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AARR wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:07 pm

Lincoln = Wixom

ns8401 wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:03 pm

I know Wayne and Carlton well but where was Lincoln?

I figured it might have something to do with the plant there thanks.

The only reason the yard was called Lincoln is, of course, because of the Lincoln/Mercury plant that used to be there. From a railroad perspective, Lincoln and Wixom were two different stations (and sidings) in the timetable so railroad employees had to know the difference for operating reasons.

joeyuboats wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 18, 2021 12:32 pm

When I was a lot younger, I remember hearing about American Bumper in Ionia. At least once a year, someone was badly injured or killed there.

The building (now Ventra Ionia Main) is still having worker deaths, last one in 2017

Tim's report of Mustangs from Metuchen New Jersey were not the only time auto-racks made an appearance in Ionia. From 1964-1967 AO Smith built fiberglass Corvette bodies and shipped them to St Louis in open tri level racks for final assembly. This was described in an article in the June 2006 issue of Corvette Enthusiast magazine which I found a link to online somewhere. The bodies were made watertight and shipped on their "wheeled build trucks". The article says transit time varied from four days to two weeks.

I have a transfer book out of Wyoming yard from 1965-1966 and there are a handful of mentions of hot empty racks needed in Ionia to keep the plant operating. I suspect too many "two week" cars could cause a shortage of the returning "wheeled build trucks".

Some photos from the Corvette Forum Ionia when the factory was AO Smith. These photos come from that online forum.