Michigan Southern/Sturgis

[LansingRailFan]

Apparently Pioneer/Michigan Southern is pulling up part of the OOS trackage so that the city can extend a road to their new middle school.

Copied from a post on the LS&MS Fb page:

A little side note about some additional portion of the "Old Road" being pulled up on the east side of Sturgis MI.
The City of Sturgis has been planning to extend a section of N. Franks Avenue across the remaining portion of the Pioneer / MSO trackage at that side of town to make a connection to the new Middle School built north of the tracks. The deal has been made and it appears that MSO has been busy getting some of the track pulled up these past weeks where the road will cross. The current ROW ends about 1/4 mile to the east of the proposed road crossing. Not sure how much they will pull up but there is a decent portion of track in that area that allows for car storage.

[justalurker66]

Railroad near Franks Avenue to be removed - November 27th
https://www.sturgisjournal.com/story/ne ... 732241002/

Another step in extending North Franks Avenue a quarter-mile north to East Lafayette Street in Sturgis was approved Monday by Sturgis city commissioners.

The board voted 7-1 to agree to bear the cost of removing 1,750 feet of rails and about 1,100 ties from the Franks Avenue easement east along Spence Field and toward Big Hill Road.

Cost for the removal, as part of the street extension project that will terminate at a roundabout set for construction next year, is $37,580. The quote was provided by Michigan Southern Railroad, through Midwest Rail. A preliminary estimate from the railroad was $7,500, but found to be an internal cost that did not include hauling away of materials.

[NS3322]

Looks like Omnisource in Sturgis is closing per the sign out front. The location is also no longer listed on the website.

Thankfully they were not a major customer for MSO.

[justalurker66]

The site still shows up when I search at https://www.omnisource.com/locations/
I thought it was closed years ago, but I may be thinking of another location.

[AARR]

You are correct that it closed years ago. It reopened later although a much smaller operation.

In the Gordy days it was a significant customer shipping frequently.

I thought it (OmniSource) was closed years ago, but I may be thinking of another location.

[GP30M4216]

In the olden, busy days, it was Sturgis Iron &Metal. SIM closed (during the recession?) and later reopened as Omnisource on a tiny fraction of the footprint. I’m not sure if Omni ever used the rail spur. If Omni closes, perhaps another metal outfit will take over the property. As was said, they haven’t been a meaningful customer for MSO in a long, long time.

[NS3322]

In the olden, busy days, it was Sturgis Iron &Metal. SIM closed (during the recession?) and later reopened as Omnisource on a tiny fraction of the footprint. I’m not sure if Omni ever used the rail spur. If Omni closes, perhaps another metal outfit will take over the property. As was said, they haven’t been a meaningful customer for MSO in a long, long time.

I believe SIM went bankrupt in 2008?

I have personally seen Omni receive a car from MSO back in November 2018. I also believe they scrapped a bunch of CSX hoppers a few years ago as well.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=5042297

I wish I had grabbed a photo of the closing sign. They had the final date of operation up, but I cannot remember it now.
You are right it is indeed listed in the location directory, for now...

[GP30M4216]

I love the search feature on this forum….and the fact that we have 19 years worth of posts, Q&A and photos to look back on. Sturgis Iron and Metal went into bankruptcy protection in 2008, the yard may have actually closed and then SIM was taken over by Omnisource. There’s some discussion about car counts before and after the bankruptcy and if they used a switcher or a track mobile there. Good reading!

[NS3322]

Amazingly, Google Maps has updated streetview imagery from June 2023. The Sturgis yard is closing December 22, 2023.

[chapmaja]

I love the search feature on this forum….and the fact that we have 19 years worth of posts, Q&A and photos to look back on. Sturgis Iron and Metal went into bankruptcy protection in 2008, the yard may have actually closed and then SIM was taken over by Omnisource. There’s some discussion about car counts before and after the bankruptcy and if they used a switcher or a track mobile there. Good reading!

Without going through everything, I do feel the location of the facility played a major role in the reduced use of railroad service under OmniSource.

Sturgis, located not far from the state line with Indiana was also in proximity to the Indiana Turnpike, meaning it was not difficult for trucks to access the facility and transport materials from the Sturgis facility to other rail served facilities, such as Toledo.

When it was SI&M, they were more of a standalone facility and thus were able to benefit more from rail service than an OmniSource facility would be.

[justalurker66]

Goshen and Auburn are close enough for any local scrappers to still use OmniSource.

Are any of the base level OmniSource sites "Collection Site, Ferrous Processing, Nonferrous Processing, Auto Recycling" rail served?

The remaining Michigan sites will be Adrian, Bay City, Ecorse (River Rouge), Jackson and Jonesville.

[NS3322]

Goshen and Auburn are close enough for any local scrappers to still use OmniSource.

Are any of the base level OmniSource sites "Collection Site, Ferrous Processing, Nonferrous Processing, Auto Recycling" rail served?

The remaining Michigan sites will be Adrian, Bay City, Ecorse (River Rouge), Jackson and Jonesville.

Adrian - Rail served by ADBF.
Bay City - Rail served by LSRC.
Ecorse - Not rail served?
Jackson - Rail served by NS.
Jonesville - Rail served by IN.

[justalurker66]

Interesting ... I would have guessed the opposite. Any idea of how many cars per month?