AA Dundee to Milan

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chapmaja
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AA Dundee to Milan

Unread post by chapmaja »

I was working in Dundee today, so I decided to take the long way home, via back roads up through Milan along the AA.

I started by the engine plant. No cars on the spur to the plant, but the tracks looks somewhat shiny going across the road into the plant, something I don't recall from previous trips across that crossing.

I went by the cement place (can't call it a plant anymore). A lot of covered hoppers, and one boxcar, NKCR reporting marks, but could not get the entire number. The boxcar was a little north of the covered hoppers, which were on the plant's spur.

The south end of the AA yard in Milan had strings of covered hoppers on the far outside tracks (east and west outside tracks). These cuts appeared to go to about mid-yard. On the inner east side track, north end, there was a cut of cars including two bulkhead flats with lumber loads and three boxcars (two excess height, 1 Wisconsin Central normal sized). No power in Milan. Nothing on any of the tracks along the NS main in the yard area, and all signals in all directions shown red.

East of town, the siding to the plant next to US 23 was about 5 excess height boxcars. These were between the road and the mainline, not inside the plant.

I did not try to look to see if anything was at the GP plant next door.

This morning, on my way south, it looked like there may have been some cars on the south track just east of the bridge over US-23, but it was dark and I can not be sure.

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ns8401
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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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chapmaja wrote:
Sat Nov 14, 2020 3:45 pm
I was working in Dundee today, so I decided to take the long way home, via back roads up through Milan along the AA.

I started by the engine plant. No cars on the spur to the plant, but the tracks looks somewhat shiny going across the road into the plant, something I don't recall from previous trips across that crossing.

I went by the cement place (can't call it a plant anymore). A lot of covered hoppers, and one boxcar, NKCR reporting marks, but could not get the entire number. The boxcar was a little north of the covered hoppers, which were on the plant's spur.

The south end of the AA yard in Milan had strings of covered hoppers on the far outside tracks (east and west outside tracks). These cuts appeared to go to about mid-yard. On the inner east side track, north end, there was a cut of cars including two bulkhead flats with lumber loads and three boxcars (two excess height, 1 Wisconsin Central normal sized). No power in Milan. Nothing on any of the tracks along the NS main in the yard area, and all signals in all directions shown red.

East of town, the siding to the plant next to US 23 was about 5 excess height boxcars. These were between the road and the mainline, not inside the plant.

I did not try to look to see if anything was at the GP plant next door.

This morning, on my way south, it looked like there may have been some cars on the south track just east of the bridge over US-23, but it was dark and I can not be sure.
The road train made it to Milan northbound last night.

CRH (Dundee Cement) is very much a plant still... they send loads of cement out regularly. Most of the large covered hoppers at CRH are empty plastic pellet cars for CleanTech in Dundee. They stage them there for future pickup and loading.

ARG loads tank cars on the east side of the crossing into GEMA (Chrysler) there in Dundee. Where GEMA were getting switched twice a week that number is now 3 cars a day. Word on the street has that increasing to two switches a day with ARG getting a designated siding. If that happens it would be very good for getting in and out of the place. Your high cubes at Milan would be outbound GEMA loads for NS interchange. The regular height WC car is Pulpboard for Georgia Pacific there in Milan. I want to say the lumber loads are going to Rawsonville or Home Depot in Romulus but I’ve never seen anything saying exactly where they go once NS takes them.

The NS no longer keeps an engine in Milan. The B73 out of Oakwood does all the industry work up to Milan including the long shove into Rawsonville.

Other than the 4 customers at Dundee and what goes to Milan for NS and Osmer for GLC interchange (regular and the extra grain and potash trains) the only other work the AA has north of Toledo is interchanging with the I&O at Diann. Lately that’s just been a couple of loaded scrap gons at a time. Everything else is storage in some way or another. Frequently the tank cars at Milan get recalled to Toledo by Marathon, they essentially stage them there it seems.
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AARR
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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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Thanks for the updates ns8401. Last I heard CleanTech was shipping 4-5 carloads a week.

When did the cement plant resume production?
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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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AARR wrote:
Sat Nov 14, 2020 8:19 pm
Thanks for the updates ns8401. Last I heard CleanTech was shipping 4-5 carloads a week.

When did the cement plant resume production?
Maybe a year or two ago or something like that... it was relatively recent.
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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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The Dundee cement plant is long gone and all the plant has been demolished, except for some cement storage silos. LaFarge is producing crushed limestone at the old pit. If there is rail activity there, it is cement for transload at the silos, or perhaps crushed rock is being shipped out.
So, that is the only rail activity at that site.
Jeff

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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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mowingman wrote:
Sun Nov 15, 2020 9:14 pm
The Dundee cement plant is long gone and all the plant has been demolished, except for some cement storage silos. LaFarge is producing crushed limestone at the old pit. If there is rail activity there, it is cement for transload at the silos, or perhaps crushed rock is being shipped out.
So, that is the only rail activity at that site.
Jeff
It’s loads of cement from the silos. They even have a carmover there. No rock is leaving by rail currently. They also receive inbound loads of some sort of material used in cement production. I presume they make the cement somewhere else and bring it back. That would make a neat little circle. There were a combination of loads and empties dropped off last night.

As to the centerbeams interchanged to NS at Milan I mentioned earlier, some are going to Home Depot in Romulus and others are going to a customer on CSX, I’ll have to look further into where that final destination is. It must be pretty local though. They come off the GLC. Interchange at Milan amounts to 21 GEMA cars, a handful of loaded centerbeams plus the pulpboard cars for GP in Milan per week. NS brings the centerbeams back into town at the very least. Don’t know if they get interchanged there though or if it’s pulls from Home Depot that are tagging along to go to Oakwood.
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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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ns8401 wrote:
Mon Nov 16, 2020 8:54 am
mowingman wrote:
Sun Nov 15, 2020 9:14 pm
The Dundee cement plant is long gone and all the plant has been demolished, except for some cement storage silos. LaFarge is producing crushed limestone at the old pit. If there is rail activity there, it is cement for transload at the silos, or perhaps crushed rock is being shipped out.
So, that is the only rail activity at that site.
Jeff

As to the centerbeams interchanged to NS at Milan I mentioned earlier, some are going to Home Depot in Romulus and others are going to a customer on CSX, I’ll have to look further into where that final destination is. It must be pretty local though. They come off the GLC. Interchange at Milan amounts to 21 GEMA cars, a handful of loaded centerbeams plus the pulpboard cars for GP in Milan. NS brings the centerbeams back into town at the very least. Don’t know if they get interchanged there though or if it’s pulls from Home Depot.
Wait why would GLC ship cars to NS to go back to CSX when they interchange w CSX?

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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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LansingRailFan wrote:
Mon Nov 16, 2020 9:05 am
ns8401 wrote:
Mon Nov 16, 2020 8:54 am
mowingman wrote:
Sun Nov 15, 2020 9:14 pm
The Dundee cement plant is long gone and all the plant has been demolished, except for some cement storage silos. LaFarge is producing crushed limestone at the old pit. If there is rail activity there, it is cement for transload at the silos, or perhaps crushed rock is being shipped out.
So, that is the only rail activity at that site.
Jeff

As to the centerbeams interchanged to NS at Milan I mentioned earlier, some are going to Home Depot in Romulus and others are going to a customer on CSX, I’ll have to look further into where that final destination is. It must be pretty local though. They come off the GLC. Interchange at Milan amounts to 21 GEMA cars, a handful of loaded centerbeams plus the pulpboard cars for GP in Milan. NS brings the centerbeams back into town at the very least. Don’t know if they get interchanged there though or if it’s pulls from Home Depot.
Wait why would GLC ship cars to NS to go back to CSX when they interchange w CSX?
Never mind... It’s for Bluelinx Corporation which is apparently a multistate lumber operation. So it’ll go to CSX at Ottawa Yard. The Ann Arbor is still 90% bridge route on the mainline even without the pomp and circumstance of yesteryear.
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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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The inbound loads may be flyash. Lafarge in Alpena receives it by rail too.
ns8401 wrote:
Mon Nov 16, 2020 8:54 am
It’s loads of cement from the silos. They even have a carmover there. No rock is leaving by rail currently. They also receive inbound loads of some sort of material used in cement production. I presume they make the cement somewhere else and bring it back. That would make a neat little circle. There were a combination of loads and empties dropped off last night.
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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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AARR wrote:
Mon Nov 16, 2020 3:08 pm
The inbound loads may be flyash. Lafarge in Alpena receives it by rail too.
ns8401 wrote:
Mon Nov 16, 2020 8:54 am
It’s loads of cement from the silos. They even have a carmover there. No rock is leaving by rail currently. They also receive inbound loads of some sort of material used in cement production. I presume they make the cement somewhere else and bring it back. That would make a neat little circle. There were a combination of loads and empties dropped off last night.
It looks like two separate companies run on the site now. One is CRH which uses the silos for cement storage and as a bagging facility. The other is LaFarge which list cement plant remediation and an aggregate quarry on the site. CRH is the only one using rail.
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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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ns8401 wrote:
Mon Nov 16, 2020 9:09 am
LansingRailFan wrote:
Mon Nov 16, 2020 9:05 am
ns8401 wrote:
Mon Nov 16, 2020 8:54 am



As to the centerbeams interchanged to NS at Milan I mentioned earlier, some are going to Home Depot in Romulus and others are going to a customer on CSX, I’ll have to look further into where that final destination is. It must be pretty local though. They come off the GLC. Interchange at Milan amounts to 21 GEMA cars, a handful of loaded centerbeams plus the pulpboard cars for GP in Milan. NS brings the centerbeams back into town at the very least. Don’t know if they get interchanged there though or if it’s pulls from Home Depot.
Wait why would GLC ship cars to NS to go back to CSX when they interchange w CSX?
Never mind... It’s for Bluelinx Corporation which is apparently a multistate lumber operation. So it’ll go to CSX at Ottawa Yard. The Ann Arbor is still 90% bridge route on the mainline even without the pomp and circumstance of yesteryear.
Isn't Bluelinx the customer at the end of the Rawsonville Spur?

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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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Ben Higdon wrote:
Thu Nov 19, 2020 8:55 am
Isn't Bluelinx the customer at the end of the Rawsonville Spur?
Yes, Bluelinx is/was there. I don't know if it's still open for business.

NS operates a large transload operation there for chemicals, plastics and resins. Maybe food products too.
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ns8401
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Re: AA Dundee to Milan

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AARR wrote:
Thu Nov 19, 2020 9:14 am
Ben Higdon wrote:
Thu Nov 19, 2020 8:55 am
Isn't Bluelinx the customer at the end of the Rawsonville Spur?
Yes, Bluelinx is/was there. I don't know if it's still open for business.

NS operates a large transload operation there for chemicals, plastics and resins. Maybe food products too.
Don’t forget all the trash cars that go in there too. Truly a full circle operation.

Bluelinx no longer lists Rawsonville as one of its locations. Their only Michigan location listed is Grand Rapids.
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