Amway Spur - Cascade Township - Kent County

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Raildudes dad
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Amway Spur - Cascade Township - Kent County

Unread post by Raildudes dad »

A post over on the other board prompted me to look in the files at work. I've written up a summary of the history of the spur and put some newspaper clippings and an MDOT Press Release about the spur in the Photo Gallery.

The History of the Amway Spur in Cascade Township MI.

Bill Milliken was Governor, having taken over on January 22, 1969 from George Romney who resigned to take a position in Washington.

The file starts on December 18, 1979 with a letter from the Chessie System to MDOT proposing to construct an industrial lead that would require public crossings of 44th, 42nd and Patterson Ave.

Interestingly there had been two articles in the GR Press, one on November 20 and another on November 27. Interestingly, the November 27 article is about a proposal by the Kent Barry and Eaton County Connecting RR to serve the site. Their route was touted by the MDOT Rail Freight Division because it was straighter, level and “it would possibly eliminate the state subsidy".

My old boss sent a letter to MDOT on November 28, objecting to the grade crossing on 44th Street which was scheduled to be reconstructed into a 4 lane road with a boulevard. The letter requested a hearing on the matter. A meeting was scheduled for January 30, 1980.

Notes from the January 20 meeting included:

Comments from William Boyd from the Dept of Commerce indicated that Nissan and GM Diesel had looked at the property. Nissan did not select it and GM located in Coopersville. They learned Amway needed to expand. The cost of the spur was $1.75 million and MDOT could finance it.

Kentwood wanted a grade separation at 44th Street

The airport said they would grant an easement across their property

MDOT committed $1.1 million to the Chessie System. The site could be served by the KB&E but Amway wants Chessie. MDOT would not fund the grade separation.

The C&O rep (Chessie System) said the land south of 44th had potential for rail service but the land north did not.

The KB&E said they offered an alternate. The State has a vested interest in the KB&E and Amway promotes business so the KB&E should be considered.

The decisions at the meeting were:

The C&O’s application for funding by MDOT was approved
Amway wants C&O
The State has budgeted $1.1 million
The Road Commission would have to request and pay for a grade separation

The MDOT “Notice of Inspection” set the crossing inspections for 44th Street, 52nd St and Patterson Ave for Feb 26, 1980.

The notes from that meeting included a project schedule with track construction planned in 1982. Amway intended to build a manufacturing plant similar to the one in Ada on the property. Rail moves were estimated at 12 the first year, 60 the second year 450 the 3rd year and 583 in the 4th year (1987 or 1988). They were planning on 3 round trips with 6 cars max per week. There was a runaround planed east of Patterson that would handle 5-86 foot cars. All switching would take place in the plant. C&O preferred to switch in the daylight but Amway could request night time or off peak airport travel times,

There was a lot of discussion about requiring a grade separation at 44th St but it was not “ordered” Flashing lights with cantilever arms were ordered for 44th St. and only flashing light protection was ordered at the other 2 crossings.

Amway had acquired all the property required for the spur and would turn it over to the State for the spur.

The Road Commission appealed the denial of a grade separation but was not successful.

The KBEC had not given up even though Amway's grant had been approved. It hired Exxel Engineering to conduct a Preliminary Route Study In May of 1980, the KBEC request a review and approval of their plan by Gaines Township. The letter signed by Calvin Shelton, President of the KBEC stated “The KBEC Railway Inc. and the State of Michigan are now ready to move on said project.” The township concurred with the concept without granting formal approval/.

On July 23, 1980, MDOT issued a news release announcing the spur. It should be noted that it says MDOT would own the spur but not the ROW. Interestingly today, the property owner is identified on Acesskent as CSX.

Construction started on October of 1981 and was completed in in June of 1982. K&R of Grand Rapids did the earth work and Longwill-Scott built the track. Longwill-Scott appears to have been from southern IL according to the area code of their phone number.

As we all know, Amway never built a plant on the almost 500 acres but instead developed the Meadowbrook Business Park. West Side Beer built a facility there and it’s doubtful they received any cars. AutoStyle, an automotive plastics molder located north of 52nd Street received some large machines by rail but that was about it.

I’m not sure when the track to Steelcase was added. CSX was delivering coal there by 1986. The coal was delivered to Hughart Yard and trucked out there before the spur was complete. I’m not sure when the clean air non-compliance forced them to convert to natural gas for those boilers. The conversion ended any service to Steelcase.

Today, the crossings at 44th and Patterson have been removed. The removal of 52nd crossing will probably happen in 2011. The mainline switch was pulled before the 44th Street crossing was removed.

http://railroadfan.com/gallery/thumbnails-1598.html

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AARR
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Re: Amway Spur - Cascade Township - Kent County

Unread post by AARR »

Great research RDD. Thanks for posting.
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Beal99
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Re: Amway Spur - Cascade Township - Kent County

Unread post by Beal99 »

OMG, I scanned a pic of a chessie train with Amway cars on it, I had no idea what it was or where, this might be it. I'll put it up tonight!

Raildudes dad
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Re: Amway Spur - Cascade Township - Kent County

Unread post by Raildudes dad »

Bumping the thread up for the scoop on the Amway Spur

i995impalass
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Re: Amway Spur - Cascade Township - Kent County

Unread post by i995impalass »

Tom- Do you know who owns the property from Patterson East, Amway? Also, was it in the works to extend past Kraft for future development?

Very interesting that KB&E had interest. Do you know where the proposed ROW would have been? M-6 area perhaps or just due west of Steelcase?

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MQT1223
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Re: Amway Spur - Cascade Township - Kent County

Unread post by MQT1223 »

On a side note the 52nd ave crossing was repaved, and is still there (not paved over). I also see they cleared the property on the south end of the spur along the east side of M-37.

With all of the development in the area I can't believe no one has wanted rail unless CSX scares them off. Bet a shortline could make a big transload at the end of the line or draw up some business somehow.
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