Ann Arbor Railway - Rail America

[AARR]

And even browns lumber only receives one car a week barely .

It is Amerhart, ex-NorPac, nee Schultz, Snyder & Steele.

[Nighttrain404]

It is Amerhart, ex-NorPac, nee Schultz, Snyder & Steele.[/quote] To my knowledge is that Snyder & Steel doesn't use the track anymore for the scrap metal receiving or distribute it. Amerhart haven't seen any cars used up here the side track is overgrown. And ex-NorPac isn't a costumer anymore.

[AARR]

It is Amerhart, ex-NorPac, nee Schultz, Snyder & Steele.

To my knowledge is that Snyder & Steel doesn't use the track anymore for the scrap metal receiving or distribute it. Amerhart haven't seen any cars used up here the side track is overgrown. And ex-NorPac isn't a costumer anymore.[/quote]
What you are calling Snyder & Steel is the old Integrity Iron and Metal now operated by Rifkin. When Rifkin took control the stopped rail service in favor of trucking the materials to Saginaw where the load into rail cars from SBS.

Amerhart is operating the old Nor-Pac place in Bates and receives rail service once a week or so. Before it was Nor-Pac it was operated by Schultz, Snyder & Steele, a lumber wholesaler.

Brown Lumber is in downtown Traverse City. They moved from the west side of Boardman Lake to the East side around 10 years ago. Brown receives their lumber at Amerhart in Bates, Brown has not received any lumber loads in their Traverse City location in many many years.

[Rick in TC]

AARR is 110% correct here. Nighttrain, -100 points for you.

Shultz Snyder & Steele was a lumber distributer in Bates (Williamsburg), they were bought out by Northern Pacicic (NorPac). They went bankrupt a few years ago and the yard sat empty. Then Amerihart bought it and resumed receiving centerbeams and box cars. 1-3 a week on average (and Nighttrain- I see almost every one of these trains). Their spur is NOT OVERGROWN. I wonder if you are thinking about Kellogg right across the tracks from Rifken, which started using rail a couple years ago and then went out of business. Or you may be thinking of the old UBC/Wickes yard in Grawn with the overgrown siding (and closed for years).

Integrity Iron & Metal (on the Grawn branch but just south of Traverse City) used to ship a couple loads a week of scrap, then added on about 500 feet to their siding and their own track scale and was shipping up to 10 cars a week. Then Rifken bought them out and abrubtly stopped using rail.

Cherry Growers, a LONG time rail user stopped using rail because they lost a long time held USDA contract for various products in glass bottles (for schools, military, etc). They refused to change over to plastic bottles and therefore lost the contract. This is from a shipping manager at Cherry Growers. Their big competitor up here, Shoreline Fruit, just announced a 45,000sq ft expansion with about 45 jobs- it seems Cherry Growers is just hanging on these days...

And there you have it, from a 40 some year TC resident who keeps track of these things, and great job AARR from the SE part of the state knowing all this!

[Nighttrain404]

Theirs only one costumer on the tracks in T.C and they might go out of business.

[Rick in TC]

Dude, I don't think you have any clue what you are talking about. Seriously, we just covered it. And Amerihart has been EXPANDING it's overall business, and no plans to close.

[AARR]

We used to get nearly daily reports from John in TC and Brent (???) back in the days when TC was much busier than it is now. I miss those days

[Nighttrain404]

I have seen only a lumber car up here and that's been it...

[MIGN-Todd]

Had one last week and more are due in soon (one paused in Chi-town presently). Track guys were working along Keystone today near the substation spur. While I was at Amerhart today, I was talking to some of the yard guys (as always ) and one had told me that they bought some little doo-dads to help them get the cables off the bulkhead flats without having to climb up top (their Green Bay shop guys showed them where to get them). They also said that the high-rail guys often wait for GLC to deliver so they can help with the turn around times. Shipping prices are on the rise but considering that each car holds four truck loads, they're still saving money and had no desire to stop recieving rail shipments.

[Nighttrain404]

So basically the G.L.C maintains the track to a minimum until traffic picks up right which is very doubtful , because as seen by walking down the tracks the cross-bucks are all broken up to hell. And the condition of the tracks are getting worsen by the year. For them to haul more cars rail needs to be torn up and redone. I know you said they where working at the power facility spur , but other then that the tracks cannot deal with the stress of more cars. And really they only serve two companies one in Grawn and the other one i Willaimsburg. I would say the tracks out to grawn would be torn out seeing on how cherry growers aren't using any cars. And theirs overgrowth on portions of track.

[Clay320]

So basically the G.L.C maintains the track to a minimum until traffic picks up right which is very doubtful , because as seen by walking down the tracks the cross-bucks are all broken up to hell. And the condition of the tracks are getting worsen by the year. For them to haul more cars rail needs to be torn up and redone. I know you said they where working at the power facility spur , but other then that the tracks cannot deal with the stress of more cars. And really they only serve two companies one in Grawn and the other one i Willaimsburg. I would say the tracks out to grawn would be torn out seeing on how cherry growers aren't using any cars. And theirs overgrowth on portions of track.

Thats illegal you know, not to mention dangerous.

[Rick in TC]

"the cross-bucks are all broken up to hell. "

The cross BUCKS? No, those SIGNS are looking just fine. You mean the cross TIES?

[LSRC]

cross-bucks are all broken up to hell...ndition of the tracks are getting worsen by the year...torn up and redone

Keep in mind that there are many, many railroads (even in this state) that operate on bad track. 10mph track isn't bad, especially with the rest of the GLC mainline in good condition. You don't need brand new track to move a couple of lumber cars. Even with expansion and growth train are perfectly fine going 10mph.

Just take a look at the Lake State's Huron Sub. In the summer they haul thousands of carloads of heavy stone. They also move heavy cement year round. They do this all on 5-10mph track.

I've also seen terrible, broken up cross bucks on busy Class 1 mainlines.

[Steve B]

Can this thread please be renamed, so I don't keep checking it for info about the original subject?