I ever made when I joined Railroadfan.com on January 24, 2016 @ 4:43 p.m. EST. I just want to say after reading the lenconnect post, Why is that once they get the grant approved, why will the work be possibly completed by September 2023 When is the grant supposed to be approved or voted out I'm only a Junior in High School, but for some reason I just want do the back-breaking work I actually know someone who works for the ADBF, so maybe he can get someone to talk to me

Joshua Niederkohr wrote:This is my first thread I ever made when I joined Railroadfan.com on January 24, 2016 @ 4:43 p.m. EST. I just want to say after reading the lenconnect post, Why is that once they get the grant approved, why will the work be possibly completed by September 2023 When is the grant supposed to be approved or voted out I'm only a Junior in High School, but for some reason I just want do the back-breaking work I actually know someone who works for the ADBF, so maybe he can get someone to talk to me

Getting the money is just one of the first steps in a long process. Environmental impact studies will have to be done, zoning, planning, state approvals, federal approvals, the list goes on. Bridges are the biggest hurdle by far. Oh and let's not forget they have to buy back the land and there will be hold outs and NIMBYs to screw everything up. 7 years is actually an ambitious timeline, my bet is they have a fair amount of property already purchased and a lot of red tape already greased.

Applying for a grant and being awarded the grant are two completely different animals. I have applied for many grants via my workplace. A few applications have been successful, but the vast majority have not. And as the article notes, these TIGER grants are extremely competitive. Nearby ND&W applied for a significant one a year or two ago but did not get it. Land right of way wise I thought I read somewhere that NS still owned most of it, courtesy of Conrail, but I could be wrong. Moving the interchange out of Adrian is a long term goal for MDOT, but my recollection is that it was not on its highest list of priorities to do so.

Even after all of the paperwork and whatnot is done and they get the money, I'm curious as to how they plan on building a railroad where there is a building in the way along the line in question. Isn't it one of those cursed Wal-Mart's? Would one have to use eminent domain to boot them off the ROW or is there room to route the railroad around the building? Doesn't seem like such an easy task.

So where along the right-of-way are you seeing a structure, let alone something as big as a WalMart.

I think there is a house or small building on the old ROW but no Walmarts

MiddleMI wrote:So where along the right-of-way are you seeing a structure, let alone something as big as a WalMart.

MiddleMI wrote:So where along the right-of-way are you seeing a structure, let alone something as big as a WalMart.

This is the building which is right in Ottawa Lake
https://goo.gl/maps/niajspyMsr92

This is the building which is right in Ottawa Lake
https://goo.gl/maps/niajspyMsr92[/quote]

Well, if Google Earth and Street View are up-to-date, that building would seem to pose a problem if they were planning on using the old right of way. Looks like a distribution center for "The Tile Shop." There might be room along the northeast side of the building to put a railroad line along the street with a little jog at each end of the affected area. At any rate, this is all speculation until such time as a grant or grants are issued and any and all remaining hurdles are cleared. It's fun to dream and plan, though.

I think there are already plans in place to go around the tile shop to the west.